7. From that chamber, clothed in white, The dead lay in his shroud of snow, "Forever-never! Never-forever!" 8. All are scatter'd now and fled, Never-forever!" 9. Never here, forever there, Where all parting, pain, and care, "Forever-never! Never-forever!" H. W. LONGFELLOW. IT 123. THE MORNING. is morning, and a morning sweet, and fresh, and delightful. Everybody knows the morning in its metaphorical' sense, applied to so many occasions. The health, strength, and beauty of early years, lead us to call that period the "morning of life." Of a lovely young woman we say, she is "bright as the morning;" and no one doubts why Lucifer is called "son of the morning." i Horologe (hor' o loj), a clock or watch. Met a phor' ic al, figurative.- Lu' ci fer, the bringer of light; the planet Venus; Satan 2. But the morning itself, few people, inhabitants of cities, know any thing about. Among all our good people, no one in a thousand sees the sun rise once in a year. They know nothing' of the morning; their idea of it is, that it is that part of the day which comes along after a cup of coffee and a beefsteak, or a piece of toast. 3. With them morning is not a new issuing of light; a new bursting forth of the sun, a new waking up of all that has life from a sort of temporary death, to behold again the works of God, the heavens and the earth; it is only a part of the domestic day, belonging to reading the newspapers, answering notes, sending the children to school, and giving orders for dinner. The first streak of light, the earliest purpling of the east, which the lark springs up to greet, and the deeper and deeper coloring into orange and red, till at length the "glorious sun is seen, regent of the day"-this they never enjoy, for they never see it. 4. Beautiful descriptions of the morning abound in all languages; but they are the strongest, perhaps, in the East, where the sun is often an object of worship. King David speaks of taking to himself the "wings of the morning." This is highly poetical and beautiful. The wings of the morning are the beams of the rising sun. Rays of light are wings. It is thus said that the Sun of righteousness shall arise "with healing in his wings" -a rising Sun that shall scatter life, health, and joy through the Universe. 5. Milton has fine descriptions of morning, but not so many as Shakspeare,' from whose writings pages of the most beautiful imagery, all founded on the glory of morning, might be filled. 6. I never thought that Adam had much the advantage of us from having seen the world while it was new. The manifestations of the power of God, like his mercies, are new every morning," and fresh every moment. 'Nothing (nåth' ing) 2 After (åft' er).-3 Issuing (Ish' shu ing), a flowing, or passing, or sending out.- Regent (rè' jent), ruler; governor; director. Often (8f' fn).- John Milton, a distinguished English poet, born December 9th, 1608, and died November 8th, 1675.-' William Shakspeare, the celebrated English poet, born in 1564, and died in 1616. 7. We see as fine risings of the sun as ever Adam saw; and its risings are as much a miracle' now as they were in his day, and I think a good deal more, because it is now a part of the miracle, that for thousands and thousands of years he has come to his appointed time, without the variation of a millionth part of a second. Adam could not tell how this might be. I know the morning-I am acquainted with it, and I love it. I love it fresh and sweet as it is a daily new creation, breaking fōrth and calling all that have life and breath and being to new adoration, new enjoyments, and new gratitude. DANIEL WEBSTER. 124. FLOWERS. 4 T is a matter of gratitude that this finest gift of Providence is the most profusely' given. Flowers can not be monopolized.* The poor can have them as much as the rich. It does not require such an education to love and appreciate them, as it would to admire a picture of Turner's, or a statue of Thorwalsden's." And, as they are messengers of affection, tokens of remembrance, and presents of beauty, of universal acceptance, it is pleasant to think that all men rec'ognize a brief brotherhood in them. 2. It is not impertinent to offer flowers to a stranger. The poorest child can proffer them to the richest. A hundred persons turned together into a meadow full of flowers would be drawn together in a transient brotherhood. 3. It is affecting to see how serviceable flowers often are to the necessities of the poor. If they bring their little floral gift to you, it can not but touch your heart to think that their grateful affection longed to express itself as much as yours. You have books, or gems, or services, that you can render as you will. 'Mir' a cle, an act or event beyond the ordinary laws of nature; a wonder.—2 Pro fùse' ly, prodigally; in a lavish manner.- Mo nop' olized, obtained the sole right of buying and selling; engrossing the whole. Turner, a distinguished English painter, born 1775, died 1851. - Thorwalsden, a celebrated Danish sculptor, born 1770, died 1844.Transient (trån' shent), short; soon past. The poor can give but little, and do but little. Were it not for flowers, they would be shut out from those exquisite1 pleasures which spring from such gifts. I never take one from a child, or from the poor, that I do not thank God in their behalf for flowers! 4. And then, when Death enters a poor man's house! It may be, the child was the only creature that loved the unbefriended father-really loved him; loved him utterly. Or, it may be, it is an only son, and his mother a widōw-who, in all his sickness, felt the limitation of her poverty for her darling's sake as she never had for her own; and did what she could, but not what she would, had there been wealth. The coffin is pine. The undertaker2 sold it with a jerk of indifference and haste, lest he should lose the selling of a rosewood coffin, trimmed with splendid silver screws. The room is small. The attendant neighbors are few. The shroud is coarse. 5. Oh! the darling child was fit for whatever was most excellent, and the heart aches to do for him whatever could be done that should speak love. It takes money for fine linen; money for costly sep'ulture. But flowers, thank God, the poorest may have. So, put white buds in the hair—and honey-dew, and mignonette, and half-blown roses, on the breast. If it be spring, a few white violets will do; and there is not a month till November that will not give you something. But if it is winter, and you have no single pot of roses, then I fear your darling must be buried without a flower; for flowers cost money in the winter! 6. And then, if you can not give a stone to mark his burial place, a rose may stand there; and from it you may, every spring, pluck a bud for your bosom, as the child was broken off from you. And if it brings tears for the past, you will not see the flowers fade and come again, and fade and come again, year by year, and not learn a lesson of the resurrection-when that which perished here shall revive again, never more to droop or to die. H. W. BEECHER. 'Exquisite (êks' kwe zit), choice; very nice or select.- Un der tåk'er, one who manages funerals. Sep' ul tùre, burial. Mignonette (minyo nêt'), a plant bearing flowers of an agreeable odor. 125. THE DEATH OF THE FLOWERS. 1. THE melancholy days are come, THE maddest of the year, Of wailing winds, and naked woods, 2. Where are the flowers, the fair young flowers, In brighter light and softer airs, Alas! they all are in their graves; The gentle race of flowers With the fair and good of ours. The lovely ones again. 3. The wind-flower and the violet, They perish'd long ago, And the wild-rose and the orchis died 'Ed' dying, moving circularly. This reading-caws, instead of calls -is sanctioned by the gifted author. This piece alone is sufficient to seal the reputation of a poet, who, at least, on this side of the Atlantic, has no superior. In making these selections, the authors frankly confess the serious difficulty they have experienced in deciding, not what to take, but what to omit that bears the name of William Cullen Bryant. |