Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

Original Poetry.

For the Rural Repository.

WAR.

BY ISAAC COBB.

AIL, Mistress of Science! hail, Princess of Art!

HI would celebrate thee, ere thy beauty depart;

For thou art of law and of ethics the soul,
And thou dost the senates of nations control.

Thy ships are the noblest that sail on the sea,
Thy banners of red are the flags of the free!
For torrents of blood from thy enemies' veins,
Once gloriously flooded the Belgian plains!
For this, my Adonis! I waken a note,

Which borne by the breeze may triumphantly float,
That thou mayst prevail o'er the kingdoms of earth,
And be honored as erst at the day of thy birth.

Thy devotee dwells in a palace of stone,
Whence a chariot rolls for his pleasure alone;
(Add a feather or two to the cap of the fool,
With a victory gained, and he is worthy to rule.)
While the wise, if the world has produced any such,
Must live in a hovel or walk with a crutch!

The drum, ay, the drum! let us beat it again,
And a blast on the bugle let Ignorance blow!
Come forth, oh our Queeu! at the head of thy train,
And Pluto thy sire shall a courser bestow.

Unless thou appearest to aid in the strife,
That renegade-Peuce, will replenish her life;
So the earth, now a barren, a desolate wild,
Alas! would no longer by vice be defiled:
With the rose and the lily the desert would smile,
And competence Penury's children beguile.

Forbid it, thou Fiend! to the fight! to the fight!
Thy fues are the favored, the angels of light.
BEELZEBUB! grant to the idiot crowd,

A sword for the side, and a spur for the heel:
Crush, instantly crush with thy cavalcade proud,
The beings of worth who for suffering feel!

Farewell to thy sceptre, oh PEACE! Adieu to thy heavenly hours! Till sinful contention shall cease, And SHILOH'S be Intellect's bowers. Praise Him, holy Daughters of concord and joy, And bless, oh ye seraphs of Eden above! For yet shall the lute-string the minstrel employ, To celebrate wisdom and goodness and love; And yet shall in triumph the flag be unfurled, Whose folds of pure white may encircle a world. Hudson, June, 1851.

QUEEN MARY'S RETURN TO SCOTLAND.

A

1

BY JAMES HOGG.

FTER a youth by woes o'ercust,

After a thousand sorrows past,

The lovely Mary once again

Set foot upon her native plain;

Knelt on the pfer with modest grace,

And turned to heaven her beauteous face.

"T was then the caps in air were blended,
A thousand thousand shouts ascended,
Shivered the breeze around the throng,
Gray barrier cliffs the peals prolong;
And every tongue gave thanks to heaven,
That Mary to their hopes was given.
Her comely form and graceful mien
Bespoke the lady and the queen;
The woes of one so fair and young,
Moved every heart and every tongue.
Driven from her home a helpless child,
To brave the winds and billows wild;

An exile bred in realms afar,
Amid commotions, broils, and war.
In one short year, her hopes all crossed-
A parent. husband, kingdom, lost!
And all ere eighteen years had shed
Their honours o'er hier royal head.
For such a queen, the Stuarts' heir-
A queen so courteous, young and fair-
Who would not every foe defy?

Who would not stand-who would not die?

Light on her airy steed she sprung,
Around with golden tassels hung;
No chieftain there rode half so fice,
Or half so light and gracefully.
How sweet to see her ringles pale
Wide waving in the southland gale,
Which through the broom-wood blossoms flew,

To fan her cheeks of rosy hue!
Whene'er it heaved her bosom's screen,
What beauties in her form were seen!
And when her courser's mane it swung,
A thousand silver bells were rung.

A sight so fair on Scottish plain,
A Scut shall never see again!

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

EPITAPH ON A CHILD.

No biter tears for thee are shed, Blossom of being, seen and gone; With flowers above we strow thy bed,

Oh blest departed one! Whose all of life a rosy ray, Blushed into dawn, and passed away.

For the Rural Repository. GEOGRAPHICAL ENIGMA.

BAN composed of 17 letters.

My 1, 12, 14. 17. is a chain of mountains in Africa.
My 13. 29, 16. 5 6, is a fortified town in Hindostan.
My 2. 15, 10, 16, ", 11, 8. 9. 11, is a place in Prussia, the
theater of a great battle in 1806.

My 16. 14. 7, 10, is a very celebrated city in Italy.
My 9, 12, 3, is a large river in the Russian Empire.
My 4, 2, 16, 16, 10, 3, is a town in the State of Pennsylva

nia.

My whole is the title of a poem by ROBERT BURNS.
G. S. L. S.
Albany, June, 1851.

Answer in the next Number.

New Volume, October, 1850.

RURAL REPOSITORY.

Vol. 27, Commencing Oct. 19, 1850,

EMBELLISHED WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS. Price $1-Clubs from 45 to 75 Cents.

THE RURAL REPOSITORY will be devoted to Polite Literature, containing Moral and Sentimental Tales, Original Communications, Biographies, Traveling Sketches Amusing Miscellany, Humorous and Historical Anecdotes Valuable Recipes, Poetry, &c. The first Number of the Twentyseventh Volume of the RURAL REPOSITORY will be issued un Saturday the 19th of October, 1850.

The Repository" circulates among the most intelligent families of our country and is hailed as a welcome visitor, by all that have favored us with their patronage. It has stood the test of more than a quarter of a century; amid the many changes that have taken place and the ups and downs of life, whilst hundreds of a similar character have perished, our humble Rural has continued on, from year to year, until it is the Oldest Literary Paper in the United States.

CONDITIONS.

THE RURAL REPOSITORY will be published every other Saturday in the Quarto form, containing twenty six numbers of eight pages each with a title page and index to the volume, making in the whole 208 pages. It will also be embellished with numerous Engravings, and consequently it will be one of the neatest, cheapest, and best literary papers in the country.

TERMS.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Hudson, Columbia Co N. Y.

NOTICE TO AGENTS, &C.

The present Post Office Law, will probably prevent our sending a Large Prospectus as heretofore, in consequence of the extra expense; but the matter contained in one, and al the necessary information concerning Clubs, etc. can be ascer Lained from the above We respectfully solicit all our subscribers to endeavou: to get up a Club in heir vicinity for the next Volume.

EDITORS, who wish to exchange, are respectfully re quested to give the above a few insertions, or at least a notice and receive Subscriptions.

[graphic]
[ocr errors]

telease and give a vent to its pent-up forces. In 1847 he was elected deputy to the Diet, and became the leader of the opposition. In April, 1848, he was appointed minister of Finance. When the war with Jellachich broke out, he was elected president of the committee of defence.

His influence over his countrymen has been immeasurable. In spite of defeats and the occu. pation of the capital by the enemy, he was enabled in the face of an overpowering force, to collect an army of 200,000 men, whom he had inspired with enthusiasm by his eloquence, and supplied by his indefatigable activity with all the material of war. By taking advantage of undeveloped resolites, by the establishment of magazines and manufatories, by carefully organizing the forces of the country, he was enabled to maintain these supplies.Although himself ignorant of war, his genius enabled him to select from the crowd those generals, many of them as yet untried, whose battles were a series of triumphs. Perhaps there does not exist in Europe another statesman so profoundly acquainted with the wants and prejudices of his country men, or whose ambition so entirely represents their

Which Hungary was invaded by Jellachich, in September, 1848, and 50,000 atined meit were col. lected in a fortnight, in the neighborhood of Stahlweissenburg, to repel the aggression, Kossuth issued a proclamation, from which we extract the following sentences i

"It is an eternal law of God, that whosoever abandoneth himself will be forsaken by the Lord.-It ie an eternal law that whosoever assisteth himself i will the Lord assist. It is a divine law that false swearing, by its results, chastiseth itself. It is a law of our Lord's that whosoever availeth himself of perjury and injustice, prepareth himself for the triumph of justice. Standing firm on these eternal laws of the universe. I swear that my prophecy will be fulfilled-it is, that the freedom of

N many respects the most remarkable nian of our fitted by early training to head a movement whose Ilungary will be effected by this invasion of Hun. {

In my, in respects, he most rem, leanter officit olject was the trainituistance of legal and constitu gary by Jellachieh,

of the Hungarian revolt against Austria. He was born in a little village of the north of Hungary, April 27, 1806, of a poor but noble family of Sclavonian origin. His father acted as steward to another nobleman of more lavored circumstances but was not able, it seems, to support his sou at the university. The application and talents of the latter, however, found him friends, who not only enabled him to finish his studies, but also continued to assist him subsequently..

[ocr errors]

tional rights. Persecuted as a journalist for his defence of some young men accused of high treason, illegally arrested, and condemned to a long impris. onment, he became a martyr, pointed out by the Austrian government itself as a leader of the coming revolution.

After an imprisonment of some years, he reappeared as the promoter of many plans for the material improvement of his country, such as the projected railway to connect the Danube with their He was educated as a lawyer, and was, therefore, port of Fiume, on the Adriatic; thus seeking to

This proclamation, which electrified the people to whom it was addressed, concludes in a style not unworthy an eastern prophet, nor unsuited to the genius and origin of his race, by these words:"Between Vesprinn and Weissenburg, the women shall dig a deep grave, in which we will bury the name, the honor, the nation of Hongary, or our enemies. And on this grave shall stand a monament inscribed with a record of our shame, So God punishes cowardice;' or we will plant on it the tree of freedom, eternally green, from out of whose

[ocr errors]

154

foliage shall be heard the voice of God speaking, as from the fiery bush to Moses, 'The spot on which thou standest is holy ground;' thus do I reward the To the Magyars, freedom, renown, wellbeing, and happiness.”

brave.

His speehes in the Diet were of another kind.In these we find the lucid exposition, the cool In reasoning, and large views of the statesman. these he ever stands forth as much the resolute opponent of communistic violence as of military despotism.

That he is an Orater, inferior to few men, living or dead, the following from a foreign correspondent indicates :

"The effect of his oratory is astonishing. When he rises to speak, his features, finely moulded, and of an oriental cast, though pale and haggard, as from mental and physical suffering united, immediately excite interest. His deep toned, almost sepulchral voice, adds to the first impression. Then, as he becomes warmed by his subject, and launches into the enthusiastic and prophetic manner peculiar to him, his hearers seem to imbibe all the feelings that so strongly reign in his own bosom, and to be governed by the saine will. In his tour through the provinces to raise the landsturm (all the able-bodied,) so great was his power over the peasantry, that freequently men, women, and children together, running to their homes, and seizing hooks, or whatever their hands could find, assembled on the spot, and insisted on being led directly against the enemy."

Such orators become the highest of human agencies in concentrating the power of a nation, and thus Hungary is fully aroused from her centre to her farthest limits.

[ocr errors]

TALES

From the Portland Eclectic.

NOW AND THEN.

[ocr errors][merged small]
[ocr errors]
[merged small][ocr errors]

They wore what was called a bonnet; and that, too, fitted closely to the head, and covered it Yes," said Laura, and how the ladies used to all but the face, and was not much calculated to

dress."

"And did not the ladies always wear the frock and trowsers, and the loose hat that we do?" inquired Angusta.

[ocr errors]

that,

promote the health and comfort, or add to the The hair was not cut close beauty of the wearer. then, as now, but was worn very long, and was braided and fastened upon the top of the head with "So far from that, said her grandpa, an instrument called a comb. At the sides of the previous to the year eighteen hundred and fifty-head it was brought down so as to cover the ears one, they wore articles of dress now entirely un known to the ladies' wardrobe. And I well re. member how the boys used to run and shout after the ladies who first appeared in the street in the present dress, which was then called the Bloomer costume."

66

very closely."

"How very odd," said Augusta. "But of what use could it be? Our ears were given us to hear with, were they not?"

"That was not the only thing that would seem odd to you in manners as well as dress. You They opposed the new dress, then ?" said would think the custom an odd one indeed, which

Laura.

66

Opposed it-yes. It met with the same op-
position that all real improvements have always
met with at the hands of ignorance and prejudice.
It seems that in all ages it has been the fate of the
{real bencfactors of mankind, to meet with ridicule
and scorn, if nothing worse, before their names
have been permanently recorded in the book of
fame."

"But what did they wear, grandpa?" said
Laura.

"Instead of the present loose frock and trowsers, which fashion and common sense alike sanction, they wore a long, trailing dress, fastened very closely round the chest, and falling to the feet."

"How very filthy such a dress inust have been. I am sure we should think one wanting in the neatness which becomes a woman, who should dress thus," said Laura.

[ocr errors][merged small]

would confine the women to the house, and not allow them the freedom of outdoor exercise they now enjoy; and that would deprive them of appearing with the men at political and other meetings."

Certainly, grandpa," said Augusta; "would it not seem very uusocial and heathenish for the women to go by themselves, and the men by themselves ?"

"More than that; if you could but contrast the decency and propriety that characterize our public meetings with the coarseness and rowdyisin attending those of my early days, you would think it not the least of the improvements of our time. Nevertheless, it was the fashion of the times; and if any one was found with the hardihood to advocate a custom which is now so universal, he would have had to encounter argument, ridicule and sarcasm. And not the least bitter opposers of what was then called women's rights, were the women themselves they who were most directly to be benefitted by the proposed change."

[ocr errors][merged small]

But," said Augusta," how could they breathe ?" "That, my child, was a secret which they kept to themselves. The doctors could never find out. "Well, grandpa," said George, were the With your knowledge of Physiology, you may well suppose the process of respiration was but imper-method of lighting and warming houses as queer A TALE OF A GOOD TIME COMING. as the ladies' dresses?" fectly carried on; and, indeed, their pale faces was in the year nineteen hundred and one, and slender forms plainly showed that it must be and as Edgar A. Poe would express it, "in the The subject was a sort of forbidden ground bleak December." The night wind moaned drear to speak or write upon. Few physicians had the ily through the " tall ancestral trees" that surround-courage to tell their consumptive patients the ed the elegant and substantial dwelling of Mr. Livingston, who was sitting in his parlor, and looking round upon his happy family with the complacency of a man who is conscious of possess-that of dressing too tightly.” ing all the comforts, and many of the luxuries, of the refined and intelligent age in which his lot was happily cast. He spoke to his daughter Augusta, a beautiful, intelligent girl of some twelve or fifteen years, and asked her to place the last paper upon the table.

cause of the disease that was preying upon their
vitals. Many of the gay and beautiful found a
premature grave, no doubt, from that cause alone

"But some die of consumption now-a-days, grandpa. Did not Charles Fremont, whose funeral we attended last week, die of consumption ?" "No doubt there are other causes of the discase; and perhaps somewhat of the effects of their habits may descend to their posterity at this day; but "If you please, pa," said Augusta, "grandpathe number of deaths from that disease is not one has promised to tell us some stories of old times, it tenth so many as in those times. The reason is you could omit your reading for the evening."

[ocr errors]

If you have found anything queer in what I have related, I dare say your organ of mirth will will find sufficient exercise when you contrast the present simple means with the ancient cumbrous and laborious modes. When a house was to be built, the first thing to be done was, to lay a solid foundation of stone or bricks-generally in the middle of the house; and upon this was built what was called a chimney of bricks. On the different sides were fireplaces for the different rooms, into which wood or coal was placed and set on fire. Besides the fireplaces, ovens were formed in the body of the chimneys, which were large, hollow spaces used for cooking."

[ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

to be found, no doubt, in the fact, that every "With the greatest pleasure, my dear. I shall young person is educated in the science of Physibe happy if your grandpa thinks proper to entertain logy and of the laws of life and health. The habus with some descriptions of Puritan times and its and practices consequent upon such an educamanners." tion tend to promote, instead of injuring the gen-pastures for flocks, and fields for grain." "Then you was, a Puritan, grandpa," said eral health. Then, it was thought sufficient if Laura. the doctor understood anatomy and physiology: now, every schoolboy of a dozen years understands them.-The practice of singing, too, as it is now every where taught in our common schools, has probably assisted to produce a healthy state of the lungs."

"I was not a Puritan, my child," said her grandpa, "but was called a descendant of the Puritans; and their customs and manners, which differed greatly from those of the present day, I can well remember."

"How hard they must have worked, to cut so much wood every year," said George.

...

Yes, I can assure you it took much time and labor to support the fires, even in one house; to say nothing of the expense of the operatives, and of the fifth attending such a method."

"Were the houses warm as now ?" said George.

"That depended upon circumstances. Instead of the equable temperature which electricity dif. fuses, the temperature was sometimes very high, and then again very low; which, added to the dust of the wood and aslics, produced an unwholesome state of the air. It was a very expensive mode, especially in cities, where the wood had to be brought from a great distance; so much so, that it was almost more than a poor widow could do to keep a fire through the cold winter. Now, for three cents, she can keep a room at summer temperature for many weeks."

conduct every one to the flower-bedecked vale of physical felicity. Therefore, Readers, we will go forth from our close apartments, and, gathering spicy blossoms, listening to artless lays, and inhaling the west-wind's pure oxygen, we may at once feel an exhilarating influence at work on the wea

"Thus you see, my dears, the privileges we
possess beyond the age in which I was born-an
age that bids fair to realize the theories of the
philosophers, of the infinite perfectibility of the
human race-theories which were regarded by
enemies to the progress of the human race, as
formed merely to amuse their authors in the con-ried, debilitated system.
templation of their beauty. Science, in its onward
march, had already equalized, in a measure,
knowledge and the wealth of mankind; conse-
quently, the genuine principles of social happiness
have received a devolopment and a kind of demon-

the

"Did they light their houses with electricity, stration unknown to former ages; and every day as we now do?" inquired George. brings forth something to enlarge the boundary of our hopes.' G. W. G.

64

Light was produced by burning the grease of animals, which was not only filthy and expensive, but unwholesome. The soot proceeding from the combustion of oils arose into the rooms, when it soiled and defaced books and furniture; and at the same time, the carbonic acid, by mixing with the air of the room, had a deleterious effect upon the health. Now, you endure no such inconvenience and discomfort. By simply winding up a

19

ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.

For the Rural Repository. SYLVAN PENCILINGS.

BY PETER SYLVAN.
Number Three.

Could 1 but dwell among the bowers,

And listen to each bird that sings,
With ONE whose soul, so like the flowers,
About my spirit fondly clings!
Then oft, ye scenes of sweet delight!
The muse might gladly stray,
Prepared for Thought's ideal flight,
As sun-set's glories fade away.

Hudson, June, 1851.

IMAG

For the Rural Repository. RAMBLES ABOUT ALBANY.

BY GEO. S. L. STARKS.

MAGINE yourself, dear reader, an entire stranger to the sights of the Capital, and that we are your Ariadne. Such being the case, we shall WEPHYR descended from her cerulean throne, expect you to submit without grumbling to our

small machine, an agreeable light is produced, Zughtly to breathe upon the beautiful things of guidance. Let us then set our faces towards the

which may almost vie with the light of day."

"You said, grandpa, the people used to travel on roads made of dirt and gravel, in carriages drawn by horses," said George.

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

"Indeed I am. That was the only mode before the invention of railroads; and for a long time after, almost all roads were of that kind; as railroads, then, did not go over hills, as now. The motive power, on railroads then, was steam made by heating water in a wood or coal fire; and the machinery was very imperfect compared with what it is now; and no one hardly dreamed that electricity could be so applied to machinery as to propel carriages, especially up and down the steep hills. Horses and steam, as motive powers, have long been laid aside as expensive and inconvenient. Besides, the dangers attending such a mode of travelling, are completely obviated by the present To be sure, there were a few men of science who believed electricity could be made available as a motive power; but, as I said before, their ideas only met with ridicule. And the present safe and highly agreeable way of navigating the air by means of a balloon, carried forward and directed by that universal prime mover, electricity, was thought by most men, at the best, but a chimera. To us, it seeins simple indeed. When we look back upon those days, we may well rejoice that we live in an age where our time can nearly all be spent in enjoying life, instead of laboring so hard as then, barely to maintain it.

one.

"Another important feature of the present age is, that of the comparatively equal distribution of land, so that all can have a little. Every man has a spot for one fruit tree at least. When the few who first conceived the idea, opposed what they called the land monopoly, men could with difficulty be brought to believe they had the sanie natural right to the land as to the air and water. And the rich man clung to his acres with a deadly grasp. But it was all in vain.-The philosophers of the time never gave over speaking and writing in favor of equal rights, till truth and reason have com. pletely triumphed over selfishness and base cupidity.

our beautiful world. It was the hour of evening. Old State House on State st. Arriving there and
The time of rest had come, the season sacred to passing up stairs, you will see on all sides of you
solemn contemplation, when fairy spirits lend a a pretty extensive assortment of the various form-
holy charm to the vales, and the Vesper star looksations peculiar to different sections of our state.—
down from her chamber of glory and renders inex-
pressibly sublime the scenery of the mountains.

Then, straying from the goodly city, Poeticus, the Sylvanite, enjoyed an excursive ramble in the forest near the south eastern precincts thereof.

How pleasant with social company, to wander hither and thither along the banks of a graceful streamlet of the glen. Noiselessly its limpid water speeds its way towards the great river. If a pebble chance to lic below the clear surface, oh! how elegantly the brooklet glideth above its innocent form. Admirers of the beautiful! was that pebble made in vain? Without the sweet little eddy its presence creates, we might not observe the onward tendency of the pellucid liquid. So it is with the flight of time. Days and weeks and months, it is true, would pass away; but should we become aware of the fact, were it not for the diurnal rotation and annual revolution of the orbs? Nay! otherwise periods, probably, would be unknown. We might live and live, and age might steal upon us; and yet not a thought relating to life's end night ruffle the spirits's waveless tide, until the meandering stream of existence be just ready to commingle with that ocean the surges of which wash the shores of Eternity.

The Geologist would view these with interest, but the majority of observers hurry off as we will now. Below, you come first to the Agricultural Rooms, where the implements of husbandry, ploughs, rakes, harrows, &c., rule the day. Some of them are of the most recent and approved construction; the use of others dates "far back in ages gone," Of course, the farmer and mechanic would stop to examine the principle, plan, &c.; but that is no reason why we should. Farther on are seen specimens of the cereal and other grasses, appropriately labeled. On one side also, are placed a large number of serpents, native Americans, not alive, but preserved in alcohol. Entering another room, you will find yourself surrounded with beasts and birds, all stuffed to be sure. Yes, Ornithology, Zoology, and Entomology too, are well represented here. Over the door of the next room "Indian Curiosities" might be very properly written, as it is devoted principally to the remains of the red man, although a fine cabinet of minerals adorns some portion of it. The gentlemanly keeper will also show you a few live rattle snakes, and out in the yard two noble eagles, "Tyrants of the wood," some toads, frogs and turtles, if your taste inclines that way.

Oh listen! Hear ye not a strain of music from With this we will leave the State House to itself, Nature's grand orchestra? Ay! we will pause for and proceed to the State Hall. Where, after thara moment, our hearts beating in unison with each oughly tiring yourself by running up a long quavering note. Birds! ye mind me of my child-winding stair-case somewhat resembling Paddy's hood's blessed home. Ye bid me think on the happy hours I have there, aforetime, enjoyed with some of your kindred!

Trees of the wood! how balmy and salubrious is the air that swayeth your boughs. Let not the invalid imagine the presence of deadly malaria, because of the hour. Heed not the idle suggestions of persons whose prejudices would fain deprive you of a healthful pastime.

Believe not that Death's messenger flaps his horrid wings over the spot to which mild evening invites the sons and daughters of men to roam.No, no. Hygeia extends her hand that she may

rope," the other end being cut off," you may sit down on the roof and rest awhile.

Butlook away in a northerly and westerly direction! Is not that a glorious prospect? How finely look those grand old woods! and lower down, the tiny flowers and the green grassy carpet and the wavy fields of golden grain, concealing the nudity of their mother earth! And farther in the background the glittering spires of Troy shoot upward, flinging back the rays of the sun. If you turn your eyes closer to where you stand, a great city looms out distinctly with its myriads of human beings.

Come, are you not compensated for the trouble of getting here? If not, then we'll away to where the book-worm loves to tarry, over in that building on the summit of which stands Justice with her nicely balanced scales. Why man! you're in the Capitol, whither the Sovereign people send men to make learned specches for the edification of Buncombe, Ah! this is the door of the Library. With whom would you converse? Librarian

bring hither the tangible remains of all the great men who have ever lived, and bid them pass before us. There they go,-Milton, Shakspeare, Chai-¦ ham, Bancroft, Prescott and all the rest, a galaxy of brilliant stars

productions of nature and the living forces which
organized them; but the farmer sees these causes
in operation around him daily, in the slender wheat
as the spreading, sturdy oak. How much more
then, should his heart, as a true child of nature,
rise from nature up to nature's God!

Spring is the season of flowers, those emblems
of innocence beauty, remembrances and loves;
they speak a language to every heart, which is
pure in its teachings, useful in its dictates and
bold in its influence. The flowers are the children
of spring; released from their close prison house
by her magic wand they come forth to revel and
rejoice in the genial and cheering influence of her
smiles.

TW

MISCELLANY.

have free scope, disturbed not by aught uncongen-
ial, we scarcely observe the flight of time, though
darkness meanwhile descend, and nature glide
seemingly into oblivion. Yet, what of that ?—
Have external things any claim on our attention,
now? Ah, no. Seated on a gray 64 mossy stone,"
with a grass ottoman for our feet, we soon become
lost to the world. We launch out upon the broad
sea, and after sailing noiselessly along until we
reach the sweet isle of Remembrance, we fasten
our skiff to the shore, and disembarking, hasten to
the bower of early Recollections. Once more we
sit by the firesides of our fathers, and listen to
thrilling words uttered by tongues that tremble
with age.
Eloquently told are stories of Revolu
tionary prowess and suffering. Fondly dwells the
speaker on the glorious achievements which won
for Columbia, Liberty, imperishable Liberty!

Now, we seem to be scholars in the dear school where the mind received its first training. The old rock upon which we used to leap in childish glee; and the green lawn where we delighted to skip and run like so many lambkins; the interior of the study-room, with its old fashioned desks, and the beloved classmates all in their respective places; they appear before us as vividly as they would if they had been but things of yesterday,

"Who pour their tide unceasingly along, A gathering, swelling, overwhelming throng." These are not all. The manuscripts, paintings and engravings are yet to be seen; besides many costly and valuable articles which they have stowed From the Waverley Magazine. in some dark, out-of-the-way corner of the garret, TWILIGHT. snugly packed in dry goods boxes, and all for the' want of room elsewhere. But the Legislature have WILIGHT, gentle, soothing twilight for thee I feel an admiration which pen may not at last waked up to the importance of providing a express. Beautiful thought-flowers form in the building large enough for displaying to advantage, parterre of Fancy, a labyrinth which Imagination the noble tributes which New York has gathered may not be able to penetrate. Yet with longing from the expanding fields of Art, Science and Lit-eye she gazeth into every opening, and ascending Contemplation's fair height, fondly looks down upon all. More. The teacher ever to be respected and Twilight! Reader, art thou pleased with mus-loved, walks in and takes his chair, a beaming smile ic? Be glad when twilight coines. radiating his countenance, and kind words dropping like honey from his lips.

erature.

More anon, Albany, June, 1851.

For the Rural Repository.
SPRING.

BY J. D. COLE.

[blocks in formation]

Hail; thou loveliest of the seasons! Thy appear. ance is welcomed by all, Every plant that grows every domestic animal-every insect that sports on the leaf or spray, welcome thy return. Thy praises have been sung by all mankind in every age-the poet, the divine, the essayist and the philosopher have all contributed their meed of praise.

But of all mankind there is none so much in

terested in the return of Spring, as the farmer. It is to him the return of pleasing labor and increas. ing grains. He sees in prospect the rewards of his toil greeting him.

I have often thought that the farmer should be the most pious of mankind and the most imbued with feelings of religious devotion; for there is none in so intimate a connexion with these bounties of an overruling and beneficent Providence, which are strewn broad cast oyer the country with an unsparing hand.

At every step he takes, he sees proof of a Divinity—every leaf that shoots forth, every bud that bursts its folds, speak plainer than the most cmphatic words that--God is here!

"Where sense can reach or fancy rove
From hill to field, from field to grove,
Across the wave, around the sky,
There's not a spot, nor deep nor high
Where the Creator has not trod,

And left the footsteps of a God."

The mineralogist, the chemist, the botanist or physiologist may admire or wonder at the strange

Hark! hearest thou that pure, soft strain floating,
floating from the dense foliage of the maple grove?
Hush! breezes, hush! I would catch that note
again. Ah! it is the evening song of some
sweet, solitary thrush; alone on his native tree he
trills it, receiving answer in rapturing tones from
the neighboring woods. How finely, ay! how
purely modulated is every sound! Vibrates not
the spirit's lyre in sympathetic unison? Beats not
the heart with emotion when its chords, its tender.
est, sublimest chords, are thus awakened?

birds! ye bobolinks and blue-birds! ye larks and
Sing away, thrush! and, ye robins and yellow-
linnets! prolong this final chorus of the day. Ye
will not afflict our ears! Ye will not ruffle our
tranquil minds! Sing away! Ye cause all
nature to rejoice with a silent joy; and man, im-
mortal work of GoD, is carried by the lingering
echo on Fancy's pinion to heaven's gate of bliss.

66

Ye days and scenes of childhood! we bless you. And for the many associations which gather and linger about it, we shall ever regard this, the hour of Twilight.

Twilight! Fit season for devotion! "Retired from every eye," far from the moving crowd, we may bow upon the verdant turf underneath some

venerable tree, and pour, with faith-inspired lan-
guage, the intensest feelings of our souls, into the
ear of our divine Father. Have we been visited by
tortured with mental agonies?
adversity? Do pains of body distress? Are we
Let us trust in
GOD, remembering that there is balm in Gilead,
and a Physician there. Is the angel of prosperity
ever our companion? We may now reverently
acknowledge our dependence on the great CAUSE,
and in humility and earnestness of spirit, thank the
universal AUTHOR for every manifestation of his
fayor,

Twilight? Nay! it is night. The golden tints that adorned the western horizon, have faded from view. Sweet Luna looks down from her cerulean throne, and smiles benevolently upon the world; whilst a thousand stars behold their bright forms reflected in the rills and the lakelets.

Twilight, charming twilight! Children of nature, are ye fond of the beautiful? Hand in hand we will take a stroll to some scene of rural life. How pleasant to walk beneath the over-spreading branches of the trees; the oak and the maple, the elm and the beech, preparing their buds for the Eolus, thou whom poets love to celebrate! breathe, glad return of May," Zephyr, bland daughter of It is night, Readers! wishing you a good evenoh! breathe upon our throbbing brows! All daying, uninterrupted rest, and pleasant dreams, I we have been wandering up and down through the leave you to yourselves and to your own silent strived, we have toiled; but little reward have we crowded thoroughfares of the city. We have reflections. gained for our anxiety, other than a fevered brain!

TH

ISAAC COBB.

Twilight thine usually, and especially this RECEIPT FOR POTATO PUDDING. night, is an hour sacred to quiet influences. It is HE author of the "Widow Bedott" papers, furwell. For we are weary and need rest, rest from nished an article for the Saturday Gazette, from the exciting cares of business; rest from the com. which we extract the following mirth-provoking motion and noise of the public mart: and oh! we recipe for a potato pudding. Mrs. Mudlaw, we would no longer witness the bickerings, the strifes, presume, is the cook of Mrs. Philpot, wife of the the wranglings of the contending multitude! candidate for congress, and Mrs. Darling is the Twilight! How appropriate to meditation.-wife of a worthy mechanic, whose vote Col. Phil. Seeking some retired place, where thought may pot is ambitious to obtain. Mrs. Darling calls upon

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »