Just sparkle in the solar glow, THE DEATH OF THE FLOWERS. THE melancholy days are come, the saddest of the year, Of wailing winds, and naked woods, and meadows brown and sere. Heap'd in the hollows of the grove, the wither'd leaves lie dead; They rustle to the eddying gust, and to the rabbit's tread. The robin and the wren are flown, and from the shrub the jay, And from the wood-top calls the crow, through all the gloomy day. Where are the flowers, the fair young flowers, that lately sprung and stood, In brighter light and softer airs, a beauteous sisterhood? Alas! they all are in their graves, the gentle race of flowers Are lying in their lowly beds, with the fair and good of ours. The rain is falling where they lie; but the cold November rain Calls not, from out the gloomy earth, the lovely ones again. The windflower and the violet, they perish'd long ago, And the wild-rose and the orchis died amid the summer glow; But on the hill the golden rod, and the aster in the wood, And the yellow sunflower by the brook in autumn beauty stood, Till fell the frost from the clear cold heaven, as falls the plague on men, And the brightness of their smile was gone from upland, glade and glen. And now, when comes the calm, mild day, as still such days will come, To call the squirrel and the bee from out their winter home, When the sound of dropping nuts is heard, though all the trees are still, And twinkle in the smoky light the waters of the rill, The south wind searches for the flowers whose fragrance late he bore, And sighs to find them in the wood and by the stream no more. And then I think of one who in her youthful beauty died, The fair, meek blossom that grew up and faded by my side: In the cold moist earth we laid her when the forest cast the leaf, And we wept that one so lovely should have a life so brief; Yet not unmeet it was, that one, like that young friend of ours, So gentle and so beautiful, should perish with the flowers. THE VALUE OF ASSOCIATIONS. THE value of associations is to be measured by the energy, the freedom, the activity, the moral power which they encourage and diffuse. In truth, the great object of all benevolence, is, to give power, activity, and freedom to others. We cannot, in the strict sense of the word, make any being happy. We can give others the means of happiness, together with motives to the faithful use of them; but on this faithfulness, on the free and full exercise of their own powers, their happiness depends. There is thus a fixed, impassable limit to human benevolence. It can only make men happy through themselves, through their own freedom, and energy. We go further. We believe, that God has set the same limit to his own benevolence. He makes no being happy, in any other sense than in that of giving him means, powers, motives, and a field for exertion. We have here, we think, the great consideration to guide us in judging of associations. Those are good which communicate power, moral and intellectual action, and the capacity of useful efforts, to the persons who form them, or to the persons on whom they act. On the other hand, associations which in any degree impair or re press the full action of men's powers, are so far hurtful.On this principle, associations for restoring to men health, strength, the use of their limbs, the use of their senses, especially of sight and hearing, are highly to be approved, for such enlarge men's powers; whilst charitable Associations which weaken in men the motives to exertion, which offer a bounty to idleness, or make beggary as profitable as labor, are great calamities to society, and peculiarly calamitous to those whom they relieve. On the same principle, associations which are designed to awaken the human mind, to give to men of all classes a consciousness of their intellectual powers, to communicate knowledge of a useful and quickening character, to encourage men in thinking with freedom and vigor, to inspire an ardent love and pursuit of truth, -are most worthy of patronage; whilst such as are designed or adapted to depress the human intellect, to make it dependent and servile, to keep it where it is, to give a limited amount of knowledge, but not to give impulse and an onward motion to men's thoughts,—all such associations, however benevolent their professions, should be regarded as among the foes and obstructions to the best interests of society.On the same principle, associations aiming to purify and ennoble the character of a people, to promote true virtue, a rational piety, a disinterested charity, a wise temperance, and especially aiming to accomplish these ends by the only effectual means, that is, by calling forth men's own exertions for a higher knowledge of God and duty, and for a new and growing control of themselves,—such institutions are among the noblest; whilst no encouragement is due to such as aim to make men religious and virtuous by paralyzing their minds through terror, by fastening on them a yoke of opinions or practises, by pouring upon them influences from abroad which virtually annihilate their power over themselves, and make them instruments for others to speak through, and to wield at pleasure. We beg our readers to carry with them the principle now laid down in judging of associations; to inquire how far they are fitted to call forth energy, active talent, religious inquiry, a free and manly virtue. EARLY RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION. MUCH has been said of late on the topic of education; and improvements are continually making in the adaptation of elementary instruction particularly to the infant mind. Yet there is one most important branch of instruction, which still seems enveloped in difficulty and darkness. The best mode of imparting religious and moral truth to children in their earliest years, is yet a subject of an anxious inquiry. There must be a way, and there is undoubtedly a way, to bring up our children in the 'nurture and admonition of the Lord.' But what that way is, we believe is as yet as unsettled a question in intellectual and moral science as has ever been proposed. There cannot be one more interesting. For that there has been a general failure in giving children such religious impressions as exert a happy influence on their hearts and conduct, we think the experience of almost every one will bear witness. The cause of this failure may be a profitable subject of inquiry; and if it be found to exist in erroneous notions generally prevalent, an exposure of these errors is the first step towards the discovery we are so anxious to attain. The whole bearing of the religious instruction of children, is, and ever has been, rather to keep them from sinning, than to inspire them with motives to virtue, and to aid them in its acquisition. This has given the subject its sombre and unlovely aspect to them; and the whole system of associations must be changed, before it can become a grateful one to the heart of a child. Most of us can remember, that our earliest religious impressions were the gloomiest we ever knew; utterly repugnant to our nature, ruinous to all our innocent enjoyments; and we have longed to deliver our own children from similar perversions. But how to make them feel religious sanctions without occasioning this distaste, has been a source of anxious, and we might almost say, fruitless experiment; nor have we received much assistance from the sermons, theories, and numberless other attempts to make the matter more easy. To us it appears, that the grand difficulty lies at the very starting point. As we have intimated, the aim from the beginning should be, not to lay the foundation of religion in its terrors to evil doers, but in its encouragements and re wards to those who do well. That its efficacy would thus be diminished, no one who has had any acquaintance with children, can suppose. For while all the ardor of their spirits is at once aroused by a motive which strikes them agreeably, it is but a sullen or unwilling, far indeed from a joyous obedience, which they ever give to a threatened punishment. It One of the first opportunities that a parent has, to communicate the idea of God to her child, is suggested by the child itself. Among its earliest delights are flowers. reaches with avidity towards a blossom, and when possessed, tears it in pieces with what seems to us senseless folly, and we wonder, that, desiring it so much, it values it so little. But the child is wiser in his generation than we, and takes his enjoyment of the flower in the only way it can yield him pleasure. By and by he holds it in his hand for a long time, or sticks it in his shoes, or frolics about, wearing it as an enviable decoration. But soon a new capacity begins to dawn, and he says, who made this flower? It is well if in our answer we can confine ourselves to the suggestion of wisdom intimated by the question, and when again he demands, who is God? refrain from such a description of his works as shall overawe the little mind of the being that is now to receive its first impression. How natural to say-he made the sun and moon and the sky, the earth and every thing you can see! And yet how injudicious! since at no age is the idea of inconceivable power unattended by dread. No; let the rose content us; it is enough. You may satisfy his curiosity to know how he made it, without being able to satisfy your own. Tell him that God made him; and he made the rose to give him pleasure. That he made it grow out of the ground; for God can do such things, though men and women cannot. Show him the beautiful color of the blossom, and tell him that no man could paint it so; but that God puts all these colors in the air, and that there he makes them shine on the leaves and flowers, just as he thinks it best for their beauty, giving to some flowers one color and to others another. Tell him, too, that he gives the flowers their different odors, just as he gives them their colors, and does it all to please us. The material world furnishes the child with his first wonders, and furnishes you with ample materials for giving him pleasing impressions of its Maker. Aim at nothing further until this is done. It will prove the best |