The Sun.
London, England, 1852-06-03 00:00:00

FACES BY THE FIRE.
(From Eliza Cook's Journal.)
I pass a window iu the dusk of tfie evening. A
brold stream of light flows across the darkening
street, and shines against the opposite wall. The
blaze flashes in my eyes, and, but for an instant, un-
consciously I turn aside to meet it. I catch but a
glimpse of the interior of a home, but it is enough.
Through a screen of green leaves, I see a group of
merry faces by the fire, the cheerful blaze making "a
sunshine in the Shady place." The light flashes upon
the features of a beautiful girl, with a laughing child
upon her knee; a little ruddy fellow is crouched at
her feet, and a cheerful-looking old dame, in specta-
cles, busy at her knitting, from which for a moment
she looks up to watch the gambols of the youngsters,
occupies the farther side of the hearth. There is
another figure, that of a man, with his back toward
me, on the opposite side; doubtless the fire brightens
his face, too, but the faces of the women and the
children are enough. What is a cheerful fireside with-
out them? they are the precious jewels which glitter
and shine around the happy hearths, and make light
and beauty there even in the saddest hours. Like
white flowers in the dusk, they cheer and hallow it—
they speak of the thousand hopes and joys which
cluster about a home—they are the emblems of vir-
tue, cheerfulness, beauty, and divine comfort.
Burke has said that "to love the little platoon we
belong to in society, is the germ of all public affec-
tions." Yes, unless the faces shine by the fire, they
will shine nowhere else. If we feel not warmed by
the fire which glows about the hearthstone—we mean
the affection and love which are its true moral glow—
bow can we feel affection and sympathy for those who
compass us about in ever-widening circles in the
outer world ? All genial warmth emanates from the
home; it is there the affections are first moved, and
there the heart is first attuned to human sympathy.
You see that child laughing in the full glow of the
firelight—it is drinking in impressions which will last
its life out. The little child is formed by love, its
character is moulded by love, its future is determined
by love—
" Ali! how skilful grows the hand
That obey eth Love's commend.
It is the heart, and not the brain,
That to the highest cloth attain;
And ho who followeth Love's behest,
Far exceedeth all the rest."
Have you seen the child's face by the fire, half
concealed in his mother's lap, while, knelt there, he
whispered out the faint accents of prayer which she
bad first taught him, and which he never after for-
gets ? She it was who first told him of God and
Heaven, and by her daily example inspired him with
love of holiness. And even though the child, when
grown up into manhood, has gone astray, and the
chain of Love which bound him to the Home has
been snapped, the links still drag at his heels, and he
is never happy until they are bound together again.
The bright fire is the eye of the home; it
bespeaks cheerfulness, peace, cleanliness, comfort.
About it the small sweet courtesies of life—in which
there is no parade nor affectation, which manifest
themselves in kind words and affectionate looks,—
cluster naturally and gracefully. The seeds of love
are fostered by its genial warmth, and the faces by
the fire look bright through affection and lively inter-
course. The cheerful fire indicates domesticity, love
of home, and humanity. Even though the circle be
a small one, there are larger circles beyond ' and still
it is the centre of a congeries of rays which extend
beyond the home, and warm the world without, even
to far outer circles. The root is hid in the home, but
the branches extend into the glad daylight of society
and public life:
Faces by the Fire ! how many pictures spring to
view at the words ; how the poets of England have
hr eisv nationaledlel el
idc templeaoruosupn od the fireside and t
e om fso
uofraTceh Fir
eshe i
Longfellow
Fireside."
home—the
You
e
h asre
mg er writtenema
.t
ber his " Fire of Drift-wood :"
“ We sat and talked until the night,
Descending, filled the little room;
Our faces faded from the sight,
Our voices oaly broke the gloom.
e Oft died the words upon our lips,
As suddenly, from out the fire
Built of the wreck of stranded ships,
The flames would leap, and then expire.
" 0 flames that glowed! 0 hearts that yearned!
They were, indeed, too much akin !
The drift-wood fire without that burned,—
The thoughts that burned and glowed within."
And there are his lines on the " Twilight" by the
Fireside, certainly the most luxurious point of time
which a fireside can present--the time when old re-
collections are brought forth, and old stories told, and
old poetry talked of, and old songs chanted,—music
at such a time opening the windows of the soul, and
letting heaven peep in. A t such a time the feeling of
snugness is delicious ; perhaps the wind blows with-
out, but all is warmth and comfort within :
" Fast by an ingle, bleezing finely,
Wi' reaming swats, that drank divinely;
The storm without might rain and rustle—
Tam didna mind the storm a whistle."
Or, more temperate than Burns in his "Tam
O'Shanter," there is our genuine Home Poet, Cowper,
who thus introduces one of his finest poems :
" Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast,
Let fall the cur sins, wheel the sofa round;
And while the bubbling and loud-hissing urn
Throws up a steamy column, and the cups,
That cheer but not inebriate, wait on each,
So let us welcome peaceful evening in."
Even the Italian poets, whose skies are in a glow,
have been inspired by the Homer Fire, and felt that
human faces looked the brighter by its light. Alfieri
makes a commodious fireplace the climax of his
wishes with regard to lodging; and old Horace tempts
his friends to visit him by the promise of a neat room
and a sparkling fire :
" Dissolve frigus, ligna super foco
Large reponens."
Or, as Dryden translates it :
" With well-heaped logs dissolve the cold,
And feed the genial hearth with fires.'
Then there is the exquisite little cabinet picture,
painted
p ,
painted by Milton, a master of description,
and a true
lover of home and home joys:—
" Or, if the air will not permit,
Some still, removed place will fit,
Where glowing embers through the room
Teach light to counterfeit a gloom;
Far from all resort of mirth,
Save the cricket on the hearth,
Or the bellman's drowsy charm
To bless the doors from nightly harm."
Of course, as there are children, about a family
fireside, there will be lively prattle, mirth, and
laughter, which comes of freedom. In the glad fire-
light the young heart rejoices ; for the time, merri-
ment suffices. Pleasantry in the home is like the
sfltorweaemrss, bwheicahutoiffyteingnfloat around the margin of deep
heart will be free
andthweilslodleamnene
nwoawtehresroefiflinfoe.t
in
nTahee
home. Young nature is ever happy
" The young, they laugh: laughs not the sky?
The winds, they laugh as they pass by;
The sun, he laughs, and Nature's face
Beams with a joyous, laughing grace.
Yes, laughing ever she renews
The verdant fields her morning dews."
" Yes," exclaims Theophilus Trine], " we will
sing, and we will laugh, and rejoice in the lily-work ;
but we will also be wise of heart' concerning the
pillars' of the world—the great truths of conscience,
the peril and the worth of free beings, the saving and
perfecting love—by which truths alone can our well-
being, and the well-being of our race, be secured."
Speaking of the prattle of children about the fire-
side, reminds us of a touching passage in the life of
Dr. Kitto, whom an accident in early life deprived
of the faculty of hearing, wherein he says, in lan-
guage of deep pathos, " I never heard the voices of
any of my children." The reader, of course, knows
this; but the fact, as stated in plain words, is almost
shocking. Is there anything on earth so engaging to
a parent as to catch the first glimpse of his infant's
tongue ? or so interesting as to listen to its dear prat-
tle, and trace its gradual mastery of speech ? If
there be any one thing,"arising out of my condition,
which more than another fills my heart with grief, it
is this ; it is to see their blessed lips in motion, and to
hear them not ; and to witness others moved to smiles
and kisses by the sweet peculiarities of infantile speech
which are incommunicable to me, and which pass by
me like the idle wind."

Thus, how many of our richest blessings are un-
thought of until they have been taken away ! Even
the light of the sun is scarce valued, because it comes
to us daily, and we regard it as a thing of course.
And the sunshine of the heart is unnoticed and scarce
felt until, alas ! it has gone down in darkness, and
then we awake to a sense of the blessing we have lost.
And so with the Faces by the Fire; while we have
them beside us, seated in their accustomed places—
one by the mother's knee, anotiu,,rfron her lap, and
perhaps a third in " the old arnv•chair," let us prize
at hhedm our
dearly,
virtuousand
example, labour b
to
u
by our
make them fitted
tted for
the
our love,
highest home happiness, and by necessary conse-
quence, enable them to pass through the world use-
fully and honourably.

THE IRISH CHANNEL RUEMARINE TELEGRAPH
COMPANY.—The arrangementowfeeenstat)lishing
____:„..... _ .......................
down the isulated cable betwes
eninna g iiconnexionade
andwith thehe layingcoast
ni
cd ,
communication for t the purpose p urp osbeet
a submarine
ot
telegraphic l eSgeroatpilai
already upon the very point of being the two islands, are
commenced. The
cable, we understand, is already manufactured.
townsman, Mr. Robert Henderson, has purore • l Our spirited
offered the
use of a steamer and steam-tug to render anmvpt3:
assistanceer that
may be required from the 2d to the sth of June.
is P public company, established by enterprising Englishmenethen
—the submarine cable already manufactured and paid
for_
all the necessary contracts, &c., arranged—and now it is to
be hoped that the people of Belfast, who will so largely par-
ticipate in the immense advantages the undertaking will
enter upon them, will duly appreciate the exertions made
for their benefit, and give the project that encouragement
and support it 50 eminently merits at their hands.--Belfast
11704 fetter•