the sharp shrill of the woods into one delightful tlie universal voice of nature if anything can be added to render this more perfect � if the of art may so mingle with the of nature as to our enjoyment of both it is when sweet music is heard upon the water for music is the great master key which the feelings and pa of mankind bringing to light more hidden things than ever were called forth or revealed by the direct language of words when plaintive it itself to that have long been or never were awakened before softening the heart and with the warm tribute of genuine tenderness eyes that had forgotten to weep when light and joyous it touches as with electric power the springs of animal motion and and in an instant the dark brow becomes the old resume their youth tlie weary step is quickened and the shadows of life are trampled down in the light and playful dance when wild and free and national in its associations it strikes the soul of the and the chains of the are burst asunder while planting himself on i i the poetry of life his native hills with a step as firm as the rock a heart as invincible as the storm and a front as as the mountain s brow he the might of the foe and nerves himself to defend j his or die or when slow and solemn and majestic in its strains it falls upon the spirit like the mantle of deep thought soothing down the idle flutter of joy the fruitless of ambition the selfish and sordid cares that desolate the mind and a holy calm which if not religion itself brings with it one of religion s best and sweetest attributes � the of peace the evil purposes to which music is capable of being applied might afford a fertile subject for the pen of the its power over the human mind is all that is attempted to be established here upon by this power how many thousands of human beings have been led on to do and to dare what they would never have dreamed of attempting but for the influence of this potent spell � potent in its immediate upon the feelings and affections but oh how much more potent in the recollections it music is the grand vehicle of memory the key which the treasure of the soul words may define and place before our mental as in a map all that has been but music the active energies of the mind addresses itself directly to the soul in a voice that makes itself be heard amongst the tumult and excitement of present things � the voice of the past we listen as to a curious specimen of art to the national music of some distant country about which we interest ourselves no farther than as it a place upon the globe we listen we we remark upon the peculiarity of the air and then turn away but there may be one in the crowd of � a heart stricken exile from that very country � a wanderer without a home � driven about from one shore to another and with the very extremity of his � he hears that strain and in an instant into the very centre of his early and the warm comforts of his home he sees again the stately woods that bounded his hereditary domain and hears the rush of the torrent that guarded and defined its limits he stands again upon his father s hearth and feels himself a free bom man proud to maintain and strong to defend his and rights the music ceases a shadow like the pall of death falls upon the ideal picture and again he stands upon a foreign land an desolate and alone we have au known some blessed season of our before the wheels of time had grown heavy with an a of cares when the morning was bright upon our path and the evening fell around us calm and serene as the repose of our own souls when the friends we loved loved us and the smiles that betrayed our were answered by smiles that told of gladness in return when the fields and the woods the mountains and the sky were parts and pillars of that great temple where we met to worship all that was sublime eternal and holy when the moon was the centre of love and beauty and the sun of life and light when the rivers and wandering streams were a perpetual refreshment and delight and the ocean was a flood of glory when the and the flowers and the stars of night blended their sweet influences together and the song of the birds the murmuring of tlie and the whispering of the gentle rose in a of gratitude and joy and when music heard as it was heard then told in its sweetest tones of all that we of the past all that we enjoyed of the present and all that we hoped of the future we have gone forth since then upon the pilgrimage of life and the morning may have risen without brightness upon our path and the evening may have come without repose we may have missed the warm welcome of the eyes we loved and the smile that was wont to answer to our own we may have stood alone in tlie temple of nature without reverence and without worship we may have looked up to the queen of night without beholding her beauty and to the sun blessing his light we may have wandered where the rippling flow of the crystal stream brought no gladness and turned away from the ocean as from a desert to tho may have fallen i ff the poetry of sound the flowers may have and the stars of night may have shone and the grateful and harmonious 