The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1848-05-27
Miscellaneous.
HAFED's DREAM:
OR "THE CHANCE WORLD

above the clouds, that the eye of man never
saw their summit, stood beautiful cottage,
facng the east The mountain stream leap
ed and murmured on the north, the verdant
plain where the bright eyed gazelle sported,
day spread out in front; the garden and the
olive-yard, filled with every flower and every
fruit which III oriental sun could pencil and
iripen, lay on the south; while back, on the
west, rose the everlasting mountain. Here
where walks and shades and fruits, such as
were found nowhere else. The sun shone
upon no spot morel luxuriant; the moon
1beams struggled to enter no place more de-
lightfnl; the soft wings of the breezes of
evening famed no such abode in all the east.
The howl of the wolf was never heard here;
lthe sly fox never came here to destroy; and
here the serpent's hiss was never heard.
This cottage was the home of HAFED, the
aged and the prosperous. He reared this
cottage; he adored this spot; and here for
more than four score years he had lived and
studied. During all this time the sun had
never forgotten to visit him daily; the harvest
had never failed. the pestilence had never
destroyed, and rhe mountain stream had new
or dried up. The wife of his youth still liv-
ed to cheer and bless him;and his son and
daughter were such as were not TO be found
in all that Province. No youth could rein the
horse, hurl the javelin, chase the lion, or de-
light the social circle, like this son. No
daughter of kings could be found so beautiful
and perfect, as was this daughter, with mn
eye so bright and joyous, and form so sym
Anetrical as hers.
But who can ensure earthly happiness?-
In one short week. Hated was stripped of all
his joys.
His wife went to see n new white peacock,
which, it was said, neighbor, who lived a
mile off in the raviue, had just brought home.
She took cold and quick fever followed;
and on her return Hated saw that she must
die. Before two days were gone, the old
man was standing at her open grave. He
gazed long, and said OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
her-cover the only woman l ever loved"
The son and daughter both retu rned from
the burial of their mother, fatigued and sick.
The nurse gave them, ms she thought, SIM
pie medicine. In few hours it was found
to be poison. Hated saw that they must die |;
for the laws ofnature were fixed, and poison
kills. He buried them in one wide, deep
grave, and it seemed as if in that grave he
buried his reason and his religion. He tore
his gray hair, he cursed the light of day, and
wished the moon turned into blood and
above all, he blasphemed his God. declaring
that the laws which he had established were
all wrong, useless, and worse than none. He
wished the world were governed by chance 4;
but as this was hopeless wish he wished that
at his death he might go TO n world where
there was 10 God 10 fix unalterabe laws
lie arraigned the wisdom Of God in his gov
eminent over this world, declaring that his
plans were weak, and worse than none, and
that il would be far better to have no God in
the universe
In the centre of Hafed's garden stood n
large beautiful Palm tree. Under it wns
Hated sitting, The second evening after clos
ing the grave over his children. The seat on
which he sat had been reared by his son.
On the leaf of the tree which lay before him,
were some exquisite verses written by the
pencil of his daughter Before him lay the
beautiful country covered with green, sprink-
led here and there, as far as the eye could
see, with the habitatons of men. and upon
this great landscape the shadows of the
mighty mountains were now sitting. In the
least, the moon was just pushing up her mod
est face, and the gold of day was softening
into the silver might. While Hated looked
ron all this, grief began TO swell in his throat |;
his tongue murmured his heart was full of
thard things to God, which nearly amounted
SO blasphemy.
As the night deepened, Hafed as he then
sghought, fell asleep with heavy heart
When he supposed he awoke, it was in a
new spot, The mountain, the landscape the
Shome, were all gone. All was new.
AS he stood wondering where he was, he
a
first, he mistook for baboon; but on its
coming near, he discovered that i; was
creature somewhat resembling n man, but
every way mal-formed, i'll shaped, and
monstrous.
He came up and walked around Hated as
he would superior being, "beautiful, beau
tiful creature !"
"Shame, on thee !" said Hated " dost thou
treat stranger thus with insults Leave
off thy iests, and tell me where / am, and
how came here"
81 do not know how you came here, but
here you are in our world, which we call
chance-,corld, because everything happens
here by chance"
"Ah is it so? This must be delightful !
This is just the void for me. Oh! had
always lived here,my beautiful children would
not have died under foolish and memorable
law Come, show me this world,-for long
too see it. But have we really no God nor
any one to make laws and govern you just as
he sees fit ?"
81 don't know what you mean by God /:
we have nothing of that kind here-nothing
but chance but go with me and you will un-
,derstand all aboutit"
As they proceeded, Hated began to no.
tice that every thing looked queer and odd.
Some of the grass was green, some rod, some
white, some new, and some dying; some
grew with the top downward and on the
whole the sight was very painful. He stop
ped to examine an orchard here chance had
been at work. On fine looking apple tree
he saw no fruit but large, coarse cucumbers
A small peach tree was breaking down under
its load of gouFds, Some of the trees were
growing with their tops downwards, and the