The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-06-23


Mas crsi pour Il derriere iois
lie fatal cypirs vir1nne.
Plus pale cue le tie tutomne
Tu descen.s veIs y ttlnbesui
Ia ltuneS>e, 1etrf,
Avant lherbe de pr',irie-
Ayalt la vigne dr-seOtrau. n-MiAecOye
1t was lovely Suns sy evening in August.
The sun was going di Sn through an atmos-
phere of earial amber, nder a canopy of pur-
pie and gold, and flT all the deepydyed
and gilded ocean undo it with the gorgeous
gories of an inverted ssE Herman had not
been at church. He 'ess lounging on an i'm
provised couch, made !. Edwards, Clara S, and
Constance's plaid shaw under tent pitched
on cliff and open to he water, looking less
at the sunset than at c jrsfance, who was lean
ing against rock a. a little distance, and
making Clara give hin. az account of the ser
mon which she had jtst seard. 1t had been
one of those-unsatisfactoty always-upon that
most interesting of the.1es our future state.
a Is that your idea IF heaven, Hermann"
said she, as she fnishss.-@
NO. said he. "SsaI-ely any mans own
original idea of it is tha d of any other man :;
and that, suppose, msy be the reason why no
other mans is satisfactory, or even otherwise
than somewhat Unsatisfactory and disagreeable
to me. | have had beautiful dreams of it some
times, such beautiful dreams, that trying to tell
any one else about them, who has not been
blessed, thrice blessed, with something like
them, seems like trying to describe Constance's
face to a blind man, or her singing to the deaf"
Talking seemed to tire Herman this afternoon,
as it did sometimes. His eye-lids dropped, and
his lips closed for few moments and then he
spoke again, with pauses, filling up the spaces
between his fragmentary words with his own
thoughts, as if he stopped to look through his
own clear soul into the life of the blessed, then
described something of the glimpse which he
had had, and then broke off to look again.
" 1t seems to me-" he continued, I" that there
the soul marches or scars on through scenery as
much more grand and beautiful than that of
Switzerland or Italy, as theirs is than that of
the common earth, lighted up with more than
the splendor of MONDAY, the tenderness of
moonlight, and the solemn JOY of the stars.
The emotions, which could be excited in it, in
this life, only now and them in some rare mo-
ment, by the noblest poetry, music, or arehi-
lecture, have passed into its habitual mood.
Life is lifted into heroism. The service of the
King Of kings is carried on forever with pas
sion as sublime as that with which a warrior
thrusts himself before his prince, to die in his
stead, as glorious and triumphant as that with
which he lays down the enemy's taken flag at
his princes feet Good conquers evil visibly all
around, far and near, through the unriddled
VI Tue ttduSpdItHb uHlFcEsc, anu COu-
quers still to conquer. The risen disciples SIT
visibly again at the feet of the risen Christ.
They see the glory which his God and their
God has given him and he shows them plain
ly of the Father. No angels foot crosses his
neighbours path each angels hand helps on
his neighbors work. From system to system,
through endless cycles Of space and time, New
ton flies after Calico, and Calico looks on be-
fore for Newton, that each may know and
rejoice over the others last discovery. Moses
walks with st. Paul, telling the untold story of
the awful converse and visions of the Mount.
Joshua and Washington sit side by side. Ra-
phael, with reverent pencil, filed from the
palette of the Sunset, tints the designs of Michael
Angelo, while he, with his nervous and sinewy
strength, and the lantern that burns on his
head, helps the tender hands of Sabina to hew
out her designs, clearly and perfectly, in the
hard, dark, quarries of thought, in which every
one, male or female, must go down deep, and
labor patiently and nightly, who would bring
out any new and perfect thing before men and
angels. David teaches Dante to play upon his
Romish harp the old airs of Judah, Each
voice chants out call to every other voice, to
swell and complete the general chorus of
thanksgiving and of victory. Gabriel's tenor
cries out for Michaers bass; and both will have
Cecilia's soft soprano L. gild and crown them.
Each spirit has and longs to share with every
other what every other giants. No soul is there
alone, pnprized, unsouEM. Each is a larger
or a smaller block or stom, unique in shape
and color, whose absence would make gap
or flaw in the grand Mosaic pavement of Sc
raphic glory over which God walks-on which
He shines"
Herman" said Edward. " is not yours a
heaven which only an intellectual man could
eniov and find h;mso1f of home in 2" 1t was
noticeable that be spoke very gently and grave
y, and with no disposition to ridicule what had
been said.