Upon the paths of nature, and, when all Retirement.-ANONYMOUS. "The calm retreat, the silent shade, "There, if Thy Spirit touch the soul, O, with what peace, and joy, and love, "There, like the nightingale, she pours Nor asks a witness to her song, Nor thirsts for human praise." I LOVE to steal awhile away I love in solitude to shed I love to think on mercies past, I love by faith to take a view Of brighter scenes in heaven; Couper. Such prospects oft my strength renew, Thus, when life's toilsome day is o'er, Be calm as this impressive hour, To the River Arve.-TALISMAN. Nor from the sands or cloven rocks, Thy dark, unfathomed wells below. Born where the thunder, and the blast, By these low homes, as if in scorn: With heaven's own beam and image shine. Yet stay; for here are flowers and trees; Rush on; but were there one with me Are touched the features of the earth. The Burial.-ANONYMOUS. "We therefore commit his body to the ground."-Burial Service. THE earth has fallen cold and deep No wintry winds can break his sleep, The mourner's parting steps are gone, And he whose heart was wont to glow Till time itself, and days, and years, In that cold heart, no hopes nor fears Though deep the slumbers of the tomb, * Yet shall he wake, and leave that gloom, On the Loss of a pious Friend.-BRAINARD. Imitated from the 57th chapter of Isaiah. WHO shall weep when the righteous die? He has gone into peace; he has laid him down And he shall wake on that holy morn, But ye, who worship in sin and shame Your idol gods, whate'er they be,- Hope in your mountains, and hope in your streams, There's one who drank at a purer fountain, But the sinner shall utterly fail and die, Icarus.* FROM THE PORT-FOLIO. HEARD'ST thou that dying moan of gasping breath, Long o'er the azure air he winged his way, Would sweep his daring frame to earth too soon, Lost in the radiance of the solar sky: The melting wax proclaims his sad defeat; He fades before the intolerable heat. *This piece, which was first published in the Port-Folio, was written, we believe, by Rev. J. W. Eastburn.-ED. The heaving surge received him as he fell, Wide o'er the sparkling deep the sound was heard, Sunset in September.*-CARLOS WILCOX. THE sun now rests upon the mountain tops- *Every person, who has witnessed the splendor of the sunset scenery in Andover, will recognise with delight the local as well as general truth and beauty of this description. There is not, perhaps, in New England, a spot where the sun goes down, of a clear summer's evening, amidst so much grandeur reflected over earth and sky. In the winter season, too, it is a most magnificent and impressive scene. The great extent of the landscape; the situation of the hill, on the broad level summit of which stand the buildings of the Theological Institution; the vast amphitheatre of luxuriant forest and field, which rises from its base, and swells away into the heavens; the perfect outline of the horizon; the noble range of blue mountains in the background, that seem to retire one beyond another almost to infinite distance; together with the magnificent expanse of sky visible at once from the elevated spot,-these features constitute at all times a scene on which the lover of nature can never be weary with gazing. When the sun goes down, it is all in a blaze with his descending glory. The sunset is the most perfectly beautiful when an afternoon shower has just preceded it. The gorgeous clouds roll away like masses of amber. The sky, close to the horizon, is a sea of the richest purple. The setting sun shines through the mist, which rises from the wet forest and meadow, and makes the clustered foliage appear invested with a brilliant golden transparency. Nearer to the eye, the trees and shrubs are sparkling with fresh rain drops, and over the whole scene, the parting rays of sunlight linger with a yellow gleam, as if reluctant to pass entirely away. Then come the varying tints of twilight, fading, still fading,' till the stars are out in their beauty, and a cloudless night reigns, with its silence, shadows and repose. In the summer, Andover combines almost every thing to charm and elevate the feelings of the student. In winter, the north-western blasts, that sweep fresh from the snow-banks on the Grand Monadnock, make the invalid, at least, sigh for a more congenial climate.-ED. |