Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1862-02-04
0Noreester Bully spy.
A RHAPSODY OVER A BABY.

uerlul tHlug IL is ! 40 not Wish TO speak eX
travagantly, and yet the saying will bear re-
petition-what a wonderful thing the little
creature is! l have read of the Seven Won.
ders of the World, in ancient times. There
was the Pharos lighthouse, five hundred feet
high, shining down upon the magnificence of
Alexandria, and far out upon the Mediterrane-
an. And there were the pyramids those
lighthouses of the desert, lifting their mighty
masses from six to eight hundred feet high,
guides from aiar to the fleet Of camels, those
"ShipS of the desert" And there were the
matchless walls and hanging gardens OF illus
trious Baby lon-the pride of ChaIdea. And
there was the temple of Diana-the boast of
Ephesus And there was the Colossus of
Rhodes. And there was the melancholy
grandeur of the first mausoleum-the many
columned tomb OF Mausolus, built by his dis
consulate Artemisa But-though the last
indeed was the sacred memorial of woman's
deathless love--still, no one of these wonders
is half so wonderful, nor are all of them TO-
gether half so wonderful in my estimation as a
fine little child, week or two old. And so in
relation 10 the wonders of the world in our
day crystal palaces abroad, or the Washing
ton monument at home--whatever they may
be, they are all nothing i'll comparison with
the wondertulness OF an alEaliYe infant q
week or two old
See it There is none of the hardihood,
and, therefore, none OF the coarseness of the
inferior orders about it, 1t has no prelimina-
ry horns or h0ofs, 1t has no fur, OF feathers,
or scales, or shell. 1t shows no instructive
care taking of it. 1t is maniiestly helpless
little dependent; bringing the compliments of
lis Creator, ami claiming, in his name, the
constant SUPPLEMENTARY of Intelligence and
love. What bare, smooth, delicate skin
covers il all over! How perfect the circula.
ton of the blood is, making it ruddy all over
How plump it is-not sharp angle from
head to foot every joint both rounded and
dmpled, shoulders, elbows, hands, knees, all
dmpled, dimped all over
Take hold of it-but do it very gently. 1t
is full OF bones, indeed; but they are yet in
the grstle, as Burke said of America and
though they might not break, they may be
easily bent and misshapen. How light it is
Notwithstanding its plumpness! How soft 1t
lie, and warm! How easily its neck bends,
and its back ; and how heavy, comparatively,
its head lies i'll the palm of your hand How
dark and glossy and sken its full suit of hair
is How round its face is How prettily its
nostrils are eured How sweety its lips are
cut, and rolled up like the Ieddest leaves of
rosebud If you kiss them, how fresh and
pure its breath is! Aud then its eyes,-if it
would only open them long enough, what a
rich, deep, unused luster is in them You
may look into them as earnestly as you please.
They do not distinguish you yet, and will not
shrink from your gaze
And now, really, what wonderful little
creature it isl See, you have only noticed
its body SO far and, indeed, only the outside
of this and, indeed, even this very imperfect
ly. But there is yet the inside: its little
lungs-how quietly the air passes in and out
its little heart-how nsensibly it receives and
distributes its living rills and its little BRAIN
how unconscously its susceptibiiiteS are
adapting themselves to the distinctive impress.
sions Of outward things
But the great wonder yet remains. Like
God himself, it is past finding out, But you
know it is there; and, before long, it will be-
gin to show itself. What is it 1t is the
soul. 1t is the godlike spirit which is destined
to work this divine machinery-this growing
and enduring instrumentality- perhaps for
nearly hundred years. 1t does not work it
yet or, at least, it does not seem to. God
himself appears to work it now. lie contracts
and extends the limbs. He shuts and opens
the hands. He prompts the cry for nourish
ment. He Gains the face to smiling slum-
Der. He lifts the eyelids again. and lets in
the quckening light And so he teaches the
arlesS spirit all the springs OF motion, and all
the instincts OF aversion and desire. When,
hereafter, you shall those little hands up
raised, crossing touching, and clasping each
other; and those dark eyes fixed upon them,
noticing them, trowning in the effort to make
them out, studying them apparently with as
much intensity as an astronomer studies a
double star-then you may know that God
has removed his finger, and that the child's
own spirit is beginning to work its organs
alone"
Yes-there it Isl the godIille spirit, that
only OXIDES its time" and that, through the
full development of this new infant frame, will
ta onoruias an1 liac pbliUa-
tons and duties, responsibilities and destines !;
ay and endure trials and make achievements,
too, in comparison with the eternal solemnity
and grandeur of which the artistic material
ism OF the world is "uothing, ard less than
nothing, aud vanity" How its perceptions
will vary, extend and multiply! How its
sentiments will rise and fail How its intel
lect will toll in analysis and synthesis in in
duction aud deduction How lis memory will
accumulate facts and principles acts and their
rules; sciences and their laws philosophers
and their primary elements OF thought and
knowledge! How its imagination will gOrily
all its experience by its proper simple light,
or its separate prismatic coors How its
appeties, passions, affections, and votions
will grow and strengthen, will crave and
want, will rage and plead, will resist and
yield will love and hate, will bear and dare,
will submit aud grieve, will resolve and strive,
And oh how conscience will administer its
cheering terrifying retributOn And oh !!
how the body must sympathize with the soul !;
nay, rather, ministers unto it, at its own eX.
pense, paying alike for its pleasures and its
pains How the power will impair the ma.
chine! How every bone must ache, and every
muscle ache and every vessel ache, and every
sinew and ligament, and artery, and nerve.
an vein, and membrane be strained and cor
roded, exhausted, and wasted away BY
constant veXatOn of thought the brain NAV
be crazed or a storm OF anger may cause the
heart to burst, or the subduing touch of grief
may change the whole person into statue
still as stoue
Most wonderful little creature Why, the
shirt that is there may make that right hand,
little as it now is, the manly scepter of blood
less and peerless sovereignty in the highest
senate OF liberty 1t may make that feeble
voice, when rounded to the utmost thrill OF he
role command, the oracle of victory, and the
triumph OF onset and triumph in the marshal
ing OF nations for the rights Of mankind = 1t
may make those vacant eyes. radiant with Sc
renest and amplest wisdom, the starlights Of
the wise, to guide to the presence of the Savior
of the world. Infinitely surprising the &c.
MUS of Phidias and the majesty Of Ptolemy,
by the inspiration OF the Almighty il may
transform myriads OF sinners into saints, and
turn every tomb, within the range Of its min.
istry, into a brighter Pharos, close by the
walls of the city of immortality.
And yet all these are only the accidents, or
incidents, of the beginning OF its career Who
is not almost afraid to say what our faith re.
quires Yet so ii is; the spirit of that little