The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1850-11-26
The two Guides of the Child.

the Land of Life. What do you sec?'
Sleep mountains, covered by mighty
plain, table land of many colored beauty.
Beauty, nay, it seems all beautiful at first,
but now l see that there are some parts bar
rem.
Arc they quite barren ?--look more
closely still +
No, in the widest deserts, now, / see
some gum.dropping acacias, and the crimson
blossom of the cactus. But there are re-
cions tha; rejoice abundantly in flower and
fruit; and row, o Spirit, sec men and wo'
men moving TO and fro
Observe them, mortal
Il behold world Of love the men have
women's arms ontwined about them; some
upon the verge of prccipiccs-fliends are
running to the rescue. There are many
wandering like strangers, who know not
their road, and they look upward. Spirit,
how many, many eyes are looking up as if to
God Al, now | see some strike their
neighbors down into the dust see some
wallowing like swine see that there are
men and women brutal
Are they quite brutal look more close
ly still
mo, see prickly sorrow growing out Of
crime, and penitencc awakened by look oi
love. ] see good Gifts bestowed out of the
hand of murder, and see truth issue out Of
lying lips. But in this plain, o Spirit, see
regions-widc, bright regions-yielding fruit
and flower, while others seem perpetually
veiled with fogs, and in them no fruit ripens
! see pleasant regions where the rock is full
of clelts and people fail into them. The
men who dwell beneath the fog deal loving
ly,and yet they have small enjoyment in the
world around them, which they scarcely see
But whittier are the women going?'
Follow them.
Il have followed down the mountains to 9
haven in the vale below All that is lovely
in the world of flowers makes fragrant bed
for the dear children; birds singing, they
breathe upon the pleasant air the butter
flies play with them. Their limbs shine
white among the blossoms, and their moth
crs come down full of enjoyment TO share
their innocent delight. They pelt each 9th
er with the lilies Of the valley. They cal
up at will fantastic Mosques, grim giants play
to make them merry, a thousand grotesqut
loving phanioms kiss them 10 each the
mother is the one thing real, the highest bis:
the next bliss is the dream of all III,
world beside. Some that are moiherless al
mothers love. Every gesture, every look
every odor, every song, adds 10 the charm
OF love which fills the valley. Some liulc
figures fall and die, and on the valleys sol
they crumble into violets and lilies, will
love-tears to hang in them like dew.
Who dares to come down with frowI
into this happy valley ? A severe man seiz
es an unhappy, shreking child, and lead
it to the roughesi ascent of the mountain.-
He will lead it over steep rocks to the plair
OF the mature. On ugly neede-points he
makes the child sit down, and teaches it it,
duty in the world above.
Its duty, mortal do you listen to til,
teacher 2
Spirit, hea. now. The child is informed
about two languages spoken by nations ex'
tinct centuries ago, and something also, G
Spirit, about the base Of hypothenuse.'
Does the child attend q
Not much; but it is beaten sorely, and
its knees are bruised against the rocks, till il
is hauled up, woe-becone and weary, to the
upper plain. 1t looks about bewlderod; al
is s!range-it knows not how to act. Fog.
crown the barren mountain paths. Spirit,
am unhappy; there are many children thu
hauled up, and as young men upon the plain
they walk in fog, or among brambles some
fall into pits; and many, getting into flow
cr-paths, lie down and learn. Some become
active, seeking right but ignorant of wha
right is; they wander among men out o.
their fog-land, preaching folly. Let me &C
back among the children
Have they no better guide 2
Yes, now there comes one with smiling
face, and rolls upon the flowers with the lit
tie ones, and they are drawn to him. And
he has magic spells to couture up gloriou.
spectacles of fairy land. lie frolics with
them, and might be first cousin to the butter
flies. He wrealhes their little heads will
flower garlands,and with his fairy hand upon
his lips he walks toward the mountains; ca
gerly they follow. He seeks the smoothes
upward path, and that is but rough one
yet they run up merrily, guide and children
butterflies pursuing still the flowers as they
nod over host of laughing faces. They
talk of the delightful fairy world, and rest,
ing in the shady places, learn of the yet
more delightful world of God. They learn
to love the Maker of the Flowers, to know
how great the Father of the Stars must be,