Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

The woven sounds of bird and stream
Are falling beautiful and deep
Upon the spirit, like a dream

Of music on the hour of sleep;
And gently from the dewy bowers
Soft murmurs, like the breath of flowers,
Are winding through the purple grove,
And blending with the notes of Love.

The streams in veins of silver flow;
The sunrise gale o'er flower and tree
So lightly breathes, it scarce would blow
A fairy bark upon the sea;

It comes so fresh, so calm, so sweet,
It draws the heart from its retreat,

To mingle in the glories, born
In the first holy light of morn.

A cloud is on the sky above;

And calmly, o'er the young year blue, 'Tis coming like a thing of love

To gladden in the rising dew:

Its white waves with the sunlight blend,
And gentle spirits seem to bend
From its unrolling folds, to hear
The glad sounds of our joyous sphere.

The lake, unruffled by the breeze,
Smiles in its deep, unbroken rest,
As it were dreaming of the trees

And blossoms pictured on its breast;
Its depths are glowing, bright, and fair,
And the far skies seem hollowed there,
Soft trembling, as they felt the thrill
Of music echoed from the hill.

[ocr errors]

The living soul of beauty fills

The air with glorious visions: bright
They linger round the sunny hills,

And wander in the clear blue light:
Off to the breathing heavens they go,
Along the earth they live and glow,
Shed o'er the lake their happy smiles,
And beckon to its glittering isles.

O, at this hour, when air and earth
Are gushing love, and joy, and light,
And songs of gladness, at the birth

Of all that's beautiful and bright,

Each heart beats high; each thought is blown
To flame; the spirit drinks the tone

Of brighter worlds, and melts away
In visions of eternal day.

'LESSON XVII.

EXERCISES IN ARTICULATION.

a: - abjure, admit, admire, apply; appear; - instantly, constantly, penalty, valiantly; - countenance, temperance, abundance.

Voyage to Europe.

WASHINGTON IRVING.

To an American visiting Europe, the long voyage he has to make is an excellent preparative. The temporary ab

Note to Teachers. One of the principal defects in articulation arises from a tendency of the organs to slide over the unaccented vowels, either perverting or suppressing their sounds. To remedy

sence of worldly scenes and employments produces a state of mind peculiarly fitted to receive new and vivid impressions. The vast space of waters that separates the hemispheres is like a blank page in existence. There is no gradual transition, by which, as in Europe, the features and population of one country blend almost imperceptibly with those of another. From the moment you lose sight of the land you have left, all is vacancy, until you step on the opposite shore, and are launched at once into the bustle and novelties of another world.

In travelling by land, there is a continuity of scene, and a connected succession of persons and incidents, that carry on the story of life, and lessen the effect of absence and separation. We drag, it is true, "a lengthening chain" at each remove of our pilgrimage; but the chain is unbroken; we can trace it back link by link; and we feel that the last of them still grapples us at home. But a wide sea voyage severs us at once. It makes us conscious of being cast loose from the secure anchorage of settled life, and sent adrift upon a doubtful world. It interposes a gulf, not merely imaginary, but real, between us and our homes—a gulf, subject to tempest, and fear, and uncertainty, that makes distance palpable, and return precarious.

Such, at least, was the case with myself. As I saw the last blue line of my native land fade away like a cloud in the horizon, it seemed as if I had closed one volume of the world and its concerns, and had time for meditation before I opened another. That land, too, now vanishing from my view, which contained all that was most dear to me in life, what vicissitudes might occur in it, what changes might take place in me, before I should visit it again! Who can

[ocr errors]

this defect, the words in the table should be pronounced with great distinctness. In this manner, the organs of speech will be trained to

a correct utterance.

tell, when he sets forth to wander, whither he may be driven by the uncertain currents of existence; or when he may return; or whether it may be ever his lot to revisit the scenes of his childhood?

I said, that at sea all is vacancy; I should correct the expression. To one given to day-dreaming, and fond of losing himself in reveries, a sea voyage is full of subjects for meditation; but then they are the wonders of the deep and of the air, and rather tend to abstract the mind from worldly themes. I delighted to loll over the quarter-railing, or climb to the main-top, on a calm day, and muse for hours together on the tranquil bosom of a summer's sea;—to gaze upon the piles of golden clouds just peering above the horizon; fancy them some fairy realms, and people them with a creation of my own; to watch the gentle, undulating billows, rolling their silver volumes, as if to die away on those happy shores.

There was a delicious sensation of mingled security and awe with which I looked down, from my giddy height, on the monsters of the deep at their uncouth gambols shoals of porpoises tumbling about the bow of the ship; the grampus, slowly heaving his huge form above the surface; or the ravenous shark, darting, like a spectre, through the blue waters. My imagination would conjure up all that I had heard or read of the watery world beneath me; of the finny herds that roam its fathomless valleys; of the shapeless monsters that lurk among the very foundations of the earth; and of those wild phantasms that swell the tales of fishermen and sailors.

Sometimes a distant sail, gliding along the edge of the ocean, would be another theme of idle speculation. How interesting this fragment of a world, hastening to rejoin the great mass of existence! What a glorious monument of human invention; that has thus triumphed over wind and wave; has brought the ends of the world into communion;

has established an interchange of blessings, pouring into the sterile regions of the north all the luxuries of the south; has diffused the light of knowledge and the charities of cultivated life; and has thus bound together those scattered portions of the human race, between which nature seemed to have thrown an insurmountable barrier.

We one day descried some shapeless object drifting at a distance. At sea, every thing that breaks the monotony of the surrounding expanse attracts attention. It proved to be the mast of a ship that must have been completely wrecked; for there were the remains of handkerchiefs, by which some of the crew had fastened themselves to this spar, to prevent their being washed off by the waves. There was no trace by which the name of the ship could be ascertained. The wreck had evidently drifted about for many months; clusters of shell fish had fastened about it, and long sea-weeds flaunted at its sides.

But where, thought I, is the crew? Their struggle has long been over; they have gone down amidst the roar of the tempest; their bones lie whitening among the caverns of the deep. Silence, oblivion, like the waves, have closed over them, and no one can tell the story of their end. What sighs have been wafted after that ship! what prayers offered up at the deserted fireside of home! How often has the mistress, the wife, the mother, pored over the daily news, to catch some casual intelligence of this rover of the deep! How has expectation darkened into anxiety, anxiety into dread, and dread into despair! Alas! not one memento shall ever return for love to cherish. All that shall ever be known, is, that she sailed from her port, "and was never heard of more!"

The sight of this wreck, as usual, gave rise to many dismal anecdotes. This was particularly the case in the evening, when the weather, which had hitherto been fair, began to look wild and threatening, and gave indications of one of

6

« AnteriorContinua »