The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1855-02-22

HN~SAS'AAeJ
table life.
Then went out into the fair, sunny pastures.
tocks of children, with blue eyes, and brown
and golden hair, singing the song of the brooks.
And there were troops of youths and maidens,
too with darker hair, and soft, indefnable
light in their eyes, which was like the rehec-
tons of stars upon softly moved waters a
liquid lustre, fuctuating with the heaving and
falling of the bosom below it.
In the woods the MOSES deepened so that
their cool greenness stole away all discords
Where the shadows lay deepest beneath the
trees, yet sprinkled with tremuous golden
hecks of light, two sat together, and made the
silence musical with their words Through
every sweet cadence of their talk the song, of
the brook flowed and the wild, ripping, over
flowing JOY of the birds rich heart thrilled every
eloquent pause.
The youth said: "As the sun comes up from
the south, and the frozen woods grow green,
and the world bursts into bloom, the voices of
birds are heard, and the stars look down with
klndher glance at night-so, dearest has come
to me this love, and suddenly the waste places
of my nature bloom, and my soul-that soul
which was so dark and sorrowful-is filed with
brightness and with melody, sweeter than the
singing of any bird. Say to me. dearest-ah
do not weary, though you say it thousand
times-that this sun shall never go away and
leave me again to winter and to darkness.
Say to me, that these stars (the sweet hopes
born of our love) shall ever, as now, look down
serenely into my soul, hanging high above the
adverse circumstances of time"
Then she answered: +" have no costly wine
nor oil, nor have any precious ointment; but
pour out my love, beloved, at your feet"
When she had said this, great silence, ike
shadow, fell about them, and enclosed them,
so that even the brook, and the wind, and the
bird, were shut out, and not heard. The pale,
pink, bashful blossoms of the adder-tongue
grew rosy with sweet wonder, and the coy, blue
robin-grass looked up with dewy, inquiring
eyes.
Then one spoke, but it were difficult to tell
which; for, if it was the youth, the silence, or
the thought which he uttered, or perhaps the
exquisite sense of a new and mysterious bliss
which hung about the two like a clarifying
mist, modulated his voice to a lower and sweet
er chord, rs if it was the voice Of the maiden
his faith and impassioned, prophetic spirit, gave
it fuller and richer tone /" OF late, beloved,
| have been endowed with a finer sense of be-
ing, sense including and yet above all other
senses. have looked deep into the mystery
of life, have learned the meaning of the violet,
and the brook has talked with me. have en-
tered unawares into those courts Of Natures
mystery, where the philosopher, prying and
peeping, strives in vain to come. For have
learned that the golden key which unlocks all
the chambers Of mystery is sympathy; and, so
loving, have learned the secret Of the world,
which is love. / have seen this divine princi-
pie working through all the world, creeping up
through the lower into the higher grades Of ex-
istence-this law moving the worlds on in their
infinite and starry courses, attracting also all
particles each to the other. Love and gravita-
ton, are not these the same? The same prin-
ciple, except as its developments in matter and
spirit needs must differ
The mists climb upward and the waters
reach up after the moons pale beauty, vainly
and forever. Through all nature, the workings
OF this principle evolve order, beauty, and de-
light. Birth and life, they arc of it and ifes
awful mystery, death, is gloriiied by it. In all
vegetable life, the juices creep upward with
nameless longing. 1t bushes in tho lip of every
sea-shell, moaning for lost beauty, and bios
SONS out of the red heart of every flower 1t
moves the aspen with a tremulOus desire, and
it dwels in the flame that yearns after the stars.
But when the human soul approaches this great
sacrament, when this principle assumes its
highest form, nature with sudden inspiration,
regains her lost language. Winds and storms,
waterfalls and echoes, become voiced and
iCd'cS anu uIOSSOHiS, liie llpul Vi tue moon anu
of the stars, and the hues of dawn and of sun
set, take a visible language. In the deep, de-
licious night, when man leans back into the
infinite silence, then the mystery Of love over
broods him. From his soul rise up troops of
fair fancies, winged, and with linked hands, and
wander over the world. Inexplicable longings,
sweet and nameless, dawn in his soul. Painted
visions of many-colored brightness beckon him,
and celestial visions look into his, with dim,
fair eyes, pleading, love us, love us "
Hopes and prophecies too sweet for any
earthly ful6lment, shine down the far reach of
his future. The stars, those ght-blossoming
flowers, look into his heart their beautiful and
awful significance. Into his solitude come
voices from the visible and the invisible; and
though they sing words which he knows not
they give to him delicate hints, and dim, sweet
suggestions, of an unknown far, which he longs
Then it is, leaning farther back into the arms
of the great silence which wraps him in, amply
and tenderly as a mother does her child; then
it is, in the solemn and all-involving night, that
man, gazing up the deeps of darkness with far
longings, reaches up out of the narrow finite of
his nature, and grasps the infinite; then it is,
made prophetic by the celestial presence sitting
within the inner chamber of his soul, that man
comprehends his own immortality; then, too,
he first recognises his divine lineage, and, look
ing up to the far heavens, cries, Abba, Father!
EMANCIPATION IN TExAs.-The GdlCestOH
Cicilid,. notices a late decision of the Supreme
Court of Texas, involving the question of eman-
cipating slaves in Texas. The CiUilidn says
The case arose in Harrison county, under
the will of William T. Weathergby, in which he
provided that three slaves should be freed, with
the proviso that his eXecutrix Mrs. Sherrod,
his sister, should send them to free State, or
to Liberia. After his death, his heirs-at-law
sued for the slaves, on the plea that under the
Constitution and laws of Texas they could not
be emancipated. The pleadings are full, and
refer TO many authorities but the court, after
an elaborate review of the whole ground, and
references to the decisions of Tennessee, Mis-
sissippi, South Carolina, and Alabama, unhesi-
tatingly decided that the will was q good and
valid one; that as the slaves were to be sent
out of the State, the clause giving them money,
&C., did not take effect till they were beyond
the State, and therefore competent to take as
benefciaries. The object of the restrictions was
to prevent free negroes from remaining in the
State, not to prohibit their emancipation and
removal out Of it.
The case settles this one great principle of
ability to emancipate by sending the negroes
out of the State"
The DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR SYSTEM
The bill which passed the House of Represent
atiyes few days ago, to reform our diplomatic
and consular system, authorizes many radical
changes. 1t requires the abolition of outfits
and infits, and fixes the annual compensation
attached to the several missions af follows:
Great Britain $4,000, France $4,000, Spain
10000, Russia 10000, Austria $4,000, Prussia
$4,000, Switzerland 1900, Rome 1900, Naples
1900, Sardinia 1900, Belgium 1900, Holland
den 4 500 Turlor O Ann CL;aa L. ON III