As the gay season progressed, the love affair between Signor Filippo
Barbone and the daughter of the millionnaire was not permitted to
languish.
The Signor was not in society.
Much as she might desire to do so, Belle dared not venture on the
hazardous experiment of introducing into her own aristocratic circle one
who had so lately figured as a second-rate opera singer. He would have
been recognized at once, and the whole town agitated by the scandal.
Belle knew this very well. Yet, strange to say, it did not in the least
weaken her infatuation for this coarse fellow. On the contrary, I think
it stimulated it. Self-willed and imperious, she tolerated with extreme
impatience any restraint whatever. In this instance, it was the more
tantalizing and exciting, because she felt that the world would be in
opposition to her; while her lover adroitly added fuel to the flame, by
protesting that he would no longer consent to be so unjust, so selfish,
so criminal, as to attempt to absorb her attention, or even intrude on
her notice. True, he should himself fade away and perish (he looked very
much like it); what of that? What were misery and death to him, compared
with her ease and peace of mind?
Thereupon he would disappear for two or three days, during which time
Belle would work herself into a fever of excitement. And when he did
return, unable, as he would say, to keep his oath to himself never to
see her again, she would receive him with such emotion and such
passionate demonstrations of delight, that the wily knave was satisfied
he had completed his conquest.
Things were at just this pass, when Hiram received an anonymous letter,
warning him in vague terms of what was going on, but mentioning no
names.
Hiram was thunderstruck. On reflection, he was convinced that it was the
work of some envious person, who had got up the note to cause him or his
daughter annoyance; or else that it was a miserable joke, perpetrated by
some foolish fellow. So entirely was he assured that one or the other
hypothesis was correct, that he dismissed the matter from his mind. He
carried the note home, however, and handed it to Belle in a playful
manner, while he bestowed his customary caress, and received a kiss in
return.
'Young lady, what do you think of that?' he asked.
It was fortunate--or rather most unfortunate--that Hiram did not
entertain the slightest suspicion of his daughter: else he would have
been led to scrutinize her countenance as he made the remark.
Like most persons who are accustomed to decide for themselves, he never
questioned the correctness of his judgment after it was once formed.
Belle, for an instant, felt the floor sinking away under her feet!
It was only for an instant.
With the readiness for which the sex are so remarkable, she at once gave
way to a most violent exhibition of temper. She walked up and down the
room, apparently in a transport of rage; she tore the note into a
hundred pieces, and _threw them into the grate_.
What was to be done? What would her father do to punish the miscreant
who had dared take such a liberty with her name? Boldly she stepped
before him, and asked the question.
During these exhibitions, Hiram stood smiling all the while. Belle was
very handsome, and never, as he thought, so brilliant as at that moment,
giving vent to her woman's passion.
It was really so. Her form, her face, her eyes worked so harmoniously in
the scene she had got up to cover what was below the surface, that she
did present, to any one whose senses were arbiters, a most beautiful
display.
'You are laughing at me, papa--I see very plainly you are laughing at
me! I will not endure it! I--'
'Belle,' interrupted her father, 'you little goose, what do you think I
care for the scribbling of any fool that chooses to disgrace himself?
What should you, my daughter, care? To be sure, I can understand why you
may suddenly give way to your feelings; but there is reason in all
things. Don't you think the miserable fellow who penned that scrawl
(by-the-way, you have very foolishly destroyed it, provided you did wish
to trace it out)--I say, don't you think the fellow who perpetrated the
ridiculous joke would be pleased enough to see how you take it?'
He took his daughter by the arm--a very beautiful arm--and gave her a
little shake--a playful, pleasant shake. Looking her in the face, he
said: 'Answer me, Belle--am I not right? Have you not sense enough to
see that I am right?'
'Oh, I suppose so, papa. You are always right. That is, I never can
answer your arguments; but--'
'That will do, Belle. Run off to your room, and come down quite yourself
for dinner.'
Belle gave her father an arch smile, to show how obedient she was, and
bounded away.
Hiram watched his daughter with delight as she ran up the staircase, and
his heart exulted in the possession of a child so charming and
attractive.
THE ANDES.
The Andes, like a vast wall, extend along the western coast of South
America. Woods cluster, like billows of foliage, around the feet of the
mountains. A vast network of intersecting streams is woven by the
gigantic warp and woof of these mountains. Many brooks, stealing along,
scarcely heard, over the table-lands, and many fierce torrents, dashing
wildly through rocky crevices, fill the great streams that roll, some
into the Caribbean Sea, some into the near Pacific; while one, the
mighty Amazon, stretches across the continent for more than three
thousand miles, and swells the Atlantic with the torrents of the Andes.
The keel of a vessel entering the Amazon from the Atlantic, may cut
through waters that once fell as flakes of snow on the most western
ridges of the Andes, and glistened with the last rays of the sun as he
sank in the Pacific.
A spell of fascination hangs about the Amazon. Its wonders, known and
unknown, have a marvellous attraction; and the perils encountered in its
exploration give a throb of interest to its very name.
How terrible were the sufferings of Gonzalo Pizarro and his companions,
who set forth in youth and vigor to explore the valley of the Amazon!
How worn and haggard the survivors returned to Quito, leaving some of
the daring cavaliers of Spain to bleach in death on the wild plain, or
to moulder in the lonely glen! No river has sadder chronicles of
suffering and danger than the Amazon. Still, the exploration, so
hazardous, yet of such vast value, will go on. Many a hero in the great
war with nature will follow the track of Herndon, the noble man as well
as the brave explorer, who escaped the perils of the great river, only
to sink, with his manly heart, into the great deep.
In science as in war, ranks after ranks may fall; but the living press
on to fill the vacant places. The squadrons are ever full and eager for
service. To search new lands through and through, or to drag old cities
from the graves of centuries, men will advance as heroically as an army
moves to the capture of Chapultepec. Not a flower can breathe forth its
fragrance, though in marshes full of venomous serpents and of as deadly
malaria, but science will count its leaves, and copy with unerring
pencil the softest tints that stain them with varied bloom and beauty.
Science will detect every kind of rock in the structure of the most
defiant crag. Not a bird can chant or build its nest in the most leafy
shade, but science will find the nest, describe every change of color on
the feathers of the little singer, and set to music every tone that
gushes from its tiny throat. Not a gem can repose safe from seizure, in
the rocks, in the sand, or in the torrent. Not a star can twinkle in the
abyss of night, but science will tell its rate of light, and describe
its silent and mysterious orbit. Torrid heat, the earthquake, the
tornado, the pestilence, mountains of ice, craters of flame--science
will dare them all, to know one more law of nature. God speed the daring
of science, if only her votaries will not place the law in the place of
Him who made both it and the works which it was commissioned to guide.
Science, when she has found the highest and the most comprehensive law
of nature, has not touched Deity itself; she has but touched the hem of
the garment of the Great Lawgiver.
One veteran of science, Alexander von Humboldt, has yielded to the great
law of humanity, as inexorable as any that he found in nature. His
researches in South America, though mainly confined to the valley of
the Oronoco, were most thorough, and his array of facts and observations
are of inestimable value. Yet, Humboldt searched into nature with the
coldness of the anatomist, content with examining its material
structure, rather than with the zeal of one who seeks images of Divine
power impressed alike on solid rocks and gliding streams. Science,
however rigid, would not have restrained the ardor of homage to the
Author of creative energy and grandeur, bursting forth irrepressibly in
scenes where angels would have adored the Great First Cause, and where
man can do no less.
Humboldt's fame as an observer is founded on a rock which no mortal
power can shake. He lacked the reverential insight into the higher and
deeper powers of nature, but, so far as his mental eyes saw, he
described surely and vividly the manifestations of those powers. He was
an observer of wonderful skill in the outer courts of nature, though he
seemed either not to seek or to be bewildered in seeking her interior
shrine. He exemplified rather the talent than the genius of discovery,
the patient sagacity which accumulates materials, rather than the fervid
enthusiasm which traces the stream of nature's action to its spring, the
great Creative Will. Yet, the very title of Humboldt's great work, the
concentrated fruit of a life of toil, 'Cosmos,' meaning beauty and
order, and, then, the visible world, as illustrating both, seems to show
a gleam of feeling above the spirit of material research. His warmest
admirer could have respecting him no worthier hope than that he, who has
left the scene of earthly beauty which he so long and diligently
studied, may have had the joy to discern, in the sphere of celestial
order, the Cosmos of the skies, higher and deeper truths than external
nature can teach.
An American artist, Church, has portrayed with great force and beauty
some portions of the inspiring scenery of the Andes. Church's pictures
are avowedly compositions, and not transcripts of actual views; yet,
they are not more remarkable for ideal beauty than for truthfulness to
nature. Although no real scenes among the Andes correspond to his
painting, yet the glorious characteristics of the Andes are seen in
every line, in every color, in all the strange lights and shadows of his
paintings. Imagination, which sees at once the powers and proportions of
things, is, when joined to a feeling heart, the surest guide to him who
would describe natural truth, whether of the souls of men or of material
forms. The realists of art may not be so well satisfied with a
composition, as with the delineation, line by line, and point by point,
of a scene in nature; yet the more comprehensive critic will own that
universality will gain by the composition far more than local identity
can lose. By his imaginative skill, Church has portrayed in two or three
pictures those characteristics of scenery which, to be faithfully
delineated in copies from actual views, would require a hundred
paintings. This is alike his best defence and his highest praise.
In recalling my own observations among these noble mountains, and in
striving to express them in language, I feel how much higher is the
vantage ground of the painter. One may examine for hours the canvas,
until every scene is fixed on the memory as on the canvas itself. Yet I
will endeavor to give a general view of the scenery of the stupendous
Andes--stupendous truly, yet among those mountains are scenes of such
quiet beauty as to touch the heart as tenderly as softest music.
Scarcely a hundred miles from the Pacific Ocean arise some of the
highest peaks of the Andes, yet the way upward is much longer. From the
coast, or from the decks of ships sailing by it, may be seen, in clear
weather, some of the peaks of the mountains. On the shores, hazes and
mists often temper the tropical sun and obscure distant objects; but,
at early morning and evening, sometimes the great snowy dome of
Chimborazo may be seen afar, towering in majesty above the tropical
verdure between its base and the ocean. It looks as if invading the
heavens with its colossal form; and at such times it wears a vesture of
glory. A few years ago, in New England, of a clear night in the depth of
winter, an aurora of the north reddened the whole sky; and the earth
beneath, covered with snow, was as red as the sky above. Imagine such an
aurora to fall upon the snowy summit of a mountain four miles high, and
you may conceive how attractive is the flush of beauty upon the brow of
Chimborazo at sunrise and at sunset.
Turn from the broad Pacific, as its long waves glance in the sun; and,
as the morning tide washes up the tropical rivers, go with it along one
of them, a part of the way, perhaps, in a sailing vessel or a steamer,
but the rest in a light canoe. Tropical shrubbery and forests line the
banks of the stream. New forms and modes of life impress the traveller
from the temperate zone. The scenery of the tropics, so long the wonder
of the imagination, now expands in wild luxuriance before the sight.
When you have gone as far as you can along the winding river, waiting,
perhaps, for hours, here and there upon the bank, in some rude cabin, or
under the shade of some broad fragrant tree, for the returning tide from
the ocean to bear you swiftly on; disembark upon a strange soil, and
prepare to pursue your journey by mules or horses.
You reach the forests, and pierce their dark recesses by narrow paths,
mere winding threads of road. Great clouds of foliage press around you,
and, at the slightest breeze, thrill with that murmur of myriads of
trees, which is so full of mystery and awe; for there, the very forests,
unbroken and unbounded, seem audibly to breathe together with mystical
accord, and to blend low quivering tones with the grand chorus which
swells daily upward from vales and mountains, seas and shores.
Interspersed with the thick foliage, on every hand are blossoms and
fruits of every tropical kind. Pale, white bridal blossoms clothe the
orange tree, or golden fruit hangs among its clusters of glossy leaves.
The starry rind and pale-green crown of the pineapple tempt you to enjoy
the luscious fruit. High in air the cocoanut tree lifts its palmy
diadem. The long broad leaves of the plantain protect its branches of
green or yellow fruit, and throw a grateful shade upon the way, open
here and there. Here is, indeed "a wilderness of sweets," and the air is
full of blended fragrances. While the eye ranges, seeing trees, fruits,
and flowers innumerable, of glorious hues and countless kinds, most
never seen by you before, or at least only as exotics, the ear also
takes in varied sounds. Birds are singing, insects humming; every tree
seems a choir, and the immeasurable forest a wide congregation of joyful
voices.
You are now on the lowest stage of that sublime gradation of climates
and scenery displayed by the Andes. You cross it in two or three days'
journey (for, as in the East, so, in the mountainous regions of South
America, travelling is measured less by miles than by days' journeys).
You then arrive at the foot of one of the mountains. Stop and look up! A
ridge covered with forests to its very top stands steep before you. The
wind makes tremulous the masses of evergreen foliage, which are now
shaded by the reluctant mists of the morning, slowly ascending, and now
are bright with the full splendor of noon. Above that ridge rises
another, and another yet, unseen at the foot. Begin the ascent. The
mules tremble as they strive to keep their hold on the steep, slippery
soil. Press upward in zigzag paths for hours. Reach the top of the
ridge, and descend into the valley between it and another higher
opposite; then, ascend again. As you thus slowly, patiently, yet surely
reach the heart of the mountainous region, wild diversity of views holds
you bound in wonder and strange delight. Here are level places--here
pure, bright brooks glide on as smoothly as in meadows. There, a torrent
rushes over crags, foaming and roaring in an everlasting cascade. Before
you may be a hillside, green with luxuriant pasturage, where flocks and
herds graze quietly through the day, while the shepherd, with his crook
and harmonic pipe, reminds you of classic scenes. Turn aside--and you
may look down into cavernous recesses, whose gloomy, depths you cannot
measure. Scenes fair and fearful meet in the same horizon. So, in life,
the gentle charities, that, like the face of Una, make sunshine in the
shady place, are often found not far from rugged rage and black despair.
Press on through glad and sombre scenery. Press upward in steep ways,
miry and craggy, narrow and broad, by turns.
Now, so deep are the paths cut in the mountain, so high are the banks,
so contracted is the way, that, the higher you rise, the less you appear
to see; and you feel disappointed at missing the grand horizon of
smaller mountains, on which, coming nearer the summit, you expected to
look; but now, a shout of exultation breaks from your lips; and well it
may. A new Pacific Ocean seems to expand before you, as if by some
sudden enchantment. It is an ocean of constant verdure and inexhaustible
fertility, spreading far, far below you, as far as you can see, on every
side but that from which, high on the mountain top, you look down upon
the view. The seeming ocean is the first table land, whose soft, green
undulations fill the horizon, though, when the sky is clear, the snowy
mountains may be seen far away, dazzling the heavens and the earth with
their brightness. Spring and autumn here join hands, consecrating the
double seedtime and the double harvest of the year. Yonder is a field of
ripened grain. And there is the Indian laborer, near his cabin of thatch
and clay, guiding the rude ploughshare through the fertile soil.
Descend the mountain, and, crossing that sea of beauty, ascend the
mountains beyond. The scenes, just now all soft and pleasing, give way
to others which unite the lovely and the severe. Look upward. There
rises a mountain, so gently curving and so green, so alluring with its
light and shade, that it seems the very emblem of graceful majesty,
looking as if it must know its wondrous beauty, and as calm as if no
wind strong enough to make a violet tremble could ever breathe upon its
face; yet near, in vivid contrast, stands a craggy peak, towering up,
up, toward the deep blue sky, so broken and so black that it seems like
the very Giant Despair of mountains, frowning with unearthly fierceness
upon his gentle neighbor, who returns his grim looks with meek and
placid trust. Where whirlwinds and tempests await the signal for howling
desolation, stands the beautiful colossal image of sublime serenity.
Again, steep, rocky roads lead over rugged cliffs. Your horses climb
panting, and descend, picking their steps, upon the other side. Stop
awhile on this green space, a valley between two high ridges. Countless
flowers spread fragrance and beauty around. They are not those alone of
the strictly tropical level, but, owing to the height above the sea, the
floral wealth of the temperate zone is embosomed in the torrid region
itself, and adds the charm of an almost magical diversity to the
intrinsic splendors of the scene. See small objects flitting about from
flower to flower. They are the smallest and most delicate of
hummingbirds, nowhere found but in America. Watch their colors, changing
with every changing motion, purple, crimson, golden, green. It is as if
the very flowers had taken life, and were revelling with conscious glee
in the soft, bright air. The hues of these birds are dazzlingly bright.
The little creatures glance about like prismatic rays embodied in the
smallest visible forms.
After gazing upon these hummingbirds with joy as great as theirs, as
they revel like fairies in the profusion of this flowery valley, look
upward on the high, grand ridges that close it in. What suddenly starts
from the very top of yon cliff, and floats in the air, high, high, above
you? It is the great condor, expanding his broad wings, wheeling in
flight from ridge to ridge, curving with majestic motion, now poising
himself upon his wings, now apparently descending, now suddenly but
gracefully turning upward, until his lessening shape has gone beyond the
farthest reach of sight. The hummingbird and the condor; hillsides
covered with sheep; rocky ridges inaccessible to man or beast; brooks
that quiver gently on; impetuous torrents; the beauty of Eden and craggy
desolation like that of chaos--these all can you see among the Andes.
Let not the fascination of this valley, the songs of birds, the flowers,
the hummingbirds glistening among them like gems, the soft outlines of
the scenery detain you long. Harder and sterner scenes await you. The
Andes are a picture of life. Every cliff records a lesson; and the
unnumbered flowers interweave with their varied dyes and rich perfumes
gentle suggestions, sweet similitudes for the understanding and the
heart. If, as in this charming valley, the senses may be dissolved in
joy, and the spirit would linger willingly in rapt delight, soon some
hard experience, kindly sent, requires one to brace all manly energy for
the rough encounter, the blast of peril, and duty's steep and craggy
road. You ascend in narrowing ways, casting long, lingering looks upon
the valley, whenever it opens to view between the cliffs.
Here, the ridges are so near together that the shrubbery from the top of
each joins in an arch overhead. There, you pass along by the side of a
mountain, in a path which affords scarcely room for a single horseman,
and where he who enters the close defile, shouts aloud, and, if the
first, thus gains a right of way through, and parties on the other side,
hearing the shout, must wait their turn. Now, you leave for a while the
narrow road, and descend upon a beautiful table land, bounded on the
sides by parallel but distant mountains; and the open places reveal
fertile plains in far perspective. Light streams through the wide, clear
space in a golden tide of splendor. Again, you are partly surrounded by
an amphitheatre of hills, rising in gradations, and of such impressive
magnitude and extent that one might imagine that here the secret forces
of nature are wont to take bodily shape, to look on the grand tragic
storms which their own fearful agency has raised.
Now, on one side, the mountains subside into soft undulations; on the
other, the ridges are colossal, dark, and broken, and along the edges of
their successive summits is a line of snow, varying with the line of the
cliffs, and glittering like burnished silver in the sun, above the
jagged battlements. The deep blue sky, the shining snow, the huge, dark,
rocky bases, the different shades of color harmoniously blending, the
soft and rugged shapes contrasting vividly--well may impress the soul
with pleasure-relieving awe, with awe-ennobling pleasure.
Dismount awhile for rest. Enter this rude, thatched house by the
wayside, on a level spot. Laden mules pass by in crowds, attended by
Indian drivers, each of whom doffs his hat and blesses you--a mere
ceremony, it may be, but one in picturesque keeping with the scenery.
Invigorated by the breeze, the shade, the rest, prepare to go higher,
higher, higher yet. First, pluck some of these roses that grow profusely
around you, that, if you reach the line of snow that never melts, you
may place upon the cold bosom of perpetual winter these blushing symbols
of perpetual spring.
Again, you reach the edge of a cliff, through the deep, narrow valley
between which and the cliff opposite pours a furious torrent, which,
resounding louder and louder as it is approached, now drowns all other
sounds in its despotic roar. But, fearful as it looks, it must be
crossed. Some of these torrents are spanned by bridges; but most of them
are so impetuous, especially in the rainy season, that bridges even of
stone would be undermined, and those of timber would be swept away like
wisps of straw. You must now trust to the sagacity of your mules or
horses. You descend the precipitous side of the cliff, seeming to
yourself as if about to fall headlong into the torrent; but after a
painful and perilous jaunt, you reach its level. Its roar now confuses
and nearly stuns you. Each side is more or less precipitous, and you
seem at the mercy of the furious tide, while jutting rocks above seem
just ready to be loosened by some convulsion, and to crush you with
their merciless weight: meantime, your horse stands unmoved by the peril
before or above him, apparently deaf to the noise of the torrent, and
quietly surveys the rapids, as if to select the safest point to cross.
Disturb him not. He takes his time, and places one foot and then another
in the torrent. As he reaches the main current, he trembles, not with
fear, but with the effort to keep himself from being swept against the
rocks. He may be able to keep his footing and to walk across, though
panting and shaking at every step; or the stream may be so deep that he
is forced to swim. If so, he bears up _manfully_ (if one may say so)
against the rushing force, and at last scrambles up the least steep peak
of the opposite bank, bearing you more dizzy than he is. But the bank
itself is only the foot of a ridge as precipitous as that which you
descended to reach the stream. Quietly, patiently, surely the horse
ascends. A sudden misstep or unwary slip among the loose stones of the
path would send you far backward into the torrent which you have just
escaped. This very seldom happens, for the horses and mules have been
well trained for the service. In all the perils, the horse or mule is a
safer guide than you. Give him a free rein, and he will bear you up the
hardest, roughest, steepest places.
You are now high among the Andes, far above every sign of tropical
vegetation; and, although hourly you are approaching the equatorial
line, yet hourly also it is growing colder. Look up! A snowy peak rises
directly before you, and seems to challenge you with its refulgent,
inaccessible majesty. The sight at first almost appals, but fascinates.
The feeling of fear soon surrenders to absorbing enjoyment of the
sublimity of the scene. The more you look, the more you desire to look.
There stands the mountain, a single glance at which repays all the
fatigue and danger of the road;--there it stands, as high above the
Pacific Ocean as if Vesuvius should be piled upon itself again, and
again, and yet again. Clear snow covers it with a robe of dazzling
light.
The snowy peak, though it seems so near in the pure atmosphere, is a
weary distance off. As you advance slowly and laboriously upward, the
wind blows almost like a hurricane. You can hardly breast its force. It
grows colder and colder. Here, on the equator, man may freeze to death.
Bear a stout heart and a firm face against the cold and the wind.
Now it is too steep even for the horses and mules of the Andes. You are
ascending toward the snowy peak whose alluring brightness has charmed
the long way, since you saw it first. Dismount and climb as you can
among the rocks. The glittering snow is near. You pant as if you might
soon lose all power to breathe again; yet, press on, and now touch at
last the pure, bright, equatorial snow.
Would you now reach the very summit which shines far, far above you,
arrayed in glowing white. That you cannot do. Angels descending on
ministries of grace may touch that snowy mountain top, but mortal feet
it never felt. That radiant peak is sacred from bold endeavor and the
assaults of battle. War's gory feet never climbed so far. War's flaming
torch never stained that pure and snowy light. Swords never flashed
among those white defiles. Angels of peace guard the tops of the Andes.
There is truce to all the rage of earth. During the middle ages, an
interval in every week was sacred from the assaults of foes. It was
called the Truce of God. Not for three days, but for countless ages,
from the birth of time to the final consummation, on these snowy summits
of the Andes shines in pure white the Holy Truce of God.
In Italy and Sicily, an ethereal veil, a pale, blue gossamer, spreads
over the scenery, as if each object had caught some delicate reflection
from the blue heavens above; and the golden illumination of this misty
veil causes the peculiar charm of Italian sunsets. This effect is
generally wanting in the scenery of the Andes near the equator, though
among the mountains more remote, a similar effect is sometimes seen.
Among the Andes of the equatorial region, so pure is the air, that the
farthest objects visible are exactly defined. The curves and angles of
distant cliffs are as clearly seen as those of masses of rock at one's
side. Hardly a ray of light is so refracted as to disturb the perfect
shape and color of any object in the horizon. The splendor of the sun
brings out the true colors of everything within the range of sight; and
so various are these colors, and so diversified are the groupings of
ridges and valleys, in the scenery of the Andes of the equator, that the
pure developing and defining light and the clear air of that region
produce effects as enchanting as the transforming light and the soft
veiling air of Italy. At sunrise and at sunset, indeed, but especially
at sunset, a rosy light tinges the snowy summits of the far-off
mountains, but those near shine with pure white, like mountains of
silver. The hue of every precious stone is found in the colors of the
Andes. Even the crevices on the rocky sides of the mountains without
verdure seem when the sun shines upon them to be filled and overflowing
with warm hues, varying from the softest lilac to the deep, rich,
pervading purple which the artist loves to revel in. Each of the Andes,
besides his emerald or pearly crown, seems also to wear, like the high
priest of old, a jewelled breastplate, reflecting on earth the glory of
the skies.
The table lands of the Andes, especially when seen from above, resemble
the rolling prairies of western North America. Both have the same
beautiful and various undulations, though those of the table lands are
bolder. The prairies are far more extensive; though, often, the table
lands present as broad a horizon of gently curving land. These table
lands in some places extend like vast halls between widely separate but
parallel chains of the Andes--again, like broad corridors along a line
of ridges--again, like wide landings to gigantic stairs, of which the
stone steps are mountains--again, they expand in hollows surrounded by
hills, like lakes of land. Here is one large enough for several small
farms only--there, many towns and rural estates are found on the same
table land. Here is one which you may traverse in an hour--there is one
which may be several days' journey across.
The agricultural wealth of the Andes is mainly concentrated in these
table lands, in these millions of rolling acres. The table lands are
above the region of forests. About the watercourses, on the farms, and
in the towns, a few trees may be found--sometimes avenues of them laid
out with care and beauty; and the fruit trees of the temperate zone may
here be cultivated; but the great forests of the tropical level and the
pines of the mountains are absent.
The _Paramos_ are sandy plains, in fact, mountain deserts, in the dry
season liable to great droughts, and in the wet season to fearful
snowstorms. The armies of Independence, during the wars between Spain
and South America, suffered terrible hardships and exposures in the
_Paramos_. The _Pampas_ are wide and level plains, not so high as the
table lands, where graze innumerable herds of wild cattle. They are
beyond the ranges of mountains, in the more central parts of South
America. There are none west of the Andes.
The table lands complete the sublime varieties of the scenery. Their
serenity enchants, as the grandeur of the mountains that rise above them
exalts the mind. The works of nature are not only adapted to human need
with Omniscient skill, as these fertile lands among the sterner
mountains prove; but, feelings different, yet harmonious, are excited by
the combinations of Infinite Power. The emotion of awe, being one of
great concentration, becomes even painful, if the tension of the mind be
too long sustained; and so He who tempers the ineffable splendor of His
immediate presence even to the gaze of angels, with the rainbow of
emerald about his throne, with the sea of crystal, the tree of life, or
the gates of precious stones, also soothes the sublimity of mountains
with gentle traits of scenery and soft gradations of color which give
enjoyment more passive than awe, and rather captivate than overpower the
eye and soul.
From the table lands can often be seen in the distance snow-covered tops
of mountains, projected in bold, white outlines against the deep-blue
sky; and there the sky is really blue, not of that pale tinge that often
passes for it, but of a deeper blue than even the rich October sky of
North America. As if joining the sky, are the shining summits of the
mountains. The two ethereal colors, blue and white, thus meet in
dazzling harmony. Sometimes so many of these white, towering heights can
be seen, and in so different quarters, that one may almost fancy the sky
itself to be a vast dome of sapphire supported by gigantic pillars of
marble.
Most of the cities, villages, and farms are on these table lands. Often,
for the sake of the grand view, a villa is built on a steep ridge,
within sight of the broad, undulating surface of some plateau; or, in
some position of peerless beauty, the glittering cross on some convent
may be seen. The Spanish race appreciate the picturesque, as is shown by
their choice of sites, not only in Spain, but in Spanish America. The
poetical, imaginative character which has marked Spanish annals for
centuries, still marks those who have any claim to Spanish descent. The
South American, though half an Indian, recognizes the grandeur of his
native mountains, and the beauty of the broad, fertile valleys, while a
thorough-going Anglo-Saxon of North America, in the same places, would
calculate whether or not the torrent that rushes foaming and glittering
down the mountain is too steep to serve a mill, or whether the smaller
mountains might not be levelled for building lots; or he would gaze upon
some beautiful table land with wonder indeed, but with wonder chiefly
how much wheat or barley there grows to the acre, or can be made to
grow. The table lands produce the grains and fruits of the temperate
zone; and, accordingly, proprietors who own, as many do, estates on the
tropical and on the temperate level, may supply their tables with fruits
from their own grounds, for which, in other countries, the world must be
brought under contribution. The soil is cultivated mainly by Indians.
Descendants of the ancient rulers of the land now till the fields of the
descendants of the conquerors.
Some, indeed, representing more or less the Indian part of the
population, are owners of estates; yet a full Indian rarely has lands of
his own. He is a hewer of wood and a drawer of water, tills the fields,
and performs most of the drudgery of the country. More South Americana
of Indian descent, out of the general population, have gained honor and
power than could possibly have done so under the confined and absolute
sway of the Incas. The Indians of all Spanish America have progressed,
however slowly and rudely, in the arts, labors, culture, and faith of
Christian civilization, and, in the aggregate, are in advance of the
Indians of Anglo-America.
Let the imagination survey the whole range of the Andes for their vast
extent of sixty degrees of latitude. On every level space are seen the
signs of culture and human habitation, fields green with the early
grain, or yellow with the harvest. The roads now wind through forests of
constant shade, even under the burning sun of the equator; now they turn
with gentle windings, or with steep abruptness, while below spread
bright and beautiful lands, and interesting the more because associated
with the homes and lives of men.
In the grandest scenery, some sign of man's abode will be grateful. No
one, indeed, whose soul has not been warped out of all likeness to the
Divine image which it once wore, can regard without abhorrence such
intrusions of noisy machinery into scenes of natural sublimity as,
for instance, have desecrated the neighborhood of Niagara Falls,
and which would have done so yet more, but for the energetic and
forever-praiseworthy resistance of the proprietors of adjacent grounds;
as if America, with her thousands of miles of rivers, and almost
infinite number of rapid, unfailing brooks, had not mill privileges
enough, without daring to insult the Divine Majesty by wresting the
Falls of Niagara from their true design. The spirit of gain, which has
been eager, though--thanks be to God--it has not been able to spoil the
natural glory of Niagara, is vile, degraded, base enough to sell a
mother's dying gift for gold, or to seize, if it had the power, the
jewelled gates of the New Jerusalem as collateral security for its
meagre faith in anything divine.
But, though the presence of that sacrilegious materialism, of that
practical blasphemy, which defies creative Deity at the very shrines
where its infinite power is most wonderfully displayed, is a plague
spot, a malignant sign of spiritual leprosy, which warns all to beware
of its vile contagion; yet, the suggestions of rural toil, the sight of
tilled fields, the cottage, the shepherd and his flock, are all
harmonious with nature, even in her grandeur; for they show that the
glorious wonders of earth were given, not, indeed, to be distorted, but
to be enjoyed by man; and even the stupendous mountain derives a new
charm from the reflection that it may minister daily to the elevation of
the soul, while the benign fertility of the valley sustains the natural
life.
How pleasantly these villages nestle upon the breasts of the mountains,
as if there to find shelter from the stormy blast! Trains of mules,
attended by their drivers, whose shrill shouts echo among the rocky
hills, wind upward, laden with rich tropical fruits from the coast, or
with goods from other lands. Other trains descend, laden with grain and
the fruits of the temperate zone, from the higher districts.
Well-guarded mules bear bars of precious silver from the mountain mines
for the currency of the world, or to render dazzling service on the
tables of nobles and kings in foreign lands. Look upon the gorgeous
clouds above you, as if the snowy Andes were soaring heavenward; reach
higher points, and look upon shining clouds far below, as if the same
snowy mountains had descended to bow in meek devotion. The llama, the
delicate beast of burden, sometimes called the Peruvian camel, with
gently curving neck, moves gracefully on, turning often and quickly,
from side to side, mild, plaintive eyes, as if entreating pity.
The cascade glances like a streak of silver from the mountain at your
side; in the valley you see the sweet, calm lake, or you hear the
torrent, sounding among shadowy woodlands, never weary, never still.
Stand on a lofty ridge, and look abroad on the vast, snowy heights that
appear in the horizon;--then let the 'mind's eye' look beyond the
horizon, and behold similar peaks stretching three thousand miles along.
Then bend reverently before Him who has made earth so grand.
Go to the galleries of Rome and Florence. It is wise to gather new
beauty to the soul from works of art, and to study the exquisite graces
which the great masters have gathered from nature and delineated in
glowing canvas or in lasting marble; yet, here is a gallery of paintings
by the Great Master and Author of all sublimity and beauty in heaven and
earth, extending, not from room to room of buildings made with hands and
roofed with cedar, but from hall to hall of nature's colossal cathedral,
roofed by the infinite sky. Look at these pictures, ever changing, yet
ever grand, of majestic mountains, of reposing valleys, of fertile
plains, of rural homes, of streams and waterfalls, of vast forests, of
myriad forms of life and beauty, of sunrise, sunset, and the glittering
moon. What a marvellous variety in the objects portrayed! What surprises
at every turn! Colors more brilliant than Titian or Allston could
combine, join in harmonious effect on every side, and grace and vigor,
beauty and grandeur, are blended in every scene and almost in every
outline. Would you examine the famous statues of the world, and admire
the symmetry of form and power of expression drawn forth by human skill
from the hard, white stone? Or will the fragments of ancient art give
delight for their expressive beauty, visible though in broken forms?
Behold here a gallery of statuary, a line of divine masterpieces, whiter
than Parian marble, wrought by the 'ANCIENT OF DAYS.' Will you
admire Michael Angelo's colossal 'Day and Night'? and revere the mortal
genius that can so impress the soul? Give homage, then, for the majesty
of power with which He who created and adorned the universe has
displayed, among the Andes, Day and Night--Day robed with unutterable
splendor, Night with transcendent awe.
Mountains!--the grandest of nature's visible works--ye are also the
figures of majesty, of strength, of loftiness of soul! Ye are the raised
letters which record on the great globe the history of man! Ye are the
mighty scales in which the fate of nations has been weighed! Ye have
checked the march of conquest, or inspired with new, defiant energy the
conqueror's will! Your ranges are the projecting lines which mark, on
the great dialplate of the world, the shadows of the rolling ages! On
your steep, bleak heights empires have been lost and won! Ye show how
weak is man, how great is God!
Ye are the home of meditation, the colossal pillars of the audience
chamber of the Deity! The Mount of Contemplation rises far above the
mists of partial opinion and the mire of conflict, the discords of
jangling interests and the refractions of divided policies, girt by a
serene and sublime horizon, and within hearing of Nature's everlasting
song.
Behold the holy family of mountains, on which the angels look with
reverential wonder: the Mount of Awe, black with clouds and vivid with
lightnings, whence descended the guide of wandering Israel, with light
divine reflected on his brow; the Mount of Transfiguration, where native
Deity gleamed from the face of the benign Messiah on adoring, rapt
disciples; the Mount of Sorrow, where the world's grief was borne, and
which celestial grace has made the Mount of Joy to 'numbers without
number;'--the Mount of Ascension, where last stood on earth Incarnate
Mercy. Look up! look up! See how the angelic guards point with
amaranthine wands afar, where glows, beyond the vale of tears, the
Mountain of Immortal Life.
Behold, in exalted vision, the mountains of Asia and of the islands of
the Eastern seas, of Africa, of Europe, of America;--see how they are
baptized with fire, one after, another, as the sun rises, to spread
around the world the light of its daily consecration. How sadly is the
world's morning glory soiled and dimmed by thoughtless man ere comes
again the dark and silent night!
NATIONAL FRIENDSHIPS.
Not long after the outbreak of the present war, the loyal portion of the
country discovered that the sympathies of the British Government, and,
in a great measure, of the British nation, were with the revolted
States. The expectations of those who looked toward England for at least
a hearty moral support, were quickly destroyed by the ill-concealed
spirit of exultation which she exhibited on more than one occasion.
Although it can hardly be asserted that the great body of our people
expected from her more than an impartial observance of strict
neutrality, it nevertheless occasioned considerable surprise that a
country, called so often as herself to the task of surpressing
rebellions, should be prejudiced against ourselves when similarly
situated.
With France, however, it was different. We had for years been accustomed
to regard the French as our natural allies. The amicable relations which
had existed between us, with but comparatively little interruption,
since the days of the Revolution, naturally led us to look to them for a
degree of sympathy not to be expected from our constant rivals and
competitors the English. It was with painful surprise therefore that we
shortly perceived that the French Government was, of all others, the
most hostile to our cause, and the one to be regarded with the most
suspicion and distrust.
Spain also took advantage of our weakened condition to display a spirit
of enmity toward us no less decided than that observed on the part of
her more powerful neighbors. In short, of the whole great family of
European nations scarcely one expressed a friendly interest for us in
our perilous position.
It is not surprising, then, that, surrounded as we were by traitors at
home, we manifested an almost unmanly regret on finding ourselves
deserted by those whom we were wont to consider as friends abroad; and
when we now reflect upon the bearing of those nations toward us, the
inquiry naturally arises, whether there really exists no such thing as
true friendship between nations. It is a mournful question; and not a
few, unwilling to believe that such is the case, will at once point to
frequent close alliances, to more than one example of the generous
behavior of one people toward another. But our own experience has taught
us that friendship exists between nations only so far as it is warranted
by interest, and that all the instances referred to as proving the
contrary, have been owing to the personal influence of high-minded men,
who, at the time, were in power; and even in such cases a far-sighted
policy will frequently prove to have been the ruling motive which
prompted their apparently disinterested measures.
And here we pause to consider what considerations of interest could have
stirred up such hostility to our prosperity, and caused such
gratification when our very existence was threatened. In what way would
our destruction benefit England? The advantages which she derives from
her commercial intercourse with us are far greater than any which would
accrue to her if she ruled the broken fragments of our country as she
rules the oppressed provinces of India or her distant possessions in
Australia. The same may be substantially said with regard to France. How
far from compensated would she be for the loss of such large consumers
of her staple productions as ourselves by the acquisition of portions of
territory here, which would in all likelihood prove as unprofitable as
her African dominions?
Spain, too, although her shadow of an excuse for her apparent ill will
toward us may be a little darker than that of Great Britain or France,
since she doubtless hopes that by the destruction of our power and
influence, she may be able to regain her ascendency over her former
colonies, can scarcely be so blind as not to perceive that but little
attention would probably be paid to her claims by her more powerful
coadjutors in the work of our annihilation.
It does not appear, then, that these nations can urge even self-interest
as a pretext for their treacherous enmity to us; and we again return to
the question, What is the cause of their continued unfriendliness?
The comparison of the nation to the individual has become hackneyed, but
we are forced to the conclusion that it is not alone true in
considerations of policy and self-interest. Our experience has taught us
that it holds good in the fact that mere feelings of spiteful jealousy
and envy can, in the most powerful communities, override the dictates of
justice--nay, even of interest itself.
Again, a little examination will show that a permanent friendship is not
to be expected between different nationalities, from the very nature of
their structure. A nation is composed of individuals--of individuals
whose pursuits and principles are widely distinct. The parties formed
from these different classes are often diametrically opposed to each
other in their ideas of policy and government. Moreover, their relations
with foreign countries enter, to an important extent, into the counsels
of every administration, and, as successive parties come into power, it
is not to be expected that connections with other Governments will
remain unchanged.
This does not apply to the course of those countries whose conduct we
have been considering, but it teaches us that we should never place
reliance upon the long continuance of the friendship of any nation.
Thus, it has already been stated, that not one of what are commonly
known as the Great Powers can be depended upon for the slightest
demonstration of friendship. Russia has indeed been generally regarded
as bearing toward us nothing but good will; yet friendly as her feelings
may be, it is owing mainly to the fact that she is so distant, and the
interests of the two countries are so widely separated, that she can
have no possible motive for turning against us; while, situated as she
is, an object of dislike to the other European Governments, she could
not be insensible to the policy of conciliating so powerful a nation as
our own.
How then shall we proceed in order to preserve ourselves from
difficulties in which the interests, jealousies, or changing policy of
foreign countries may involve us? The answer has been made before--by
being ever prepared to meet promptly all hostile demonstrations.
Situated as we are, employing our resources to quell a gigantic
insurrection, we have no strength to waste in an _unnecessary_ foreign
war. But it should be remembered that if we had had an adequate force to
resist a foreign enemy three years ago, the existing rebellion would
never have assumed its present proportions. We, who in our previous wars
had made ourselves formidable, intrusted our defence to a few thousand
men, distributed throughout our broad land, and, while the former valor
of our sailors had enabled us to boast our superiority upon the sea, we
exposed ourselves, by our reliance upon a small number of old
men-of-war, scattered over the world, to the sudden loss of our naval
reputation. Large standing armaments are wisely discouraged by the
Constitution, but an army of one hundred thousand men, an immense force
for some Governments, would be but a small one for our own.
We owe to our being situated apart from other nations, our ability to
dispense with the military burdens which European rulers impose upon
their subjects; but the increase of neither our land or naval power has
been proportional to our own extension, or to those modern inventions
and discoveries by which large forces can be easily and expeditiously
moved from point to point. An army, therefore, which less than half a
century ago would have been ample, is at present far from sufficient for
our protection.
We must, above all, recollect that as a Government can expect the
affection and support of the people only when it shows that it possesses
the elements necessary to maintain itself and protect them, so it can
look for the friendship of other countries only when it causes to be
seen that it is able and ready to resist any encroachment upon its
rights.
For the present we must depend, in a measure, for an abstinence from
open demonstrations against us on the part of the nations above referred
to, upon the moral sense of the world, which has doubtless, to a great
extent, preserved us thus far. But while it is necessary to avoid giving
any pretext for war, let no tame submission to insult or wrong lower us
in the eyes of the world, and hereafter let it be our policy, by
commanding the respect and fear of foreign nations, to assure ourselves
of their good will.
NORTH AND SOUTH.
North and South the war cries come:
Sounds the trumpet, beats the drum.
Hosts contending, marshalled foes
Battle while the red blood flows.
Two great armies whose Ideal
Bursts into the earnest Real.
Ideals twain, on battle height
Flaming into radiant light!
One, is Freedom over all;
One, is Slavery's tyrant thrall:
These are written on the plain
'Mid the Battle's fiery rain.
These the Powers that must contend
To the dark and bitter end.
Look upon the Nation's dead!
Lo, the blood of martyrs shed!
Dying that our Country may
Know her Resurrection day!
What shall be the Traitor's gain?
Endless scorn, undying pain.
Ever o'er the giant wrong
Sings the Right her triumph song.
Yes, as sure as God doth reign
Right the mastery shall obtain!
Over all these beauteous lands
These two Brothers clasp their hands.
These two Brothers now at strife
Make one heart, one soul, one life!
This at last will be their song:
'One forever, free, and strong.'
Northmen, ye have not in hate
Closed the heart's fraternal gate!
Ye have not for greed, nor gold,
Forged the slave-chains manifold!
But in patience ye have wrought
Out your Godlike, freeborn thought!
Ye have toiled that man might be
Clothed with truth and liberty.
God hath answered from the skies;
Bids you for His own arise!
Now the work is at your door:
Help His meek and suffering poor!
There are hearts uncomforted,
Weeping o'er the battle-dead.
There are wounded brave ones here:
Bring your hearts of kindness near!
Freedmen shiver at your gate--
Let them not forgotten wait!
Bind the wounded heart that bleeds;
Mould your _speeches_ into _deeds!_
This is what all true hearts say:
'Glorious is our work to-day!'
LITERARY NOTICES.
DREAMTHORP; A Book of Essays written in the Country. By
ALEXANDER SMITH, Author of 'A Life Drama,' 'City Poems,'
etc. Boston: J.E. Tilton & Company. For sale by Walter Low, 823
Broadway. New York.
We have been very unexpectedly charmed with this volume. Inverted and
fantastical as he may be in his poems, Mr. Smith's essays are fresh,
natural, racy, and genial. They are models in their way, and we wish our
contributors would study them as such. Each essay is complete in itself;
every sentence full of interest; there is no straining for effect, no
writing to astonish a _blasé_ audience, no show of unwonted erudition;
but the light of a poet's soul, the sunshine of a calm and loving heart,
are streaming and brooding over all these gentle pages. Knowledge is
indeed within them, but it has ripened into wisdom; culture has matured
into wine with the summer in its glow--yet, notwithstanding its many
excellences, the book is so quiet, true, and natural, we know not what
favor it may find among us. We were pleased to see that in 'A Shelf in
My Book-case' our own Hawthorne had a conspicuous place. 'Twice-Told
Tales' is an especial favorite with Mr. Smith, as it indeed is with most
imaginative people. His analysis of Hawthorne is very fine, and it is
like meeting with an old friend in a foreign land to come across the
name so dear to ourselves in these pages from across the sea. Equally
pleasant to us is the Chapter on Vagabonds. 'A fellow feeling makes us
wondrous kind,' and, confessing ourselves to be one of this genus, we
dwell with delight on our author's genial description of their naive
pleasures and innocent eccentricities. Mr. Smith says: 'The true
vagabond is to be met with among actors, poets, painters. These may grow
in any way their nature dictates. They are not required to conform to
any traditional pattern. A little more air and light should be let in
upon life. I should think the world had stood long enough under the
drill of Adjutant Fashion. It is hard work; the posture is wearisome,
and Fashion is an awful martinet and has a quick eye, and comes down
mercilessly on the unfortunate wight who cannot square his toes to the
approved pattern, or who appears upon parade with a darn in his coat or
with a shoulder belt insufficiently pipe-clayed. It is killing work.
Suppose we try 'standing at ease' for a little?'
SCENES AND THOUGHTS IN EUROPE. By GEORGE H. CALVERT, Author of 'The
Gentleman.' Boston: Little, Brown & Company. A new edition of a work
first published in 1846.
Mr. Calvert is a writer of considerable vigor, but we think these
'Scenes and Thoughts' seriously injured by the hatred of Catholicity
which breathes everywhere through them. We miss in them the large,
liberal, and loving spirit which characterized 'The Gentleman.' Charity
is the soul of wisdom, and we can never rightly appreciate that which we
hate. Mr. Calvert totally ignores all the good and humanizing effects of
the Catholic Church, and sees only the faults and follies of those who
minister at her altars. Not the least cheering example of the progress
we are daily making, is the improvement in this respect in our late
books of travels. We have ceased to denounce in learning to describe
aright, and feel the pulsations of a kindred heart, though it beat under
the scarlet robe of the cardinal, the dalmatic of the priest, or the
coarse serge of the friar. 'My son, give me thy heart,' says our God. If
we can deem from a life of self-abnegation a man has so done, we have
ceased inquiring into the dogmas of his creed. It is the heart and not
the intellect which is required, 'Little children, love one another,'
is the true law of life, progress, and human happiness.
SOUNDINGS FROM THE ATLANTIC, by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. Boston:
Ticknor & Fields. For sale by D. Appleton & Co., New York.
As the title indicates, the essays contained in this volume are already
known to the readers of _The Atlantic_.
Wherever Dr. Holmes sounds, he is sure to light upon pearls and golden
sands, and scatter them about with a profusion so reckless that we feel
convinced the supply is not to be exhausted. Scientist and poet, analyst
and creator, full of keen satire, genial humor, and tender pathos, who
may compete with him in varied gifts, or rival the charm of intellectual
grace which he breathes at will into all he writes?
The contents of this volume are: 'Bread and the Newspaper,' 'My Hunt
After the Captain,' 'The Stereoscope and the Stereograph,' 'Sun Painting
and Sun Sculpture,' 'Doings of the Sunbeam,' 'The Human Wheel, its
Spokes and Felloes,' 'A Visit to the Autocrat's Landlady,' 'A Visit to
the Asylum for Aged and Decayed Punsters,' 'The Great Instrument,' 'The
Inevitable Trial.'
HINTS FOR THE NURSERY; or, The Young Mother's Guide. By
Mrs. C. A. HOPKINSON. Boston: Little, Brown & Company,
1863. For sale by Blakeman & Mason.
A valuable and instructive little book, eminently calculated to spare
the rising generation many a pang in body and mind, and the youthful
mother many a heartache.
LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN WINTHROP, Governor of the
Massachusetts Bay Company, at their Emigration to New England,
1630. By ROBERT C. WINTHROP. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. For
sale by D. Appleton & Co., New York.
This work is dedicated to the Massachusetts Historical Society, who have
honored the author with their presidency for eight years past. It is
rather an autobiography than a biography, and an autobiography of the
most trustworthy kind, 'written accidentally and unconsciously, as it
were, in familiar letters or private journals, or upon the records of
official service.' Such a Life is the volume before us. The most skilful
use has been made of his material by our author. John Winthrop the
elder, through contemporaneous records, in the familiar language of
private correspondence and diary, tells us the story of a considerable
part of his career in his own words, Cotton Mather says of him: ...
'This third Adam Winthrop was the father of that renowned John Winthrop,
who was the father of New England, and the founder of a colony, which,
upon many accounts, like him that founded it, may challenge the first
place among the English glories of America.'
The volume also offers us in great detail a picture not only of the
outward life, but of the inmost thoughts, motives, and principles of the
American Puritans. Valuable to the antiquarian, it will also interest,
in its naive pictures of home life, the general reader.
The brave and brilliant Theodore Winthrop, who gave up his young life to
his country in the battle of Big Bethel, has rendered this name dear to
all loyal Americans.
ROUND THE BLOCK. An American Novel. With Illustrations.
New York: D. Appleton & Co., 443 and 445 Broadway.
A Novel of American life, incident, and character. The style is easy,
the tale interesting, the moral healthful. There is considerable humor
in the delineation of character. The people drawn are such as we have
all known, sketched without exaggeration, and actuated by constantly
occurring motives. The book is anonymous, but we believe the author will
yet be known to fame, Tiffles and Patching are true to life, and the
exhibition of the 'Pannyrarmer' worthy of Dickens.
THE LIFE OF JESUS. By ERNEST RENAN, Membre de
l'Institut. Translated from the original French by Charles Edwin
Wilbour, translator of 'Les Misérables.' New York: Carlton,
publisher, 413 Broadway.
A book which has attained a sudden and wide circulation, if not a
lasting popularity, in France. We look upon it as a _romance_ based upon
the Sacred History of the Gospels. It is artistically constructed, and
written with considerable genius. 'It is dramatic, beginning with a
pastoral and ending with the direst of human tragedies.' M. Renan we
suppose to be a Pantheist. He says: 'As to myself, I think that there is
not in the universe an intelligence superior to that of man.' This view
of course leads him to discard supernaturalism, and write of Christ as
simply man. He believes as suits his system, and refuses
testimony--without condescending to tell us why it is not equally as
valid as that received. He says: 'The highest consciousness of God that
ever existed in the bosom of humanity, was that of Jesus.' He is the
'universal ideal'--and yet we think he strives to make of this
'universal ideal' an impostor! Christ tells us of various facts with
regard to himself: of his divine Sonhood and mission--if these things
are not true, then was he either weakly self-deceived or a wilful
deceiver. He sets up a claim to the working of miracles, and assumes the
part of the Messiah of the prophets. This want of truth M. Renan smooths
over by saying: 'Sincerity with oneself had not much meaning with
Orientals; they are little habituated to the delicate distinctions of
the critical spirit!' The resurrection of Lazarus, as he represents it,
was a pious fraud managed by the apostles, agreed to by the Master,
'because he knew not how to conquer the greediness of the crowd and of
his own disciples for the marvellous.' Does not the mere fact of such an
acquiescence argue the impostor? Christ seeks death to deliver himself
from his fearful embarrassments! Did he really rise from the dead? M.
Renan tells us, with a sickly sentimentalism worthy of Michelet: 'The
powerful imagination of Mary of Magdala played in that affair a capital
part. Divine power of love! Sacred moments, when the passion of a
visionary gives to the world a resuscitated God.' If this be indeed the
Life of Jesus, well may we exclaim with the apostle: 'If in this life
only we have hope in Christ, we are, of all men, the most miserable.'
And is this all that the most advanced naturalism can do? All that human
genius and erudition can offer us? All that artistic grace and
tenderness can win for us? Clouds and darkness rise before us as we
read, the mother of our Lord loses her sanctity, Jesus becomes an
impostor, the apostles deceivers, human testimony is forever dishonored.
A pall shrouds the infinite blue of the sky, and our beloved dead seem
festering in eternal corruption!
We must confess we prefer the bold and defiant scepticism of Voltaire,
to the Judas kiss of M. Renan.
EDITOR'S TABLE.
ART ITEMS.
Among our exchanges is a little periodical entitled '_The New Path_,
published by the Society for the Advancement of Truth in Art.' The
members of this Society are otherwise known as 'Pre-Raphaelites,' in
other words, as seekers of the Ancient Path, trodden before certain
mannerisms had corrupted the minds of many painters and most technical
connoisseurs. Their aims and principles are, so far as they go, pure and
lofty. Truth in Art is a noble thing. But can these gentlemen find none
outside of their own society? The face of nature is very dear to us, and
during long years have we closely observed its forms, its changing hues
and expressions. We do like when we look at a picture to know whether
the trees be oaks, elms, or pines; whether the rocks be granitic,
volcanic, or stratified; whether the foliage be of spring, midsummer, or
autumn; even whether the foreground herbage be of grasses or
broad-leaved weeds; but is there no danger that minutiæ may absorb too
much attention, that the larger parts may be lost in the lesser, that
while each weed tells its own story, the distant mountains, the
atmosphere, the whole picture, in short, may fail to tell us theirs in
any interesting or even intelligible manner? In excess of surface
details, may we not lose body, roundness; and, in matching exact color
rather than the effect of color through the tremulous ether, may not the
subtle mysteries of distance, of actually diffused and all-suffusing
light, escape the painter? It is possible to possess the body and fail
to grasp the life. Give us not blotchy nondescripts for natural objects,
fling to the winds all narrow, school-made, conventional ideas, but, in
giving us the real, give us the ideal also; otherwise we freeze, missing
the spirit which should warm and shine through the letter.
We fear lest in his zeal for truth, many a Pre-Raphaelite may be led to
overlook beauty. To a finite mind the two words are by no means
synonymous. There can be no _real_ beauty without truth, but many truths
are not beautiful, and beauty, no less than truth, is an important
ingredient in that complex resultant, Art.
We quote from one of the articles of organization of the above-named
Society: 'The right course for young artists is faithful and loving
representations of Nature, selecting nothing and rejecting nothing,
seeking only to express the greatest possible amount of fact.' Now we
all know that the best way to stultify the mind and conception of a
youthful student, in any branch of art, is to keep before him
commonplace models. Indeed, what student gifted with genius, or even
with any high degree of talent, will not (if unrestrained) himself
select as studies, not any mere chronicle of desired facts, but the most
significant forms (suited to his proficiency) in which he can find those
facts embodied?
The article quoted must be based upon the belief that there are no
commonplace, ugly objects in nature. If we sit down and reason over, or
use our microscopes upon any work of the Almighty, we can find wisdom
and beauty therein, but that does not alter the fact that beauty and
significance are distributed in degrees of more and less. 'Art is long
and time is fleeting,' and the genuine artist has no hours to waste over
the less significant and characteristic. Besides, each student deserving
the name, has his own individuality, and will naturally select, and the
more lovingly paint, objects in accordance with his especial bent of
mind. Not that we would have him become one-sided, and neglect the study
of matters that might some day be useful; but in this, as in all things
else, he must temper feeling with judgment, and make the mechanical
execution the simple, faithful handmaiden to truly imaginative
conception.
In the moral world we may cheerfully accept physical deformity for the
sake of some elevated principle therewith developed; but in the realm of
art, man's only sphere of creation, we want the best the artist can give
us, the greatest truth with the highest beauty. We are not willing to
take the truth without the beauty. If we are to be told that sunlight
tipping the edges of trees produces certain effects upon those edges and
the shadowed foliage behind, let the fact be worthily represented, and
not so prosily set forth that the picture shall be to us simply a matter
of curiosity. That those trees did actually stand and grow thus, is
small comfort, for the artist might surely have found other and more
interesting forms telling the same tale. If light falling through loose
foliage does indeed make upon the garments of a lad lying beneath spots
at a little distance wonderfully like mildew, then rather let the boy
sit for us under a tree of denser foliage, where a pathetic subject will
not risk an unintentionally comic treatment. If a stone-breaker's face
corrupts in purple spots at a certain period after death, we would
prefer him painted before corruption, and consequently hideousness, had
begun. If women will wear gowns ugly in color and form, and will sit or
stand in graceless positions, we can readily avoid such subjects, and
bestow our careful finish upon more worthy models.
Let us not be misunderstood; we well know that the humorous, the
grotesque, the sublime may use ugliness to serve their own legitimate
purposes, but then that ugliness must be humorous, grotesque, or
sublime, and not flat, prosy, or revolting. A blemish is by no means
necessarily an ugliness. A leaf nibbled by insects and consequently
discolored, a lad with ragged jacket and soiled trowsers, a peasant girl
with bent hat and tattered gown, are often more picturesque objects than
the perfect leaf or the well-attired child.
Speaking of a certain artist, _The New Path_ says: 'He follows nature as
long as she is graceful and does not offend his eye, but once let her
make what strikes him as a discord, and which is a discord, of course,
for she, the great poet, makes no music without discords--and,
straightway, Mr. ---- takes out the offending note, smooths it down, and
thinks he has bettered nature's work.' Now, in music there are no
_discords_; so soon as a discord is admitted, the sounds cease to be
music;--there are _dissonances_, peculiar and unusual combinations of
air vibrations, but these are never long dwelt on, and must always be
resolved into the full and satisfactory harmony, of which the beauty is
enhanced by the momentary lapse into strangeness. Dissonance is never
the prevailing idea, and above all, never the final, closing one; it
must always bear a certain relation to the key in which it is used, and
the musical composition must be ended by the fullest and most
satisfactory chord, or suggestion of a chord, found in that key.
The majority of the Pre-Raphaelite school are willing to admit that
'there is but one Turner, and Ruskin is his prophet.' Let us then hear
_one_ of the views which the eloquent oracle has advanced in connection
with this subject. After advising the non-imaginative painter to remain
in the region of the purely topographical or historical landscape, he
continues; 'But, beyond this, let him note that though historical
topography forbids _alteration_ (did Turner heed this precept?), it
neither forbids sentiment nor choice. So far from doing this, the proper
choice of subject is an absolute duty to the topographical painter: he
should first take care that it is a subject intensely pleasing to
himself, else he will never paint it well; and then also, that it shall
be one in some sort pleasurable to the general public, else it is not
worth painting at all; and lastly, take care that it be instructive, as
well as pleasurable to the public, else it is not worth painting with
care. I should particularly insist at present on this careful choice of
subject, because the Pre-Raphaelites, taken as a body, have been
culpably negligent in this respect, not in humble honor of Nature, but
in morbid indulgence of their own impressions. They happen to find their
fancies caught by a bit of an oak hedge, or the weeds at the sides of a
duck pond, because, perhaps, they remind them of a stanza of Tennyson;
and forthwith they sit down to sacrifice the most consummate skill, two
or three months of the best summer time available for outdoor work
(equivalent to some seventieth or sixtieth of all their lives), and
nearly all their credit with the public, to this duck-pond delineation.
Now it is indeed quite right that they should see much to be loved in
the hedge, nor less in the ditch; but it is utterly and inexcusably
wrong that they should neglect the nobler scenery, which is full of
majestic interest, or enchanted by historical association; so that, as
things go at present, we have all the commonalty, that may be seen
whenever we choose, painted properly; but all of lovely and wonderful,
which we cannot see but at rare intervals, painted vilely: the castles
of the Rhine and Rhone made vignettes of for the annuals; and the
nettles and mushrooms, which were prepared by nature eminently for
nettle porridge and fish sauce, immortalized by art as reverently as if
we were Egyptians, and they deities.'
Want of space forbids further extracts, but we recommend the entire
chapter: Of Turnerian Topography, Modern Painters, vol. iv., to the
perusal of our readers.
We are glad to see the national mind beginning to effervesce on art
subjects. The most opposite views, the new and the old, the conventional
and the truly imaginative, the severely real and the more
latitudinarian, the earnest and the flippant, the pedantic and the
broad, far reaching--will continue to clash for a season, while a school
of American Landscape is, we think, destined to rise steadily through
the chaotic elements, and to reach a height of excellence to which the
conscientious efforts of all advocates of the highest Truth in Art will
have greatly contributed.
We are indebted to Mr. Cropsey for a pleasant opportunity to visit his
studio (No. 625 Broadway), and see such pictures and sketches as he now
has by him, the results of a long residence abroad and of his summer
work among the hills of Sussex, N. J. A view of Korfe Castle,
Dorsetshire, England, is a highly-finished and evidently accurate
representation of that interesting spot. We are presumed to be standing
amid the ferns, flowers, and vines of the foreground, and looking off
toward the castle-crowned hill, the village at its foot, and the
far-away downs, with a silver stream winding into the distance. A
rainbow quivers among the retreating clouds to the right, and from the
left comes the last brilliant light of day, gilding the greenery of the
hills, and throwing out the deepened hues of the long shadows. There are
also pleasant views of other English scenery, of Italian landscape, and
of American lakes and streams. Mr. Cropsey has a high reputation both
at home and abroad, and we are glad to learn that for the present, at
least, he intends to pursue his art labors within the limits of his
native land.
_Beethoven's Fidelio_.--This noble opera has lately been given us by Mr.
Anschütz, with the best use of such means as were at his disposal. The
orchestral, choral, and concerted vocal portions are grand and
beautiful, highly characteristic and effective. The story is simple,
pure, and deeply pathetic. The prison scene affords scope for the finest
histrionic abilities. In the solos, however (with the exception of that
of Pizarro, where dramatic power satisfies), we miss the lyric genius of
the Italians, their long-phrased, passionate, and never-to-be-forgotten
melodies, containing the element of beauty _per se_ so richly developed.
Cannot the whole world produce one man, who, with all the expanded
musical knowledge of the present day, can unite for us Italian gift of
melody and German power of orchestral and choral effect, whose
endowments shall be both lyric and dramatic, and whose taste shall be
pure, refined, and ennobling? Should we recognize such a genius were he
actually to stand in our midst, or would both schools reject him because
he chanced to possess the best qualities of either?
L. D. P.
Ballads of the War
THE BROTHER'S BURIAL.
BY ISABELLA McFARLANE.
Hear me, stranger, hear me tell
How my gallant brother fell.
We were rushing on the foe,
When a bullet laid him low.
At my very side he fell--
He whom I did love so well.
On we rushed--I could not stay--
There I left him where he lay.
Then when fled the rebel rout,
I came back and searched him out.
Wounded, bleeding, suffering, dying,
Midst a heap of dead men lying.
Friend and foe above each other--
There I found my mangled brother.
Blind with tears, I lifted him:
But his eyes were sunk and dim.
'Brother, when I'm dead,' said he,
'Find some box to coffin me.'
For he could not bear to rest
With the cold earth on his breast.
All around the camp I sought;
Box for coffin found I not.
Still I searched and hunted round--
Three waste cracker-boxes found;
Nailed them fast to one another,--
Laid therein my precious brother!
Then a grave for him I made,
Hands and bayonet all my spade.
Long I worked, yet 'twas not deep:
There I laid him down to sleep.
There I laid my gallant brother:
Earth contains not such another!
Little more than boys were we,
I sixteen, and nineteen he.
For his country's sake he died,
And for her I'd lie beside.
FOOTNOTES:
[A] But a copy fell into the hands of a French bookseller, who published
a wretched translation, and Jefferson authorized an edition in London in
1787.
[B] A statue was erected to Buffon with the inscription:
NATURAM AMPLECTITUR OMNEM.
Some sceptic wrote underneath:
QUI TROP EMBRASSE, MAL ÉTREINT;
a saying which we do not care to translate, but which is too good a
description of Jefferson's scientific acquirements to be omitted.
[C] I am told that there was no resisting her smile; and that she had at
her command, in moments of grief, a certain look of despair which filled
even the roughest hearts with sympathy, and won over the kindest to the
cruel cause.