Daily evening star. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1852-1854, 1854-09-09
EVENING STAR.

EVENlNG SlAK.
sENsATIoHs OF TIE FIRST MAI AFrKn
THE CREATIoN. =
fyRox rHE YRIxcl or BurpoSl
/ remember me Of that moment, when,
full Of Joy and confusion, perceived for
the first time my extraordinary exist.
ence. knew not what / was, where I
was, whence came. opened nv ewes;
what increase of sensation. The light.
the vault celestial, the verdure of the
earth, the transparency of the waters
every thing occupied me, and gave me q
feeling of inexrressible pleasure. l be-
lieved at first that all these objects exist
ed within me and formed part of myself.
! was establishing myself in that new.
born thought when I turned my eyes to
the planet Of light its spdendor hurt me ;
| shut ihv6uhtarily my eyelids, and I
felt slight pain. In that moment of
darkness. thought to have lost nv
whole being. Afflicted, seized with as
tonishment, / was thinking on this great
change, when all at once heard sounds:
the song Of the birds, the murmur of the
breezes formed . concert, of which the
sweet impression stirred me even TO the
bottom Of my soul. l listened q long
time, and was persuaded soon that this
harmony was myself Attentive, occu.
pied wholly with this new kind of exist
ence, l was forgetting already the light,
that other part of my being which had
known the first, when I re-opened my
eyes. What joy to my mind returns with
50 many brilliant objects. Ny pleasure
surpassed all that which / felt the first
time, and suspended for q period the
charming effects Of the sounds. I fixed
my looks On thousand different effects !:
l perceived soon that could quickly lose
and recover those objects, and that had
the power of destroying and reproducing
at my liking this beautiful part Of my.
self; and although it appeared to me
immense in magnitude. both through the
quantity OF the accidents and light, and
through the variety of oolors, thought
that everything was contained in part
of my being. began to see without
emotion, and to hear without uneasiness,
when gentle breeze, of which / felt the
coolness, brought to me perfumes which
enlivened me inwardly and gave me q
sentiment of love Of myself. Agitated
by all these sensations, oppressed by the
pleasures of so beautiful and so grand an
existence, arose all at once and felt
myself carried by an unknown power.
/ made but one step; the novelty of nv
situation rendered me :mmoyable; nv
surprise was extreme; l thought that my
existence was escaping; the movement
that had b. .ade had confused the objects,
and [ imagined to myself that every thing
vas ia disorder. 1 laid my hand on nv
head; I touched my forehead and my
eyes; l surveyed thy body; my hand to
me appeared to be then the principal or.
gan of my existence. What felt IN that
part was 80 distinct and so complete, the
possession of it appeared to me to be SO
perfect, in comparison to the pleasure
which had gwen to me the light and the
sounds, that I felt myself attached to
this substantial part Of my being, and
perceived that my ideas assumed con-
sistence and reality. all that I touched
on myself seemed to return to my hand,
feeling for feeling, and every touch pro-
auced in my mind double ida. was
not d long time without perceiving that
this faculty Of feeling was distributed into
all parts of my frathe; I recognized soon
the limits of my existence, which to me
at first appeared of sR immense extent.
t had cast my eyes over my body; I
Judged it of size enormous, and sogreat
that sil the objects which had struck my
eyes appeared to me in comparison but
luminous points. examined myself a
long time; looked at myself with plea
stre: I followed my hand with my eyes,
and observed its motions. Ihad about
it all Of the most strange ideas; I thought
that the motion Of my hand was only a
species of fugitive existence, succession
OF like objects; drew my eyes near to
it; it seemed then larger to me than aii
any body, and it eaased to disappear
from nv view number Of Infinite objects.
I began to suspect that there was illusion
in that sensation which came to me
through my eyes. had perceived dis
tinctly that my hand was only small
part Of my body, and was not able to
understand that it should be augmented
to the point to me appearing OF q sizeex.
cessive. resolved, therefore, to trust
myself only to the sense of touch, which
had not yet deceived me, and to be on
my guard against all the other ways OF
feeling and of being. This precaution
was useful to me; ! had set myself again
in motion, and l was walking, my head
raised and turned towards the sky when
hit myself against palm tree. Seized
with terror, laid my. hand upon that
strange body. I judged it such because
it returned not to me feeling for feeling
1 turned myself away from it with feel.
ing like horror, and perceived for the
first time that there was something out.
side of me. More agitated by this new
discovery than I had been by all tn.
others, [ had difficulty to resssure my
self, and after having meditated on this
event, I concluded that 1 must judge OF
the external objects as | had judged Of
the parts of my body, and that there Was
only the sense of the touch that could
nersuade me of their existence. / sought