And virgins of firm heart, and matrons grave, And savage men, who through the thickets peer But yon lone bark Hath spread her parting sail. They crowd the strand, Is severed? Can ye tell what pangs were there, Long, with straining eye, Sank down into their bosoms?-No! they turn Of slain affections, when they rise between And can ye deem it strange That from their planting such a branch should bloom As nations envy-Would a gerin, embalmed With prayer's pure tear-drops, strike no deeper root Than that which mad ambition's hand doth strew Upon the winds, to reap the winds again? Hid by its veil of waters from the hand Of greedy Europe, their bold vine spread forth Its early clusters, crushed In England's wine-press, gave the tyrant host A draught of deadly wine.-O, ye who boast The Coral Grove.-PERCIVAL. DEEP in the wave is a coral grove, Where the purple mullet and gold-fish rove, Where the sea-flower spreads its leaves of blue, That never are wet with falling dew, But in bright and changeful beauty shine, Far down in the green and glassy brine. The floor is of sand, like the mountain drift, And the pearl shells spangle the flinty snow; From coral rocks the sea plants lift Their boughs, where the tides and billows flow; The water is calm and still below, For the winds and the waves are absent there, And the sands are bright as the stars that glow In the motionless fields of upper air: There, with its waving blade of green, The sea-flag streams through the silent water, And the crimson leaf of the dulse is seen To blush like a banner bathed in slaughter: There, with a light and easy motion, The fan-coral sweeps through the clear deep sea ; Are bending like corn on the upland lea: Is sporting amid those bowers of stone, And is safe, when the wrathful Spirit of storms, Then, far below, in the peaceful sea, Hebrew Melody.-MRS. J. G. BROOKS. FROM the hall of our fathers in anguish we fled, For the breath of the Siroc has blasted our name, His robe was the whirlwind, his voice was the thunder, The mantle of midnight had shrouded the sky, O Judah! how long must thy weary ones weep, To a Child.-ANONYMOUS. "The memory of thy name, dear one, Linked with a thousand hopes and fears, THINGS of high import sound I in thine ears, Dear child, though now thou may'st not feel their power. But hoard them up, and in thy coming years Forget them not; and when earth's tempests lower, A talisman unto thee shall they be, To give thy weak arm strength, to make thy dim eye see. Seek TRUTH-that pure, celestial Truth, whose birth But her majestic port the willing mind, Through faith, may sometimes see. Give her thy soul, But from the one which passion forges; be Be free. The rule o'er chance, sense, circumstance. Seek VIRTUE. Wear her armor to the fight; Seek Virtue; she alone is all divine; And, having found, be strong in God's own strength and thine. TRUTH-FREEDOM-VIRTUE-these, dear child, have power, If rightly cherished, to uphold, sustain, And bless thy spirit, in its darkest hour: Neglect them-thy celestial gifts are vainIn dust shall thy weak wing be dragged and soiled; Thy soul be crushed 'neath gauds for which it basely toiled. The Western World.-BRYANT. LATE, from this western shore, that morning chased Fled at the glancing plume, and the gaunt wolf yelled near. And where his willing waves yon bright blue bay And cradles, in his soft embrace, the gay And, crowding nigh, or in the distance dim, Lifts the white throng of sails, that bear or bring The savage urged his skiff like wild bird on the wing. Then, all his youthful paradise around, And all the broad and boundless mainland, lay There stood the Indian hamlet, there the lake Not unavenged-the foeman, from the wood, Beheld the deed, and, when the midnight shade Was stillest, gorged his battle-axe with blood; All died-the wailing babe-the shrieking maidAnd in the flood of fire that scathed the glade, The roofs went down; but deep the silence grew When on the dewy woods the day-beam played; No more the cabin smokes rose wreathed and blue, And ever by their lake lay moored the light canoe. Look now abroad-another race has filled These populous borders-wide the wood recedes, New colonies forth, that toward the western seas Spread, like a rapid flame among the autumnal trees. |