The Nevada Democrat., 1860-11-22
THE UNSEEN ISLAND.

There Is a very old and beautiful story
that has formed the staple for poems II
many tongues, that we wish we could wor'
thily tell.
1t is Of one sailing on the sea In sleep
without dream. The ship was wrecked
and shattered, and yet he slept. The waves
bore him like an infant in cradle, upon
the plank whereOn he lay, and when be
awoke II was with music, and upon couch
Of flowers.
The shore was strange, yet lovely, and
thronQed with lhoueands who proclnimed
him king. IL seems as though they had
awaited bin, waif though he was, for there
was throne without an occupant, and roy
al robes for bis arraying.
All human wills seemed merged In his,
and glory shore around him even as the
sun Of that fair anclouded CLINE.
At length there came to aim reverend
man. aud told him that The time would come
when, exied from bis kingdom aud power
less as he came, there would be "none 30
poor TO do him reverence" But, continued
the sage beyond the clouds that skirt this
land lies an unsoen island bare and drear;
no fountains sparkle, and no flowers per.
fume; no music but the wall Of winds
and wavesl no shelter but the shadow Of a
rock.
Thither they will Danish thee, and there
thou must make thy inevitable home. But
now thou art supremely blest slaves do
Thy bidding. and gold strews thy pathway
like sand So, seek that island out; cause
the rock TO be smitten, that II may gush
with living water; send fragrant flowers
from thy gardens aud spicy trees from thy
forests let the amaranth be transplanted,
ard the palm shed pleasant shade Till the
wilderness shall be glad from them, and the
"desert blossom as the rose"
Build there royal mansion. and Gil II
with all things pure aud beautiful that sur
round thee now; so thou shalt have q Par
adlse at last, aud go rejoicing into exile.
The king was wise, and while he cherish
ed the realm he had ruled, yet sought the
island and "colonlzed" as II were. the half
Of his heart Spring was persuaded to come
that way and she hung her robe on the
trees he had planted, and left her breath on
the gale. The music Of the birds and foun-
tains. the winds among the leaves, foated
round the new palace he had bullded; but
nothing Of this land had ho ever beheld.
Years went on. and the old, royal glorles
grew dim, and the crown was tarnlshcd, aud
by and by, there was another wreck; a new
king came sleeping to the shore, and he
that had ruled In palace, was not suffered
so much as a shelter, for he was an exile as
the sage had prophesicd. But he went not
with a heavy heart, for sometimes when the
wind blew from the unseen shore, IL had
borne to him the fragrance of the orange
aud the palm, aud so he knew that his gar
dcns were growing beautiful for bis coming.
Aud he laid OIL the purple like one dsrob-
ing for pleasant dreams, and put down the
sceptre as IL It had been burden, and went
away to his unseen hope with goodbye"
on his lip.
Aud, though none have seen the Eden be
dwels in, yet sailors driven out to sea, de.
Glare, that sometimes sweet odors have been
waited across the deck, from an unseen
land, and by il they know the gardens of
the Exile are near.
As when TO them who sail
beyond the Cape Of Hope, and now are passed
Mozambique, OIL at sea northeast winds blow
Sabean odors ftom the spicy shore
Oi Arahy tho blest;-with such delay
Well pleased they slack their course, and many a
Pleased with tho grateful scent, old Ocean smiles