The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1878-06-22
Selett 4oetrg.
THAHAToPsIs.
y WILLIAM culrrs nnrAsr.


To him who Ia tbe love OF Nature hoidS
Communion with her visible forms. she speaks
A various Language for his gayer hours
She has a Voiee Of siadness, and a smile
And eloquenee Of beauty, and she gIides
Into his darker musings with a mild
And healing sympathy, thassteais away
Their sharpness, ere he Is aware. When thoughts
Ofthe last bitter hour come like blight
Over thy SPIRIT aud sad images
Oftle stern agony, and shroad, and pail,
And breaihlesz darkness, and the narrow house,
Make theeto shudler. and grow sick at heart
Go forth. under the open sky. and list
To Natures teachings, while from all around
Earth and her waters. and the depths Of air.
Comes q ssill voice--Ycf few days. and thee
The ail-beholding sun shall see no more
In all his course. nor jet In the cold ground,
Where thy pale form was laid. with many tears
Nor in the embrace OF ocean, shall exist
Thy image. Earth, that nourished thee shall claim
Thy growth, % BE- resolved 70 earth again.
And. Lost each human trace, surrendering up
Thine individual being. shalt thou go
* mix forever with the elements,
To be q brother 10 the insensible rock
And % ihe sluggish eiod, which the rude swain
Turns with hts share and treads upon. The oak
shall send his roots abroad and pierce thy mould.
Yet not 70 thine eternal resting place
Shalt thou retire alone, nor cosildsi thou wish
Couch more magnificent Thou shalt lie down
With pairiarehs ofthe infant world-with kings.
The powerful OF the earth-ihe wise. the good
Fair forms, and hoary scers OF ages pas.
All IN one mighty sepulchre. The hills
Rockribbed and ancient as the sun-the wales
Stretching IN pensiye quietness between;
The venerable woods-rivers that move
In majesty, and the complaining brooks
ell.
Old oceans gray and melancholy waste
Are but the solemn decorations all
Ofthe great tomb Sf man. The golden sun,
The planets al the infinite host Of heaven.
Are shining on the sad abodes of death
Through the still lapse Of ages. All that tread
The globe are but handful 70 the tribes
That slumber IN It's bosom. Take the wings
Ofmorning. traverse Barcas desert sands,
or lose thyself in the continuous woods
Where rolls the oregan and hears no sound,
Save his own dashines-yet--the dead are fhere
And millions in those solitudcs. since first
The flight of years began. have laid them down
In their last sleep-the dead reign IA ere alone.
So shalt thou rest, and what If thou withdraw
In silence from the living and no friend
Take note Oft thy depafsureg All that breathe
VIII share thy destiny. The gay wiz laugh
When thou art gone. me solemn brood Of care
Plod on, and each one Is before viii chase
His favorite phantom yet all these shall leave
Their mirth and their employments. and shall come
And make their bed with thee As the long train
OF ages glide away. the sons ofmen.
The youth in Iiies green spring, and he who goes
In the fill strength Of years, matron. and maid
And the sweet babe. and the gray-headed man.
shalfone b one be gathered to thy side.
BY those, who in their turn shall follow them.
So i've that when thy summons comes tojoin
The innumerable caravan. which moves
To that mysterious realm, where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls Of DEATH
Thou 60 not Ike the quarry slave at night.
scourged 70 his dungeon but sustained and soothed
by an unfalteFing trust approach thy grave
Like one who wraps the drapery OF his couch
About him and lies down to pleasant dreams.