Some spoke of friends that were their trust no more; And one of a green grave Beside a foreign wave, That made him sit so lonely on the shore. But when their tales were done, A stranger, seeming from all sorrow free; But mine is heavier yet; For a believing heart hath gone from me." "Alas!" these pilgrims said, "For the living and the dead- But, however it came to thee, Thine, stranger, is life's last and heaviest loss." FRANCES BROWN. WE EDUCATION. VERE a being of an understanding mind and a benevo lent heart, to see, for the first time, a peaceful babe reposing in its cradle, or on its mother's breast, and were he to be told that that infant had been so constituted that every joint and organ in its whole frame might become the rendezvous of disease and racking pains; that such was its internal structure that every nerve and fibre beneath its skin might be made to throb with a peculiar torture; that in the endless catalogue of human disasters, maladies, adversities, or shames, there was scarcely one to which it would not be exposed; that, in the whole criminal law of society, and in the more comprehensive and self-executing law of God there was not a crime which its heart might not at some time will, and its hand perpetrate; that, in the ghastly host of tragic passions-Fear, Envy, Jealousy, Hate, Remorse, Despair-there was not one which might not lacerate its soul, and bring down upon it an appropriate catastrophe-were the benevolent spectator whom I have supposed, to see this environment of ills underlying, surrounding, overhanging their feeble and unconscious victim, and, as it were, watching to dart forth and seize it, might he not be excused for wishing the newly-created spirit well back again into nonenity? But we cannot return to nonenity. We have no refuge in annihilation. Creative energy has been exerted. Our first attribute, the vehicle of all our other attributes, is immortality. We are of indestructible mold. Do what else we please with our nature and our faculties, we cannot annihilate them. Go where we please, self-desertion is impossible. Banished, we may be, from the enjoyment of God, but never from His dominion. There is no right or power of expatriation. There is no neighboring universe to fly to. If we forswear allegiance, it is but an empty form, for the laws by which we are bound do not only surround us, but are in us, and parts of us. Whatsoever other things may be possible, yet to break up or suspend this perpetuity of existence; to elude this susceptibility to pains, at once indefinite in number and indescribable in severity; to silence conscience, or to say that it shall not hold dominion over the soul; to sink the past in oblivion; or to alter any of the conditions on which Heaven has made our bliss and our woe depend-these things are impossible. Personality has been given us, by which we must refer all sensations, emotions, resolves, to our conscious selves. Identity has been given us, by virtue of which, through whatever ages we exist, our whole being is made a unity. Now, whether curses or blessings, by these conditions of our nature we must stand; for they are appointed to us by a law higher than Fate-by the law of God. HORACE Mann. I NATIONAL GREATNESS. BELIEVE there is no permanent greatness to a nation except it be based upon morality. I do not care for military greatness or military renown. I care for the condition of the people among whom I live. There is no man in England who is less likely to speak irreverently of the crown and monarchy of England than I am; but crowns, coronets, miters, military display, the pomp of war, wide colonies, and a huge empire are, in my view, all trifles light as air, and not worth considering, unless with them you can have a fair share of comfort, contentment, and happiness among the great body of the people. Palaces, baronial castles, great halls, stately mansions, do not make a nation. The nation, in every country, dwells in the cottage; and unless the light of your constitution can shine there, unless the beauty of your legislation and excellence of your statemanship are impressed there in the feelings and condition of the people, rely upon it you have yet to learn the duties of government. JOHN BRIGHT. THE LAWYER'S LULLABY. (From the Outlook.) BE still, my child! remain in statu quo, While I propel thy cradle to and fro, Let no involved res inter alios Prevail while we're consulting inter nos. Was that a little pain in medias res? Too bad! too bad! we'll have no more of these. Who knows how to eject the pain and stay the hurt. No trespasser shall come to trouble thee; For thou dost own this house in simple fee And thy administrators, heirs, assigns, To have, to hold, convey, at thy designs. Correct thy pleadings, my own baby boy; And verdict, costs, and judgment thou shalt take. F. H. COGGSWELL. PROSPICE. EAR death?-to feel the fog in my throat, FEAR The mist in my face, When the snows begin, and the blasts denote The power of the night, the press of the storm, Where he stands, the Arch Fear in a visible form, For the journey is done and the summit attained, Though a battle's to fight ere the guerdon be gained, I was ever a fighter, so-one fight more, The best and the last! I would hate that death bandaged my eyes, and forbore. And bade me creep past. No! let me taste the whole of it, fare like my peers The heroes of old, Bear the brunt, in a minute pay glad life's arrears For sudden the worst turns the best to the brave, And the elements' rage, the fiend-voices that rave, Shall dwindle, shall blend, Shall change, shall become first a peace out of pain, O thou soul of my soul! I shall clasp thee again, ROBERT BROWNING. |