30. But seldom may such thoughts of mingled joy A father's agitated breast dilate, As when he first beheld that infant boy. Who hath not proved it, ill can estimate The feeling of that stirring hour, ... the weight Of that new sense, the thoughtful, pensive bliss. In all the changes of our changeful state,

Even from the cradle to the grave, I wis, The heart doth undergo no change so great as this.

31. A deeper and unwonted feeling fill'd These parents, gazing on their new-born son. Already in their busy hopes they build On this frail sand. Now let the seasons run, And let the natural work of time be done With them, ... for unto them a child is born: And when the hand of Death may reach the one,

The other will not now be left to mourn A solitary wretch, all utterly forlorn.

32. Thus Monnema and thus Quiara thought, Though each the melancholy thought represt; They could not choose but feel, yet utter'd not The human feeling, which in hours of rest Often would rise, and fill the boding breast With a dread foretaste of that mournful day, When, at the inexorable Power's behest,

The unwilling spirit, called perforce away, Must leave, for ever leave its dear connatural clay.

33. Link'd as they were, where each to each was all, How might the poor survivor hope to bear That heaviest loss which one day must befall, Nor sink beneath the weight of his despair ? Scarce could the heart even for a moment dare That miserable time to contemplate, When the dread Messengershould find them there,

From whom is no escape, ... and reckless Fate, Whom it had bound so close, for ever separate.

34. Lighter that burthen lay upon the heart When this dear babe was born to share their lot; They could endure to think that they must part. Then too a glad consolatory thought Arose, while gazing on the child they sought With hope their dreary prospect to delude, Till they almost believed, as fancy taught,

How that from them a tribe should spring renew'd, To people and possess that ample solitude.

35. Such hope they felt, but felt that whatsoe'er The undiscoverable to come might prove, Unwise it were to let that bootless care Disturb the present hours of peace and love. For they had gain'd a happiness above The state which in their native horde was known: No outward causes were there here to move

Discord and alien thoughts; being thus alone From all mankind, their hearts and their desires were

one.

36. Different their love in kind and in degree From what their poor depraved forefathers knew, With whom degenerate instincts were left free To take their course, and blindly to pursue, Unheeding they the ills that must ensue, The bent of brute desire. No moral tie Bound the hard husband to his servile crew

Of wives; and they the chance of change might try, All love destroy'd by such preposterous liberty.

37.
Far other tie this solitary pair
Indissolubly bound; true helpmates they,
In joy or grief, in weal or woe to share,
In sickness or in health, thro' life's long day;
And reassuming in their hearts her sway
Benignant Nature made the burthen light.
It was the Woman's pleasure to obey,

The Man's to ease her toil in all he might,
So each in serving each obtain'd the best delight.

38. And as connubial, so parental love Obey'd unerring Nature's order here, For now no force of impious custom strove Against her law ;... such as was wont to sear The unhappy heart with usages severe, Till harden'd mothers in the grave could lay Their living babes with no compunctious tear ;

So monstrous men become, when from the way Of primal light they turn thro' heathen paths astray.

39.
Deliver'd from this yoke, in them henceforth
The springs of natural love may freely flow :
New joys, new virtues with that happy birth
Are born, and with the growing infant grow.
Source of our purest happiness below
Is that benignant law which hath entwined
Dearest delight with strongest duty so

That in the healthy heart and righteous mind
Ever they co-exist, inseparably combined.

40.

Oh! bliss for them when in that infant face
They now the unfolding faculties descry,
And fondly gazing, trace.

... or think they trace
The first faint speculation in that eye,
Which hitherto hath roll'd in vacancy !
Oh! bliss in that soft countenance to seek
Some mark of recognition, and espy

The quiet smile which in the innocent cheek Of kindness and of kind its consciousness doth speak !

41. For him, if born among their native tribe, Some haughty name his parents had thought good, As weening that therewith they should ascribe The strength of some fierce tenant of the wood, The water, or the aërial solitude, Jaguar or vulture, water-wolf or snake, The beast that prowls abroad in search of blood,

Or reptile that within the treacherous brake Waits for the prey, upcoil'd, its hunger to aslake.

42. Now soften'd as their spirits were by love, Abhorrent from such thoughts they turn’d away; And with a happier feeling, from the dove, They named the child Yeruti. On a day When smiling at his mother's breast in play, They in his tones of murmuring pleasure heard A sweet resemblance of the stock-dove's lay,

Fondly they named him from that gentle bird, And soon such happy use endear'd the fitting word.

43. Days pass, and moons have wax'd and waned,

and still
This dovelet nestled in their leafy bower
Obtains increase of sense, and strength and will,
As in due order 'many a latent power
Expands, ... humanity's exalted dower:
And they while thus the days serenely fled
Beheld him flourish like a vigorous flower,

Which lifting from a genial soil its head
By seasonable suns and kindly showers is fed.

44.
Ere long the cares of helpless babyhood
To the next stage of infancy give place,
That

age with sense of conscious growth endued,
When every gesture hath its proper grace:
Then come the unsteady step, the tottering pace;
And watchful hopes and emulous thoughts appear;
The imitative lips essay to trace
Their words, observant both with

eye In mutilated sounds which parents love to hear.

and ear,