The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1858-01-21
THE SKY.

lIS strange thing how little, in general,
people know about the sky. 1t is the part
OF creation in which nature has done more
for the sake of pleasing man, more for the
sole and evident purpose of talking to him.
and teaching him, than to any other of her
works; and i, is just the part in which we
least attend to her. The noble scenes Of
earth can be seen and known but by few.
IT. Is not intended that man should always
1--we IN the midst of them; he onjucs
them by his prcscnrc;-he ceases to feel
them If he is always with them. The
sky is for all; bright as it is. is not "too
bright nor goo'l for human natures daily
food" 1t is fitted i'll all its functions for
perpetual comfort AMI cxa!lin. the heart,
soothing, purifying it from droSs and dust.
sometimes gentle, sometimes u..pricinus.
sometimes awful-nevcr the same Tor two
moments togethcr-;lmost human in its
PASSIONS, almost spiritual in its tenderness,
almost divine in its ininity; its appeal to
what is immortal in It's is as distinct as its
ministry Of cllasi>cmrnt or of blessing to
what is moral and essential. And yet we
never attend to it, We never make it a sub
Jcct Of thought, but as it has to do with our
ANNA! sensation. We look upon all by
which 1t speaks to us more clearly that to
brutcs, upnn all which bears witness to the
intention Of the Supreme that VIC are to re-
ceIvc more from the covering vau, tl,an The
light and the dew that we share will, the
worm, only as succession of meaningless
an monotoncus accident, too common and
too vain to be worthy of mo,ncn, of watch
fnncss or a glance "! admiration.
1t, IN "nr mon, r'" % i'll. u..>> and insi.
l''lity, W" turn /" IT,, y, - II '..>; resource,
Which ct is i'!"n'ncl,a ii" WE Si".ak nf
One says it has been W. aud another i, his
been windy, and another it has in.vl, warm.
Who, among the Whole chartcring crowd,
can tell me Of the forms and precipiccs Of
the chain of tall white mountains on the
horizon ut noon yesterday Who saw the
narrow sunbeam that came out ofthe snutl
and smotc upon the SUBMITS until they
melted and m"u!dcred away in II dust of
blue rain Who SAW the dance OF the dead
clouds when the sunlig ighl left them last night,
and tie west wind blew them before it like
withcrcd leaves? All has past uur,cc,cd
or unseen, or if the apathy be ever shaken
oil, even for an instant. it is only by what
is extraordinary. And yet ii is not in the
broad and fierce demonstrations of the cc-
mental energies, not in the clash of hail, nor
the draft Of whirlwind, that the higcst char
actcrs of the sublime are developed. God
IS not always SO eloquent in the earthquake,
nor i'll the fire, rs i'll the still small ", e.
They are but the blunt and the low faculties
OF our nnture, which cannot only be ad-
dressed through lamp black and lightning.
1t is i'll quiet and subdued passages of unoL.
trnsve majesty, the deep, the calm, and the
perpetual-that which must be sought ere
it is seen, and loved ere it is understood
things which the angels work ont for us
daily, and yet vary ctcrnaIly, which are
never wanting, never repeated, which are to
be found always. yet cacI, found but once.
1t is through these that the lesson of tlevo-
tion is chiefly taught. and the blessing of
beauty is given.-Johm Rnskin.