The Trinity times., 1855-04-21

ry thoughts travelling in nay brain were audi
bic. 1t was a silence rs Of earth, yet not OF
earth, but the hushed calm Of an eternal
gloom.
Darker and darker grew the path, and
more than once | felt my heart die within
me, and my limbs fail but an imperious
power, an overwhelming and incXplcabe inn
pulse, an underlined suspicion, as of mighty
something unlulfilied, together with the whis-
per within. 'On, and accomplish upheld me,
and continued my way. 4 weary one was
it. ween At length emerged from this
valley Of the shadow of death forest, and the
clear sky shcne overhead. But my way
was not the less fearful and dreary. Some
times break of landscapes of a gorgeous
and dreamy splendor would ill me with
hope for a short space; but again came ma
ny, many leagues so utterly bleak and desc
late, that to gaze on might sadden the heart
of a seraph. ! felt my spirit wither and fade,
and sat me down on a rock on the borders OF
/ lake-the Lake pesolate-and listened to
the dirre music of the far-coming, many
! toned, many-tempered wind, sweeping and
creeping over and among the long dark grass
and cuivering reeds, and sobbing with lis ag-
onv-music, like a lost spirit in Il Wilderness
of Tombs 1t was ever varying and changing
with pause and swell, now in long, dreamy
and protracted murmur, moving the listener
to sorrow like the plantlye and wtherng
| sighs from spirit word-now with quick
sudden gush of clarion blast, mingled with a
shock of choral voices, and its accompanl-
ment of crashing instruments-and then
again falling and dying away in solemn and
touching moan, reminding memory of min
| gled thngs-the murInur of receding sea-
the music Of a thousand harps-the peal of
many bells, TIL finally the enraptured ear,
with all its earnest, anxious learning, catches
but the faiutest sounds as Of the surglng
whisper of voices.
had arisen from my seat on the margin
of the lake, end had made some ascent on a
winding track in the colossal sweep Of rocky
mountains bordering the north side, and was
now threading n narrow path that wound
! around rock and mountain, all danger and
desolaton; where nor leaf nor grass shot up
! to gladden. the socl or freshen the eye-and
where the dreary and sterile rocks piled to
/ the clouds, rising with an air Of defiance,
struck to my inmost soul with sense of ut
! ter desolation Below, ten thousand feet be-
/ low spread a lake of unknown depth, and
| dark as midnight; and at almost every step
! fell a fragment of the loose and crurblng
rock, it set up a low, waling, FLASHING tone,
! that made my brain reel, and my blood creep.
! And though at every step | took, felt my
courage die within me, and cold spasmodic
trcmor aame over my limbs, and the sweat
drops stood on my brow as big as beads and
though my eyes ached dizzily at gazing down
the bottomless void, while suddenly would
rush upon me the horrible impulse to plunge
head long into the abyss, yet still | held on,
strengthened by the whisper within. and
continued my way as if under the guidance
of an unseen power, unharmed, unhurt.
1t was tie dawn Of the ninth sunrise, and
day was first breaking from its short slumber;
and the black clouds, which had lain like
huge moyeless mountains, were dividing and
breaking away, like a flock Of desert-birds
scared by the marauder. A piping. signing,
| south west wind. bearing on his bosom odors
| like the gems of Araby, was blowing freshly,
and played grateful as tie dews of heaven,
on my flushed cheek and brow. The Gun
had arisen that orb Of glory of blood red
! hue, had lain upon these cloud masses like a
ruby upon an Ethiop's brow, aud was now
bursting into meridian splendor, when
looked upon the most enchanting scene that
ever upon wrapt vision broke on this side OF
Paradise, or perchance within its very bow
ers. 1t seemed as if were at the centre OF
a radii Of cOlonnades, arched and colOred as
ranbows, and supported by columns OF crys-
tai and gold, and stretching out into the day
of doom; to gaze on which any eye but a spi-
rit's would recol o'er-tasked, and fall back
upon itself wthered, pain. stricken and lost
From the focus of the rad;i fell ample and
undulating slopes, over-spread with a mantle
Of the richest verdrre 1T the foot Of each
slope lay a vast and beautiful lake, many
leagues in circumference, whose waters were
OLA deep, sllvery and pellucid green; in the
midst OF which fair islands Of eternal flowers
of celestial r0seate and carnatlon blooms
whose aroma ascended to heaven, and filled
the air around With everlasting incense, Civ
ing to soul and sense intense and rayshne
delight. Here all that is impressing in ma
| ture and wo0drOus IN art prevalcd-lt was &
realization such as the most exalted and bril-
liant mind, rcveng in all the tcllclties Of &
rich and poetic imagination, conveying the
grandeur of nature through the medium o.
art, could alone accomplish | wandered in
a dreamy wonder and delight among these
solitary abodes, and these beautiful lakes, and
these eternal flowers, and it seemed is if
were suddenly gifted with the power Of song
and inyolunarily gushed from me a torrenl
Of richest sound. which, dying present.,
away. left me in state Of dreamy and deli
cous lassitude, and sinking on the velvet sand
my eyes wandered in vouptuous trance oyel
the waters at my feet in whose lucid depths
unbroken by breath or ripple, the azure SIX,
reflected lay true as in mirror. a billow,
sweep Of sea green and golden foliage, (br0
ken only by masses Of shadow, or an occas on
al cedar rising up and stretching out it,
black green, banner-Ike branches,) slopeC
gradually from the horizon, like an amph
theatre, on every side, 70 the waters edge
where the banks were over hUng by IT,,
scarlet weeping ash, and the sweet anC
mourulul willow.
The margin Of the lake was fringed will
the delicate and slender flag and tasscl grass
the one rearing er, ct its stately head. til,
other arehng aud dropping, as ponderng OF
Is graceful beauty in the water, where (a
cmblematcal Of the material in the spiritual
they lay reflected together with The white auc
yellow lotus, like gold and silver cLaliees
qnlet and motionless as in q rock crgsta