Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1850-05-10

floods came, and long night of darkness,
| the good man in the dark remembered the
stars that studded the armament in his
boyhood's time, and the names they were
called by among the fathers Of the human
race. And when the deep, black clouds
rolled away, they shone out of their old
! places upon him, and he felt at home again,
though floating over the shoreIess waste of
waters, without compass, chart, or helm.
There they were. just as they were set in
the sky i'll the morning of creation. The
waters that had washed from the earth
every trace of mans existence, had not
quenched one of the lesser lights of
| heaven, or moved it hair from It's place.
The splendid Orion had not lost Jewel
from his belt; neither the deluge nor the
darkness had loosed his bands He
walked the same king, and welded the
same sceptre among the same stars this
evening, as in the first evening that man
tied the earth. The fiery Betelguese shone
with the same red brilliancy, and the sharp
eyed Rigel glowed in the left foot, celes-
tial diamond of the first water. There
were the little Pleiades, and the great Dog
star. and the long Scorpion, trailing its gems
along the southern sky; and the eleven
stars that the young Joseph saw in his
dream and the seven stars which the first
born child of Adam saw in his infancy
These were home stars TO Noah they
were all that was left of the drowned
world, that he had seen and loved in his
youth. He knew not whittier the sailIess.
Il Il IL Ill Il.
mountain on the earth was buried deep
beneath the waters everything had been
swept away but the stars which he had
learned by name, perhaps in the tent of
his grandfather, Methusaleh, who remem-
bered Adam. And he felt himself at home.
Now, my young friends. a deluge will
never come again to bury out of sight this
green, peopled world but storms will
come, and Winds will come, and YOU may
drift far away from the home of Your
childhood. And what makes that home
If all your relations and friends should 90
with YOU 10 far-of-lands, and live with YOU
there, would YOU not have left behind a
great deal of your home Yes; YOU
could not take with you the old homestead.
the elms and the oaks under which YOU
played, the hills YOU climbed in summer
to see the sun 90 down in the west, or in
the winter with your sled the brook that
purled through the meadows; the noun
tains looming up in the distance, like huge
cushions of green velvet for the sky; the
fields of alternate green and yellow, and
the far-of-woods. But begin now to look
up into this blue world above to make
these star fields part of your home to
bring these glorious consultations into the
circle Of your acquaintance to call them
by name, 10 associate them with all the
objects To which your home affections
cling, and YOU may carry our home with
YOU the world over. Orion, Arcturus,
Bootes, Virgo. the celestial companions Of
Job. Noah and David. will be yours, in
every place and every condition /; acquaint-
aRees. neighbOrs to yoUr paternal homes.
1t may be your lot to see but little space
of the carth's surface and 10 know but
little more OF the geography of the earth
than What YOU learn from your map. But
here You may study the geography of the
heavens, and see every celestial territory
it describes, Without going a mile from
your fathers door, your eye may travel
over worlds that arithmetic cannot com
pute nor geometry measure. Your eyes
can do this, and when yon have reached
the extreme limit of their VISION your
thoughts may 90 on forever into worlds
beyond. Young friends, suppose you
spend half hour every bright evening out
ia the open air; in approprialing these
brilliant consultations in bringing them /
within the iio8e-eircle of your acquaint-
ance.