The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-07-16 00:00:00

THE PATHS OF LIFE

(IVritten for the Liverpool Standard.)
There winds a smooth and flowery road,
Through life's extensive vale;
And footsteps numberless have trod
That passage through the dale;
Pleasant the path and passing fain,
The vassal and the king are there
Where countless thousands stray ;
Fanned by the breeze that pleasure brings,
And lulled by gentle murmurings,
They track that awful way !

T hear a voice in warning tone
Speak in each sinner's ear.
Oh ! leave this path ere yet have flown
Life's precious moments here.
You gaze upon those towers afar,
That glisten like the morning star,
Flashing in rosy light;
This road will never leave you there,
Know, that it lingers but to where
It sinks in endless night.

And deep those piercing accents sound,
Ali ! heeded but by few,
Culled are the flowers tl.at bloom around,
Sipped is the crystal dew;
But now that awful brink appears,
The preeipice in silence rears
Its crest above the gloom.
Millions of souls repentant now
Are hurried o'er is rugged brow,
Dashed to tl.eir dreadtul doom.

Oh ! man, there is another way
By righteous footsteps trod,
Where holy men, in ancient day,
Have hastened to their God ;
There if the sorrowing drop descends,
A beam of sympathy attends,
To wipe away the tear ;
And hovering n that narrow way,
There shines a light, a heavenly ray,
Those wanderers to cheer.

And here are seen no empty joys,
Unentered is the bower,
Untasted is the cup which cloys,
The folly of an hour.
Faith, hope, and love illume the track,
Truth casts the bright reflection back,
Upon the wavering mind,
Here meek-eyed pity finds a home,
And bids the weeping mourner come,
And leave his woes behind.

And now this better way is passed,
Life's journey soon is o'er,
Eternal splendour bursts at last,
From Heaven's transcendant shore.
Angels of light are ushering now,
With joyful wing and beaming brow,
The saved before the throne,
Then dawns the day of endless bliss,
To view each work of loveliness,
In boundle,s worlds unknown. -
"Woodside, July, 1844.

W. J. L.

AERIAL PH ENO M ENON,
Subsequently ascertained to be the Cornet (of 1843).

We have been favoured with some cleverly-written and
interesting " Observations" on the comet of last year, as
seen " off the Island of Timor, at the south-eastern en-
trance to the Indian Archipelago, on board the ship Tyrer,
Captain Rimmer, on her passage from Bombay to China,
by John A. Murray, passenger," together with an illus-
trative drawinc, of the appearance of the comet on the
10th of March'; and we should gladly have inserted the
whole, did our available space allow. We, however, give
a few extracts which may be acceptable to the astrono-
mical portion of our readers, and also subjoin some very
neat verses by the same author, appended to the account.
" On the 2d March (1813), at sunset, about half-past
six o'clock, our ship being 150 miles to the westward of
Sandalwood Island, steering E. by S. in lat. 10.5 S.,
long. 116.45 E., we observed, a little above the western
horizon, a long luminous streak resembling a silver
thread, with a slight inclination towards the south at the
upper end. Moon three days old. Weather clear, calm,
and sultry." On the sth and 6th the same streak was
seen, at the same time, and had increased in lustre. On
the latter day the idea suggested itself to those on board
that it was a comet. Two slight shocks or tremors passed
through the ship, the first at seven o'clock p.m., the se-
cond at midnight. The writer, under date of the 7th,
says :—" This evening the appearance of the ' illustrious
stranger' in the clear open sky was truly magnificent.
Unmarred in its stately proportions by any intervening
cloud, it app. aced to have attained the maximum of its
Size and brilliancy. The streak was of a grayish white-
ness, with a slight slit or division at its upper end. The
star or body of the comet was distinctly visible, and of a
clear vivid lustre. It was just visible at half-past 6 p.m.,
reached its greatest brilliancy at about 7 o'clock, and gra-
dually decreased until it set at 4 past 8. At 5 o'clock
p.m. another tremor passed through the ship."
The various extraordinary appearances are detailed from
this time until the object disappeared on the 2d of April,
when the weather changed "from... calm and sultry to cold
and squally." On the 27th' of the previous month, the
ship spoke a Portuguese vessel, belonging to Fort Con-
cordia, Copang Bay, Timor; and her captain confirmed
the identity of the comet. He had first seen it at Timor,
precisely at the same time ; stated that its former visit
occurred at the beginning of the IGth century ' • and attri-
buted the calms and intense heat of the month before to
its influence.