Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1857-08-15
A BOOK DAY.DREAM.


by Henry Ward Beecher in the independently
Our house is empty, save only ourself and the
rats and the mice that nibble in solitary hunger
There is no voice of children in the hall, no tramp
on the stairs, no racket in the chambers, nor trem-
bling and noise below. The kitchen clock has
stopped. the pumps creak no more, and nothing
sounds as it did, except the plash of the tide I'M
der the windows, the dull and careless roar of the
distant city, and the door-bell. People amuse
themselves with that yet. But the camp is moved
The whole tribe are in the country, ankle-wet in
dowy grass every morning, chopping, hoeing. plant
ing fishing or exploring hooks and strange new
places. But sit here with no companion but
books and some bright faced friends upon the
wall; musing upon things past and things to come;
reading a little, falling off into a reverie, waking
to look out on the ever changing beauty of the
Bay, dipping again into some dainty honey comb
of literature, wandering from author to author to
catch the echoes which fly from book to book. and
by silent suggestions or similarities, connect the
widely separated men in time and nature closely
together. All minds, in the whole worlds past
history, find their local point in a Library. This
is that pinnacle from which one may see all the
kingdoms Of the world and the glory of them /
keep Egypt and the Holy Land i'll the closet next
the window. On this side of them is Athens. and
the empire of Rome. Never was such an army
mustered as a library army No general ever had
such soldiers as | have Let them call their roll,
and | will call mine.
The p~rivates in my army will make even the
slul UUlCCrs VI NupOlGOn \ HTUHu army seem lhSlr-
%nifcant. Only think of q platoon Of such good
English yeomanas will answer my roll-call. "John
Milton!' Here" A sturdy noble soldier,though
blind, Gin see better than most men with eyes,
Thomas IIobbes." Here" All, tough and
hearty fellow, with thy sixteen volume limbs
Francis Bacon % Here" George HERBERT
William Shakespeare. Phillip Massinger. Chau-
Ger Spencer, johnson, Pope, Cowper, Dryden!"-
every one of them and hundreds of others,
their worthy fellows are on the spot armed
and equipped, and looking as fresh as if they
had received the gift of youth and immortal
unless spoken to, Bountiful men, all; they never
refuse the asker. / have my doubts whether, il
they were alive, / could keep the peace Of my do.
mains. But now they dwell together in amity
and all of them train in one company, and work for
the worlds good, each in his special way, but all
Charles l., John Milton AID Oliver Cromwell
these three heads lie together in my portfolio,
without the shade of repugnance or anger! The
silent Henry VIII, and his eight wives, more or
less, have domestic quiet now, though they touch
each other. | can face the most arbitrary men
of empire, without an anger flash. Hero are
Charles v. and Francis L., the Modici, masculine
and feminine and old Peter the Great. Here are
the dear old Por: Royalists, tho sweet Fenelon, the
plausible Bossuetl Now it is quite surprising how
these men have changed. Not only are they here
without quarreling, without ambition or selfshness
! but ShiiiIN ~ tlcl slt luOuHuN YOU ilucK tne1
opinions by the beard! l can'dispute with Samuel
johnson with great success. lie is as mild as
Nlelancthon. | have had some sound words with
Luther upon the sacramental question, but l mus
do him the justice to say that he has never made
an excited or fierce reply.
On my left hang, highest, John Calvin, and
lowest, Martin Luther, and between them,-Theo
dore Parker! They have never touched him,
though Martin looks as though be would GRIND
him to powder. But there is peace here. Vol
taire and Pascal keep good neighborhOod. Ortho
dox and hereto are on good behavior. No king
dom ever had such illustrious subjects as mine, OF
was half as well governed. | can put my most
han ghty subjects up or down, as it pleases me
without tumult or opposition. l can lead them
forth to such wars as | please, and not one Of them
is deaf to the trumpet. | hold all Egypt in fee
simple. l can say as much of all the Orient, as he
that was sent to grass did of Babylon. | build
not a city, but empires at a word. Pericles and
Phidias look out OF my windows, while | am gone
back to the AcropOlis to see what they have been
about. Old Michael Angelo scowls and Raphal
smiles, as If my study were the Sis.ine chapel or
a stanza of the Vatican.-The architects are build.
ing light and day, like them of old, without the
sound OF a hammer my artists are painting, nv
designers are planning, my poets are chanting, ny
philosophers are discOursing, my historians are
spinning their dry webs, my theologians are weav-
ing their yet inner ones, my generals are ~trooping
about without noise or blood. All the world
is arounu me. All that ever sNrfed human heart,
or fired the imagination, is harmless here! My
shelves are the avenues of time, Cities and
empires are put in a corner. Ages have wrought,
generations grown, and all the blossoms are cast
Town here 1t is the garden Of immortal fruits
without dog or dragon. No such garden was
Eden, in the past. 1t is the Eden to which the
race is coming, that is, to see the true Adam and
; the true Eve. But there goes that much-abused
bell-and with it my dream.
The METHODIST EPIscoPAL CHURCH. Souri,
From the General minutes of the Church Just
published, it appears there are % conferences
{ 2,l7l travelling preachers, 1853 superannuateC
E preachers, 1900 local preachers, 800, $50 white
3 members, and 6O,760 on probation, 30,49O Indiar
r members, and 296 on probation. The total o
ministers and members is 643, 70S, which is an in
+ crease of 1916. Seven Of the conferences OK