MARINER'S DREAM.-Dimond.
IN slumbers of midnight the sailor boy lay, His hammock swung loose at the sport of the wind; But, watch-worn and weary, his cares flew away, And visions of happiness danced o'er his mind.
He dreamed of his home, of his dear native bowers, And pleasures that waited on life's merry morn; While memory each scene gayly covered with flowers, And restored every rose, but secreted its thorn.
Then fancy her magical pinions spread wide, And bade the young dreamer in ecstasy rise; - Now far, far behind him, the green waters glide, And the cot of his forefathers blesses his eyes.
The jessamine clambers in flower o'er the thatch, And the swallow chirps sweet from her nest in the wall; All trembling with transport, he raises the latch, And the voices of loved ones reply to his call.
A father bends o'er him with looks of delight; His cheek is impearled with a mother's warm tear; And the lips of the boy in a love-kiss unite With the lips of the maid whom his bosom holds dear.
The heart of the sleeper beats high in his breast, Joy quickens his pulses, his hardships seem o'er; And a murmur of happiness steals through his rest - "O God! thou hast blest me; I ask for no more."
Ah! whence is that flame which now bursts on his eye? Ah! what is that sound which now larums his ear? 'Tis the lightning's red glare, painting hell on the sky! 'Tis the crashing of thunders, the groan of the sphere!
He springs from his hammock -he flies to the deck - Amazement confronts him with images dire - Wild winds and mad waves drive the vessel a wreck - The masts fly in splinters - the shrouds are on fire!
Like mountains the billows tremendously swell: In vain the lost wretch calls on mercy to save; Unseen hands of spirits are ringing his knell, And the death-angel flaps his broad wing o'er the wave.
O sailor boy! wo to thy dream of delight! In darkness dissolves the gay frost-work of bliss. Where now is the picture that fancy touched bright, Thy parents' fond pressure, and love's honied kiss?
O sailor boy! sailor boy! never again Shall home, love, or kindred, thy wishes repay; Unblessed, and unhonoured, down deep in the main, Full many a score fathom, thy frame shall decay.
No tomb shall e'er plead to remembrance for thee, Or redeem form or fame from the merciless surge; But the white foam of waves shall thy winding-sheet be, And winds, in the midnight of winter, thy dirge!
On a bed of green sea-flower thy limbs shall be laid; Around thy white bones the red coral shall grow; Of thy fair v yellow locks threads of amber be made, And every part suit to thy mansion below.
Days, months, years, and ages, shall circle away, And still the vast waters above thee shall roll; Earth loses thy pattern for ever and aye: - O sailor boy! sailor boy! peace to thy soul!
THE LANDING OF THE PILGRIM FATHERS.-Mrs. Hemans.
THE breaking waves dashed high
On a stern and rock-bound coast; And the woods, against a stormy sky, Their giant branches tossed;
And the heavy night hung dark, The hills and waters o'er,
When a band of exiles moored their bark On the wild New England shore.
Not as the conqueror comes,
They, the true-hearted, came;- Not with the roll of the stirring drums, And the trumpet that sings of fame;-
Not as the flying come,
In silence, and in fear :
They shook the depths of the desert's gloom With their hymns of lofty cheer.
Amidst the storm they sang,
And the stars heard, and the sea; And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang To the anthem of the free.
The ocean-eagle soared
From his nest, by the white wave's foam, And the rocking pines of the forest roared :- This was their welcome home.
There were men with hoary hair Amidst that pilgrim band: Why had they come to wither there, Away from their childhood's land?
There was woman's fearless eye, Lit by her deep love's truth; There was manhood's brow serenely high, And the fiery heart of youth.
What sought they thus afar?
Bright jewels of the mine?
The wealth of seas? the spoils of war? They sought a faith's pure shrine.
Ay, call it holy ground,
The soil where first they trod!
They have left unstained what there they found- Freedom to worship God!
EXTRACT FROM THE VOICE OF SPRING. -Mrs. Hemans.
I COME, I come! - ye have called me long,- I come o'er the mountains with light and song! Ye may trace my step o'er the wakening earth, By the winds which tell of the violet's birth, By the primrose-stars in the shadowy grass, By the green leaves opening as I pass.
I have breathed on the South, and the chesnut flowers, By thousands, have burst from the forest bowers, And the ancient graves, and the fallen fanes, Are veiled with wreaths on Italian plains.
But it is not for me, in my hour of bloom, To speak of the ruin or the tomb!
I have passed o'er the hills of the stormy North, And the larch has hung all his tassels forth, The fisher is out on the sunny sea, And the reindeer bounds through the pasture free, And the pine has a fringe of softer green,
And the moss looks bright where my step has been.
I have sent through the wood-paths a gentle sigh, And called out each voice of the deep blue sky, From the night-bird's lay through the starry time, In the groves of the soft Hesperian clime, To the swan's wild note by the Iceland lakes, When the dark fir-bough into verdure breaks.
From the streams and founts I have loosed the chain; They are sweeping on to the silvery main, They are flashing down from the mountain-brows, They are flinging spray on the forest boughs, They are bursting fresh from their sparry caves, And the earth resounds with the joy of waves.
FALL OF TECUMSEH.-Anonymous.
WHAT heavy-hoofed coursers the wilderness roam, To the war-blast indignantly tramping? Their mouths are all white, as if frosted with foam, The steel bit impatiently champing.
'Tis the hand of the mighty that grasps the rein, Conducting the free and the fearless.
Ah! see them rush forward, with wild disdain, Through paths unfrequented and cheerless.
From the mountains had echoed the charge of death, Announcing that chivalrous sally;
The savage was heard, with untrembling breath, To pour his response from the valley.
One moment, and nought but the bugle was heard, And nought but the war-whoop given;
The next and the sky seemed convulsively stirred, As if by the lightning riven.
The din of the steed, and the sabred stroke, The blood-stifled gasp of the dying, Were screened by the curling sulphur-smoke, That upward went wildly flying.
In the mist that hung over the field of blood, The chief of the horsemen contended; His rowels were bathed in the purple flood, That fast from his charger descended.
That steed reeled, and fell, in the van of the fight, But the rider repressed not his daring,
Till met by a savage, whose rank, and might, Were shown by the plume he was wearing.
The moment was fearful; a mightier foe
Had ne'er swung the battle-axe o'er him; But hope nerved his arm for a desperate blow, And Tecumseh fell prostrate before him.
O ne'er may the nations again be cursed With conflict so dark and appalling! Foe grappled with foe, till the life-blood burst From their agonized bosoms in falling.
Gloom, silence, and solitude, rest on the spot, Where the hopes of the red man perished; But the fame of the hero who fell shall not, By the virtuous, cease to be cherished.
He fought, in defence of his kindred and king, With a spirit most loving and loyal, And long shall the Indian warrior sing The deeds of Tecumseh, the royal.
The lightning of intellect flashed from his eye, In his arm slept the force of the thunder, But the bolt passed the suppliant harmlessly by, And left the freed captive to wonder.
Above, near the path of the pilgrim, he sleeps, With a rudely-built tumulus o'er him; And the bright-bosomed Thames, in its majesty, sweeps By the mound where his followers bore him.
EXTRACTS FROM SHAKESPEARE.
ALL the world 's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. At first the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms. And then, the whining school boy, with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school. And then, the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woful ballad Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then, the soldier,
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