Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1845, by JORDAN, SWIFT, AND WILEY, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. BOSTON: 11-25-41 44242 PART I. WE behold a child eight or ten months old; it has brown, curly hair, dark eyes, fair conditioned features, a healthglowing cheek, and well-shaped limbs. Who is it? Whose is it? what is it? where is it? It is in the centre of fantastic light, and only a dimly-revealed form appears. It may be Queen Victoria's or Sally Twig's. It is God's own child, as all children are. The blood of Adam and Eve, through how many soever channels diverging, runs in its veins, and the spirit of the Eternal, that blows everywhere, has animated its soul. It opens its eyes upon us, stretches out its hands to us, as all children do. Can you love it? It may be the heir of a throne, does it interest you; or of a milking stool, do not despise it. It is a miracle of the All-working, it is endowed by the All-gifted. Smile upon it, and it will smile you back again; prick it, and it will cry. Where does it belong? in what zone or climate? on what hill? in what plain? It may have been born on the Thames or the Amazon, the Hoan Ho or the Mississippi. The vision deepens. Green grass appears beneath the child. It may, after all, be Queen Victoria's in Windsor Park, or Sally Twig's on Little Pucker Island. The sun now shines upon it, a blue sky breaks over it, and the wind rustles its hair. Sun, sky, and wind are common to Arctic and Antartic regions, and belong to each of the three hundred and sixty terrestrial divisions. A black-cap is seen to fly over it; and this bird is said by naturalists to be found in every part of the globe. A dog, or the whelp of a dog, a young pup, crouches near it, makes a caracol backwards, frisks away, and returns again. The child is pleased, throws out its arms, and laughs right merrily. As we now look at the child, we can hardly tell to which of the five races it belongs; whether it be a Caucasian, Mongolian, American, Ethiopian, or Malay. Each child on this terraqueous ball, whether its nose be aquiline, its eyes black and small, its cheek-bones prominent, its lips large, or its head narrow; whether its hue be white, olive, or jet, is of God's creating, and is delighted with the bright summer light, a bed of grass, the wind, birds, and puppies; and smiles in the eyes of all beholders. It is God's child still, and its mother's. It is curiously and wonderfully made; the inspiration of the Almighty hath given it understanding. It will look after God, its Maker, by how many soever names he may be called; it will aspire to the Infinite, whether that Infinite be expressed in Bengalee or Arabic, English or Chinese; it will seek to know truth; it will long to be loved; it will sin and be miserable, if it has none to care for it; it will die. Let us give it to Queen Victoria. "No," says Sally Twig, "it is mine." "No," says the Empress Isabella, "it is destined to the crown of Castile." "Not so shure of that, me hearty, it is Teddy O'Rourke's own Phelim." 'Nay," says a Tahitian, "I left it playing under the palm"What presumption!" exclaims Mrs. Morris, is our Frances Maria, whom the servant has taken to the Common." "I just bore it in my own arms through the cypresses," says Osceola. trees. it "Wæ It seems to be in pain. "Mein Gott! gehet eilend hin." "Poor Frances Maria!" "Paneeweh htouwenaunuh neenmaumtehkeh ! "Per amor del Cielo!" "Jesus mind Teddy's Phelim.’ "O Nhaw nddg erm devishd!" sucks! my wee bonny wean, she'll die while ye are bletherin here.' "Bismillahi! "" "Ma chere enfante ! Alohi, Alohi!" "Ora pro nobis ! "None of your whidds, dub the giggle, and take the bantling up." "Eatooaa!" What a babel of exclamations! What manifold articulations of affection! But hold, good friends, may be the child does not belong to you. The scene advances. Two hands are seen thrust down towards it, and now it smiles again. Near by discovers itself a peach tree. Where does that belong? Not like the blackcap everywhere. In the grass shows the yellow disk of a |