I marked the lustrous beaming of his eye, and from that time he looked at all things on the bright side. His very love could think upon its object without a tear, and look forward to a pure and eternal re-union. At last the hour of dissolution came. I knew it by its unerring symptoms; yet still I listened to his passionate, poetic converse. It was for the last time; I was in the chamber of death. What observer can mistake it; the darkened windows, the stillness, the grouping, the subdued sobs, the awful watchfulness for the identical moment when a lovely and intellectual spirit breaks its bonds, as if the strained vision could detect the spiritual essence. What a heart-sickness comes over those who love! What a change in the appearance of all things! The very sun-light is disagreeable, the very skies a mockery; the very roses unlovely. We look out of the casement, and see the external face of nature still the same; how heartless, how destitute of sympathy, now appears the whole world without, with the home, that inner world! How can those birds sing so sweetly on the branches; how can the flowers bloom as brightly as ever; how can those children play so gleefully; how can yon group laugh with such unconcern! He is an only son. Though wan, and wasted in all his lineaments, his pure brow, his gentle expression, tell that he was worthy to be loved. Can no human power restore him to the arms of a fond mother? It is in vain! The spirit flutters upon his lips; it has departed. But it has left behind it a token; a clear, bright impress; a smile of undissembled love and purity; an expression beaming with the last unutterable peace; the graces which were so winning upon earth, but which shall attain their perfection in heaven.
FREEDOMS BEACON
To-day, to-day it speaks to us! Its future auditories will be the generations of men, as they rise up before it and gather round it
Webster.To-day it speaks to us!
Of the times that tried mens souls,
When hostile ships rode where yon bay
Its deep blue waters rolls:
When the war-cloud dark was lowering
Portentous oer the land;
When the vassal troops of Britain came
With bayonet, sword and brand.
To-day it speaks to us!
Of brave deeds nobly done,
When patriot hearts beat high with hope,
Ere Freedoms cause was won:
Of the conflict fierce, where fell
New-Englands valiant men,
Who waved their countrys banner high,
Though warm blood dyed it then!
And will its voice be still
When the thousands of to-day,
Who have come like pilgrim-worshippers,
From earth shall pass away?
Oh no! the potent orator
To future times shall tell
Where Prescott, Brooks, and Putnam fought,
Where gallant Warren fell.
Twill speak of these, and others
Of brave men, born and nurst
In stormy times, on Dangers lap.
Who dared Oppressions worst:
Of Vernons chief, and he who came
Across the Atlantic flood,
To offer to the patriots God
A sacrifice of blood.
Long as the Bay State cherishes
One thought of sainted sires,
Long as the day-god greets her cliffs,
Or gilds her domes and spires;
Long as her granite hills remain
Firm fixed, so long shall be
Yon Monument on Bunkers height
A beacon for the free!
A WINTER TRIP TO TRENTON FALLS
IN THREE SCENES
SCENE FIRST
Morning; eight on the clock. Billings Hotel, Trenton. Outside, a clear bright sun glancing down through an atmosphere sparkling with frost, upon as fine a road for a sleigh-ride as ever tempted green-mountain boys and girls for a moonlight flit. Inside, a well-furnished breakfast-table, beef-steak, coffee, toast, etc., etc. On the one side of it your correspondent; serious, as if he considered breakfast a thing to be attended to. He is somewhat, as the lady on the other side of the table says, somewhat in the sear leaf, by which name indeed she is pleased to call him; but there is enough of spring in her, to suffice for all deficiencies in him. Like the morning, she is a little