The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1875-10-01
LAUDAMUS.

o, World, that rollest through the realms Of
space, siitl- l--'- --+
Aclothed- in Natures robes of artless grace,
Thy grateful child sings praises; and the morn,
The distant fields of green and tasseled corn,
The darkling forest, climbing yonder steep,
whereon the tangled cloudIets softly creep;
The far-ofT plain, in vernal drapery dressed,
The babbling brook, by forest shades caressed,
The border huntsman, eager for the chase,
The boatman, painting for trial race,
Alike salute thee at the witching hour
When Light, divided from the Dark. proclaims
her magic power. + RI, r....s
Since the primeval days when Darkness grim
Clothed thee, a shapeless world, with shadows
dim,
What changes have come DER thee Who can
The wondrous potenee of the mighty spell
Called Chaos by the savans, when ye lay
Enwrapt in mist and gloom, awaiting promised
day?
See: Atthy feet, o World. proud Science kneels.
Her own abject humility she feels,
AS cropping through the darkness OF the past
Full many ray of light dawns on her path at
last.
She tells us that thou art yet young, World !;
Upon the living rocks, with startling truth,
Irrefutable teachings of thy youth.
And yet she says that thou art old, o Earth;
That all the rolling eras since thy birth
Have clothed thee with the hoary marks of age
That bristle everywhere upon thy furrowed
page.
I muse upon this paradox; full well
| 1 know the testimony that doth tell
OF time primordial eras miocene,
And yet OF other periods pliocene;
Ofstratas tertiary; of fossils old, ....
That ere the story of the Cross was told
DispOrted them upon auriferous beds,
Aquick with that organic life which sheds
Through it's dumb, dead deposits light divine,
That stirs the deepest depths of thIrsting soul
like mine.
o World, the Sun sings praises; and the air,
With roseate glow, creeps up the misty stair
or mountains basking in the morning breeze
That stoops to kiss the signing, swaying trees.
Adown the vale a mighty river sweeps,
While DER its swelling breast a tiny row-boat
| leaps. -.-,.-s.
The dipping oars scarce stir the slumbering
tide,
AS DER the silvery sheen. the boatmen swiftly
glide. - aG
Afar the ravening waves arise, to fight
The hoary ocean with a mad delight; ---
! For, ever since the waters from the land
Divided were by the OmnicienVs hand,
And the sad sea was bounded evermore
By the obtruding yet obedient shore,
He has not ceased to dash his tangled head
Against the encroaching floods upon yon reefs
outspread.
The great, bold headlands, the retreating rock,
The beacon-light that man hath reared to mock
The furies of the ocean, and the clouds
That in the hush of night the eagles home en-
shrouds;
The tempest and the calm, and morn and night
Alike salute thee with supreme delight.
The gentle dews and blessed summer rain,
And the glad fields of golden, billowy grain,
Join in the anthem which to thee we sing,
While animate creations gladstone offerings
bring.
When man hath all the secrets of thy depths
l explored,
And DER the learned page thy mysteries all
outpoured, e
Shall we salute thee with more heartful zest
Than that we bring thee now at Gratitude's
behest?
1 trow not; and my happy heart is filed
With quiet wondering. and my being thrilled
With ecstasy unspeakable as behold
So much and yet so little; for the half has not
been told.
Astoria, Oregon, August, 1875