Volcano weekly ledger., 1855-12-08


heaven is yet the bounded concaye that must
confne the soul that was made to range the
skies, to the delightful outlet of her prison
house The camp meeting has changed the
nomenclature Of pulpit eloquence The two
divisions of the ancient school are now but
one in the religious oratory of the west.
Bryant's high PERCEPTION of the sublime
and beautiful Of nature, as connected with
and originating a grandeur of emotion, is
touchingly illustrated in the following extract
from his poetry.
The groves were Gods first temples Ere man learn'd
TO hew the shaft and lay the architrave,
Ana spread the roof above thcm-ere he framed
The lofty vault together, and roll back
Inc sound OF anthems.-in the darkng wood
Amidst the cool and silent, he knelt down
And offered TO the mightiest solemn thanks
And application For his simple heart
Might not resist the sacred Influences.
That from the Silly twilight of the place
ANA from the gray old trunks, that high in heaven
Mingled their mossy boughs, and from the sound
Oi The invisible breath, that swayed at once
All their green tops stole over him and bowed
His spirit with the thought Of boundess power
And inaccessible Majesty. All, why
Should we in the worlds riper years neglect
Gods ancient sanetuaries, and adore.
Only among the crowd and under roofs
That our frail hands have raised Let me. at least
Here, in the shadow of this ancient wood,
Offer one hymn, thrice happy if it find
Acceptance in his ear
The eloquence of the West as contrasted
with that of the East, presents many striking
peculiarities The eloquence Of the East is
sober, passoness, condensed, metaphysical
that of the West is free, lofty, agitating,
grand, imprisoned The east is pure, chas-
tened down TO defiance Of critical ccnsnre,
sharpened to fneness too razor-like to cleave
the mountains or carve the rocks the west
defes aud transcendS criticism unbosomS
mighty thoughts applies motives to the hu-
man mind, as strong as the rush of whrl-
wind, in language varied yet strong, and if
ever defective yet grand.
The thoughts of the west are large. In
the east river means the brawling and foam
ing Mcrrmac the mountain-fed Kennebec, or
the poetic Connecticut in the west the word
means the proud flow of waves too wide to
roar, and sincturing half the globe in their
course. In the east plain means patch of
earth hedged in by circumambient mountains,
defended on either side by rock and water; in
the west a plain means an expanse of terrific
ry over which the sun rises and sets over a
thousand successive horizons, and above whose
carpet of verdure heaven spreads out half her
stars. In the east wind means blast which
wrestles with the mountain beech or maple,
plays iitfully with the fallen snow in the
west the same word means the roaring impulse
which accumulates among the bead waters OF
the far wandering Missouri, passes a distance
in which Europe and Asia might be laid out
I =. IA ~outT Tol-
ume of tornado into the Gulf of Mexico.
If the sublmity Of eastern eloqueuce rise
to a mountain height, it is mountain Of gran
ite over whose indurated bosom the lightning
might glance innocuously. The sublimer
heights of western eloquence are indeed noun
tain too, vet they are luxurant and woody
quite up to their Towering gorgeous submits.
/ The dash of the water is heard in the path OF
the avalanche, and although rude and shaggy,
its gulf and cliffs may sometimes appear, it is
yet the warm and living picture of Natures
self
In the pulpit oratory Of the west there isa
nearer coincidence to the style of the sacred
volume than is heard in the eastern desk The
grand poetic touches Of inspiration are blend
ed with the strong colors Of nature in such
proportion that the entire painting presents
the appearance of an ancient picture over
which the lapse of centuries had no power
save to brighten and purify.
GIvING HIM THE NEws--On Thurday eve
ing, during the play of Hamlet, at PhGnix
Hall, the news of the fall and destruc-
ton Of Sabastopol arrived Just as Tay-
lor, as Hamlet, was in his death scene, ex-
claiming
-'' o. die Horato;
The potent poison quite DER comes my spirit;
Icnnnnt li,.n 10 hnnr the rletrs frnrn En- gLnndli