THE TWO WEAVERS.

129

Parts of his ways alone we know ; 'Tis all that man can see below.

"See'st thou that carpet, not half done, Which thou, dear Dick, hast well begun? Behold the wild confusion there,

So rude the mass it makes one stare!

"A stranger, ignorant of the trade,

Would say, no meaning's there conveyed;
For where's the middle? where's the border ?
Thy carpet now is all disorder."

Quoth Dick, "My work is yet in bits,

But still in every part it fits;

Besides, you reason like a lout

Why, man, that carpet's inside out."

Says John, "Thou say'st the thing I mean,
And now I hope to cure thy spleen;

This world, which clouds thy soul with doubt
Is but a carpet inside out.

"As when we view these shreds and ends,
We know not what the whole intends;
So, when on earth things look but odd,
They're working still some scheme of God.

"No plan, no pattern, can we trace; All wants proportion, truth, and grace The motley mixture we deride,

Nor see the beauteous upper side.

"But when we reach that world of light,
And view those works of God aright,
Then shall we see the whole design,
And own the workman is divine.

"What now seem random strokes, will there
All order and design appear;

Then shall we praise what here we spurned,

For then the carpet shall be turned."

!

"Thou'rt right," quoth Dick; "no more I'll grumble

That this sad world's so strange a jumble;

My impious doubts are put to flight,

For my own carpet sets me right."

130

DESTINY OF OUR COUNTRY.

DESTINY OF OUR COUNTRY.

R. C. WINTHROP.

This finale of a very brilliant speech, should be delivered in a plain, solid and even severe style, as though the orator were uttering thoughts and conclusions as solemn and important as were ever coined into language. The voice should be rather elevated, as though the speaker meant every tone to be fully heard:

Here, then, sir, I bring these remarks to a close. I have explained, to the best of my ability, the views which I entertain of the great questions of the day. Those views may be misrepresented hereafter, as they have been heretofore; but they cannot be misunderstood by any one who desires, or who is even willing, to understand them.

Most gladly would I have found myself agreeing more entirely with some of the friends whom I see around me, and with more than one of those elsewhere, with whom I have always been proud to be associated, and whose lead, on almost all occasions, I have rejoiced to follow.

One tie, however, I am persuaded, still remains to us all-a common devotion to the Union of these States, and a common determination to sacrifice everything but principle to its preservation. Our responsibilities are indeed great. This vast republic, stretching from sea to sea, and rapidly outgrowing everything but our affections, looks anxiously to us, this day, to take care that it receives no detriment.

Nor is it too much to say, that the eyes and the hearts of the friends of constitutional freedom throughout the world are at this moment turned eagerly here,-more eagerly than ever before,-to behold an example of successful republican institutions, and to see them come out safely and triumphantly from the fiery trial to which they are now subjected!

I have the firmest faith that these eyes and these hearts will not be disappointed. I have the strongest belief that the visions and phantoms of disunion which now appall us will soon be remembered only like the clouds of some April morning, or "the dissolving views" of some evening spectacle.

I have the fullest conviction that this glorious republic is destined to outlast all, all, at either end of the Union, who may be plotting against its peace, or predicting its downfall.

"Fond, impious man! think'st thou yon sanguine cloud

Raised by thy breath, can quench the orb of day?

To-morrow, it repairs its golden flood,

And warms the nations with redoubled ray!"

WEDDED LOVE'S FIRST HOME.

131

Let us proceed in the settlement of the unfortunate controversies in which we find ourselves involved, in a spirit of mutual conciliation and concession :-let us invoke fervently upon our efforts the blessings of that Almighty Being who is "the author of peace and the lover of concord:"-and we shall still find order springing out of confusion, harmony evoked from discord, and peace, union and liberty, once more re-assured to our land!

WEDDED LOVE'S FIRST HOME.

JAMES HALL.

Every line of this little poem, should be given as if each tone expressed the acme of happiness; even the absent are hardly mourned, so sweet are the recollections:

'Twas far beyond yon mountains, dear, we plighted vows of love,
The ocean-wave was at our feet, the autumn sky above;
The pebbly shore was covered o'er with many a varied shell,
And on the billow's curling spray the sunbeams glittering fell.
The storm has vexed that billow oft, and oft that sun has set,
But plighted love remains with us, in peace and lustre yet.

I wiled thee to a lonely haunt, that bashful love might speak
Where none could hear what love revealed, or see the crimson

cheek;

The shore was all deserted, and we wandered there alone,

And not a human step impressed the sand-beach but our own. Thy footsteps all have vanished from the billow-beaten strand; The vows we breathed remain with us-they were not traced in sand.

Far, far we left the sea-girt shore, endeared by childhood's dream,
To seek the humble cot that smiled by fair Ohio's stream;
In vain the mountain cliff opposed, the mountain torrent roared,
For love unfurled her silken wing, and o'er each barrier soared;
And many a wide domain we passed, and many an ample dome,
But none so blessed, so dear to us, as wedded love's first home.

Beyond those mountains now are all that e'er we loved or knew,
The long-remembered many, and the dearly-cherished few:
The home of her we value, and the grave of him we mourn,
Are there ;-and there is all the past to which the heart can turn:
But dearer scenes surround us here, and lovelier joys we trace,
For here is wedded love's first home, its hallowed resting-place.

132

ADDRESS TO A MUMMY.

ADDRESS TO A MUMMY.

HORACE SMITH.

Nearly every verse of this poem admits, indeed calls for, a change of manner, tone, and gesture; the meaning is so obvious as to instantly suggest the mode of elocution befitting the idea expressed:

And thou hast walked about (how strange a story!)
In Thebes's streets, three thousand years ago,
When the Memnonium was in all its glory,

And time had not begun to overthrow

Those temples, palaces, and piles stupendous,
Of which the very ruins are tremendous!

Speak! for thou long enough hast acted dummy;
Thou hast a tongue, come, let us hear its tune;
Thou'rt standing on thy legs above ground, mummy!
Revisiting the glimpses of the moon;

Not like thin ghosts or disembodied creatures,

But with thy bones and flesh and limbs and features.

Tell us for doubtless thou canst recollect

To whom should we assign the Sphinx's fame ?

Was Cheops or Cephrenes architect

Of either pyramid that bears his name?

Is Pompey's pillar really a misnomer?

Had Thebes a hundred gates, as sung by Homer?

Perhaps thou wert a mason, and forbidden

By oath to tell the secrets of thy trade;
Then say, what secret melody was hidden

In Memnon's statue, which at sunrise played?
Perhaps thou wert a priest-if so, my struggles
Are vain, for priestcraft never owns its juggles
Perchance that very hand, now pinioned flat,
Has hob-a-nobbed with Pharaoh, glass to glass;
Or dropped a halfpenny in Homer's hat,

Or doffed thine own to let Queen Dido pass,
Or held by Solomon's own invitation,

A torch at the great temple's dedication.

I need not ask thee if that hand, when armed,

Has any Roman soldier mauled and knuckled,
For thou wert dead and buried and embalmed,

Ere Romulus and Remus had been suckled⚫
Antiquity appears to have begun

Long after thy primeval race was run.

No. 11.-See Appendix.