The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1851-11-13

was, that they spoke of a glory to be revealed
wondrous something yet TO come wherein
their soul rejoiced, yet knew not why and
though it be not 20 in the physical, yet in moral
science that which cannot be understood is not
always proftless For the soul awakes, a trem-
bling stranger between two dim eternities-the
| eternal past-the eternal future. The light
shines only on small space around her--there-
| fore she needs must yearn towards the unknown,
| and the voices and shadowy movings which
come to her from out the cloudy pillar Of inspi.
ration have each one echoes and answers in
her own expecting nature-its mystic imagery
are so many talismans and gems inscribed with
unknown hieroglyphics-shef folds them in her
bosom, and expects to read them when she
passes beyond the veil
At this time in our story, the whole st Clare
establishment is for the time being removed to
| their villa ON Lake Pontchartran The heats
of summer had driven all who were able to
leave the sultry and unhealthy city, to seek the
shores of the lake and its cool sea breezes
st. Clare's villa was an East Indian cottage,
surrounded by light yerandahs of bamboo work,
and opening on all sides into gardens and
pleasure grounds. The common sitting room
/
every picturesque plant and flower of the tropics,
where winding paths ran down to the very
| shores of the lake whose silvery sheet of water
lay there rising and falling in the sunbeams-a
picture never for an honr the same, yet every
| hour more beautiful
1t is now one of those intensely golden sum-
sets which kindles the whole horizon into one
blaze of glory, and makes the water another
sky. The lake lay in rosy or golden streaks,
save where white-winged vessels glided hither
and thither like so many spirits and little
| golden stars twinkled through the glow, and
looked down at themselves as they trembled in
| the water
Tom and Eva were seated on a little messy
seat in au.arbor at the foot of the garden. 1t
I was Sunday evening. and Evas Bible fay open
o9 her S,soe fhe read And SOW = sea of
glass, mingled WITH fire =" =. . AZ. 80" 3,
"Tom," said Eva suddenly stopping and
pointing to the lake, there tbs"
What Miss Eva? ~
"Don't you see-there!o said the child. point
ing to the CLASSY water, which, as it rose and
fell, reflected the golden glows of the sky
There's "a sea Of glass mingled with fire."
q True enough, Miss Eva" said Tom; and
Tom sung
"0h, had I the wings of the morning,
I'd fly away to Canaans shore;
Bright angels should convey me home,
To the new Jerusalem"
"Where do you suppose new Jerusalem is
Uncle Tem?n said Eva
ooh, up in the clouds Miss Eva"
"Then think sec it" said Eva. Look in
those clouds-thsy look like great gates of
pearl and you can see beyond them-far, far
Gifts all gold. Tom, sing about spirits
bright"
Tom sung the words of wel-known Meth
odist hymn
" see band of spirits bright,
| That taste the glories there;
| They all are robcd in spotess white
And eonqucring palms they bear"
"Uncle Tom, Pve seen hen,,n said Eva.
| Tom had no doubt of it at all it did not
surprise him in the least. If Eva had told him
she had been to heaven he would have thought
it entirely probable.
| "They come to me sometimes in my sleep
those spirits;n and Eva's eyes grew dreamy
and she hummed in a low voice
| They are all ROBBED in spotless white,
| And eonqnsring palms they bear
"Uncle Tom" said Eva, "Pm going there "
"Where, Miss Eva?n
The child rose and pointed her little hand to
the sky; the glow of evening lit her golden
hair and flushed cheek with kind of unearth.
ly radiance, and her eyes were bent earnestly
on the skies
"Pm going there" she said "to the spirits
bright, Tom Pm gong before long"
The faithful old heart felt sudden thrust
and Tom thought how often he had noticed
| within six months that Evas little hands had
grown thinner and her skin more transparent,
| and her breath shorter and how, when she
ran or played in the garden, as she once could
| for hours she became soon 80 tired and languid.
| He had heard Miss Ophelia speak often of a
cough, that all her medicaments could not cure ;
! and even now that fervent cheek and little
hand were burning with hectic fever; and yet
the thought that Evas words suggested had
| never come to him till now.
Has there ever been child like Eva? Yes
there have been, but their names are always on
grave-stones, and their sweet smiles, their
heavenly eyes their singular words and ways,
are among the buried treasures of yearning
hearts. In how many families do you hear the
legend that all the goodness and graces of the
living are nothing to the peculiar charms Of one
who is not. 1t is rs if heaven had an especial
band of angels whose Office it was to sojourn
for season here, and endear to them the way
ward human heart that they might bear it up
ward with them in their homeward flight.
When you see that deep spiritual light in the
eye, when the little soul reveals itself in words
sweeter and wiser than the ordinary words of
children, hope not TO retain that child, for the
seal of Heaven is on it and the light Of immor-
tally looks out from its eyes.
Even 80 beloved Eva! fair star of thy dwell
ing! Thou art passing away, but they that
love thee dearest know it not.
The colloquy between Tom and Eva was in
terrupted by hasty call from Miss Ophea
Eva-Eva--why, child, the dew is falling
you mustn't be out there"
Eva and Tom hastened in.
| Miss Ophelia was old, and skilled in the
tactics Of nursing. She was from New Eng
land, and knew well the first guileful footsteps
of that soft insidious disease which sweeps
away so many of the fairest and loveliest and.
before one fibre of life seems broken, seals them
irrevocaby for death.
i She had noted the slight dry cough, the
daily Frightening cheek-nOr could the lustre
of the eye, and the airy buoyancy born of fever,
deceive her.
She tried to communicate her fears 10 st.
Clare, but he threw back her suggestions with
a restless petulance unlike his usual careless
good humor
{" Don't be croaking Cousin hate il, /" he
would say; "don't you see that the child is
only growing Children always lose strength
when they grow fast"
"But she has that cough !"
ooh nonsense of that cough! it is not any
thing. She has taken n little cold, perhaps"
"Well, that was just the way Eliza Jane
was taken. and Ellen and Maria Sanders
"Ob! stop these hobgoblin nurse legends.
You old hands get 80 wise, that child cannot
cough. or sneeze, butyou see desperation and