In Saint Sophia the Turkman gets,
And loud in air calls men to prayer
From the tapering summits of tall minarets.
Such empty phantom I freely grant them;
But there's an anthem more dear to me;
'Tis the bells of Shandon that sound so grand on
The pleasant waters of the River Lee.
Francis Mahony
The man whom I call worthy of the name, is one whose thoughts and
exertions are for others rather than for himself; whose high purpose is
adopted on just principles, and is never abandoned while heaven or earth
affords means of accomplishing it. He is one who will neither seek an
indirect advantage by a specious road, nor take an evil path to secure a
really good purpose.
Scott
THE VISION OF MIRZAH
When I was at Grand Cairo, I picked up several Oriental manuscripts,
which I have still by me. Among others, I met with one entitled, "_The
Visions of Mirzah_," which I have read over with great pleasure. I
intend to give it to the public when I have no other entertainment for
them; and shall begin with the first Vision, which I have translated
word for word, as follows:--
"On the fifth day of the moon, which, according to the custom of my
forefathers, I always keep holy, after having washed myself, and offered
up my morning devotions, I ascended the high hills of Bagdat, in order
to pass the rest of the day in meditation and prayer. As I was here
airing myself on the tops of the mountains, I fell into a profound
contemplation on the vanity of human life; and passing from one thought
to another, 'Surely,' said I, 'man is but a shadow, and life a dream.'
"Whilst I was thus musing, I cast my eyes towards the summit of a rock
that was not far from me, where I discovered one in the habit of a
shepherd, with a little musical instrument in his hand. As I looked
upon him, he applied it to his lips, and began to play upon it. The
sound of it was exceeding sweet, and wrought into a variety of tunes
that were inexpressibly melodious, and altogether different from
anything I had ever heard. They put me in mind of those heavenly airs
that are played to the departed souls of good men upon their first
arrival in paradise, to wear out the impressions of the last agonies,
and qualify them for the pleasures of that happy place. My heart melted
away in secret raptures.
"I had been often told that the rock before me was the haunt of a
genius; and that several had been entertained with music who had passed
by it, but never heard that the musician had before made himself
visible. When he had raised my thoughts by those transporting airs which
he played, to taste the pleasures of his conversation, as I looked upon
him like one astonished, thereupon he beckoned to me and, by the waving
of his hand, directed me to approach the place where he sat.
"I drew near with that reverence which is due to a superior nature; and
as my heart was entirely subdued by the captivating strains I had heard,
I fell down at his feet and wept. The Genius smiled upon me with a look
of compassion and affability that familiarized him to my imagination,
and at once dispelled all the fears and apprehensions with which I
approached him. He lifted me from the ground, and taking me by the hand,
'Mirzah,' said he, 'I have heard thee in thy soliloquies; follow me.'
"He then led me to the highest pinnacle of the rock, and placing me on
the top of it, 'Cast thy eyes eastward,' said he, 'and tell me what thou
seest.' 'I see,' said I, 'a huge valley, and a prodigious tide of water
rolling through it.' 'The valley that thou seest,' said he, 'is the Vale
of Misery, and the Tide of Water that thou seest is part of the great
Tide of Eternity,' 'What is the reason,' said I, 'that the tide I see
rises out of a thick mist at one end, and again loses itself in a thick
mist at the other?' 'What thou seest,' said he, 'is that portion of
eternity which is called Time, measured out by the sun, and reaching
from the beginning of the world to its consummation.'
"'Examine now,' said he, 'this sea that is bounded with darkness at both
ends, and tell me what thou discoverest in it.' 'I see a bridge,' said
I, 'standing in the midst of the tide.' 'The bridge thou seest,' said
he, 'is Human Life; consider it attentively.' Upon a more leisurely
survey of it, I found that it consisted of threescore and ten entire
arches, with several broken arches, which, added to those that were
entire, made up the number about an hundred. As I was counting the
arches, the Genius told me that this bridge had consisted at first of a
thousand arches; but that a great flood swept away the rest and left the
bridge in the ruinous condition I now beheld it.
"'But tell me further,' said he, 'what thou discoverest on it.' 'I see
multitudes of people passing over it,' said I, 'and a black cloud
hanging on each end of it.' As I looked more attentively, I saw several
of the passengers dropping through the bridge, into the great tide that
flowed underneath it; and, upon further examination, perceived that
there were innumerable trap-doors that lay concealed in the bridge,
which the passengers no sooner trod upon, but they fell through them
into the tide and immediately disappeared.
"These hidden pitfalls were set very thick at the entrance of the
bridge, so that the throngs of people no sooner broke through the cloud,
but many of them fell into them. They grew thinner towards the middle,
but multiplied and lay closer together towards the end of the arches
that were entire.
"There were indeed some persons, but their numbers were very small, that
continued a kind of hobbling march on the broken arches, but fell
through one after another, being quite tired and spent with so long a
walk.
"I passed some time in the contemplation of this wonderful structure,
and the great variety of objects which it presented. My heart was filled
with a deep melancholy to see several dropping unexpectedly in the midst
of mirth and jollity, and catching at everything that stood by them to
save themselves.
"Some were looking up towards the heavens in a thoughtful posture, and,
in the midst of a speculation, stumbled and fell out of sight.
Multitudes were very busy in the pursuit of bubbles that glittered in
their eyes and danced before them; but often, when they thought
themselves within reach of them, their footing failed and down they
sunk.
"In this confusion of objects, I observed some with scymetars in their
hands, who ran to and fro upon the bridge, thrusting several persons on
trap-doors which did not seem to lie in their way, and which they might
have escaped had they not been thus forced upon them.
"The Genius, seeing me indulge myself on this melancholy prospect, told
me that I had dwelt long enough upon it: 'Take thine eyes off the
bridge,' said he, 'and tell me if thou yet seest anything thou dost not
comprehend.' Upon looking up, 'What mean,' said I, 'those great flights
of birds that are perpetually hovering about the bridge and settling
upon it from time to time? I see vultures, harpies, ravens, cormorants,
and, among many other feathered creatures, several little winged boys
that perch in great numbers upon the middle arches.' 'These,' said the
Genius, 'are envy, avarice, superstition, despair, love, with the like
cares and passions that infest human life.'
"I here fetched a deep sigh, 'Alas,' said I, 'man was made in vain! How
is he given away to misery and mortality! tortured in life, and
swallowed up in death.'
"The Genius, being moved with compassion towards me, bid me quit so
uncomfortable a prospect: 'Look no more,' said he, 'on man in the first
stage of his existence, in his setting out for eternity; but cast thine
eye on that thick mist into which the tide bears the several
generations of mortals that fall into it.'
"I directed my sight as I was ordered, and (whether or no the good
Genius strengthened it with any supernatural force, or dissipated part
of the mist that was before too thick for the eye to penetrate) I saw
the valley opening at the farther end and spreading forth into an
immense ocean, that had a huge rock of adamant running through the midst
of it and dividing it into two equal parts.
"The clouds still rested on one half of it, insomuch that I could
discover nothing in it; but the other appeared to me a vast ocean,
planted with innumerable islands that were covered with fruits and
flowers and interwoven with a thousand little shining seas that ran
among them. I could see persons dressed in glorious habits with garlands
upon their heads, passing among the trees, lying down by the side of
fountains, or resting on beds of flowers; and could hear a confused
harmony of singing birds, falling waters, human voices, and musical
instruments.
"Gladness grew in me upon the discovery of so delightful a scene. I
wished for the wings of an eagle, that I might fly away to those happy
seats; but the Genius told me there was no passage to them, except
through the gates of Death, which I saw opening every moment upon the
bridge.
"'The islands,' said he, 'that lie so fresh and green before thee, and
with which the whole face of the ocean appears spotted as far as thou
canst see, are more in number than the sands on the sea-shore: there are
myriads of islands behind those which thou here discoverest, reaching
farther than thine eye or even thine imagination can extend itself.
These are the mansions of good men after death, who, according to the
degree and kinds of virtue in which they excelled, are distributed among
these several islands, which abound with pleasures of different kinds
and degrees, suitable to the relishes and perfections of those who are
settled in them: every island is a paradise accommodated to its
respective inhabitants. Are not these, O Mirzah, habitations worth
contending for? Does life appear miserable, that gives thee
opportunities of earning such a reward? Is death to be feared, that will
convey thee to so happy an existence? Think not man was made in vain,
who has such an eternity reserved for him.'
"I gazed with inexpressible pleasure on these happy islands. At length,
I said: 'Show me now, I beseech thee, the secrets that lie hid under
those dark clouds which cover the ocean on the other side of the rock of
adamant.'
"The Genius making me no answer, I turned about to address myself to him
a second time, but found that he had left me; I then turned again to the
Vision which I had been so long contemplating; but instead of the
rolling tide, the arched bridge, and the happy islands, I saw nothing
but the long, hollow valley of Bagdat, with oxen, sheep, and camels
grazing upon the sides of it."
Addison: "The Spectator, No. 159."
FORBEARANCE
Hast thou named all the birds without a gun?
Loved the wood-rose, and left it on its stalk?
At rich men's tables eaten bread and pulse?
Unarmed, faced danger with a heart of trust?
And loved so well a high behaviour,
In man or maid, that thou from speech refrained,
Nobility more nobly to repay?
O, be my friend, and teach me to be thine!
Emerson
MERCY TO ANIMALS
I would not enter on my list of friends
(Though graced with polished manners and fine sense,
Yet wanting sensibility) the man
Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm.
An inadvertent step may crush the snail
That crawls at evening in the public path;
But he that has humanity, forewarned,
Will tread aside, and let the reptile live.
The creeping vermin, loathsome to the sight,
And charged perhaps with venom, that intrudes
A visitor unwelcome into scenes
Sacred to neatness and repose, the alcove,
The chamber, or refectory, may die.
A necessary act incurs no blame.
The sum is this: if man's convenience, health,
Or safety interfere, his rights and claims
Are paramount, and must extinguish theirs.
Else they are all--the meanest things that are--
As free to live, and to enjoy that life,
As God was free to form them at the first,
Who in His sovereign wisdom made them all.
Ye, therefore, who love mercy, teach your sons
To love it, too.
Cowper
THE UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS
The Americans inaugurated their Declaration of Independence by enacting
that all the United Empire Loyalists--that is the adherents to
connection with the mother country--were rebels and traitors; they
followed the recognition of Independence by England with an order
exiling such adherents from their territories. But while this policy
depleted the United States of some of their best blood, it laid the
foundation of the settlement and the institutions of the country which
has since become the great, free, and prosperous Dominion of Canada.
Upper Canada was then unknown, or known only as a region of dense
wilderness and swamps; of venomous reptiles and beasts of prey; of
numerous and fierce Indian tribes; of intense cold in winter; and with
no redeeming feature except abundance of game and fish.
After the war of Independence, many Loyalists went to Nova Scotia and
New Brunswick and settled there. The British Commander of New York,
having found out that Upper Canada was capable of supporting a numerous
population along the great river and the lakes, undertook to send
colonies of Loyalists there.
Five vessels were procured and furnished to convey the first colony from
New York. They sailed round the coasts of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick,
and up the St. Lawrence to Sorel, where they arrived in October, 1783.
Here they wintered, having built themselves huts, or shanties, and in
May, 1784, they continued their voyage in boats, and reached their
destination, Cataraqui, afterwards Kingston, in the month of July.
Other bands of Loyalists came by land over the military highway to Lower
Canada, as far as Plattsburg, and then northward to Cornwall and up the
St. Lawrence, along the north side of which many of them settled.
But the most common route was by way of the Hudson and the Mohawk
Rivers, through Oneida Lake and down the Oswego River to Lake Ontario.
Flat-bottomed boats, specially built or purchased for the purpose by the
Loyalists, were used in this journey. The portages, over which the boats
had to be hauled and all their contents carried, are said to have been
thirty miles long.
On reaching Oswego, some of the Loyalists coasted along the eastern
shore of Lake Ontario to Kingston, and thence up the Bay of Quinte;
others went westward along the south shore of the lake to Niagara and
Queenston. Some conveyed their boats over the portage of ten or twelve
miles to Chippewa, thence up the river and into Lake Erie, settling
chiefly in what was called "Long Point Country," now the County of
Norfolk.
This journey of hardship, privation, and exposure occupied from two to
three months. The obstacles encountered may readily be imagined in a
country where the primeval forest covered the earth, and where the only
path was the river or the lake. The parents and family of the writer of
this history were from the middle of May to the middle of July making
the journey in an open boat. Generally two or more families would unite
in one company, and thus assist each other in carrying their boats and
goods over the portages.
"These excellent men," wrote Sir Richard Bonnycastle, "were willing to
sacrifice life and fortune rather than forego the enviable distinction
of being British subjects." The stern adherence of the Pilgrim Fathers
to their principles was quite equalled by the stern adherence of the
Loyalists to their principles; but the privations and hardships
experienced by many of the Loyalist patriots for years after the first
settlement in Canada were much more severe than anything experienced by
the Puritans during the first years of their settlement in
Massachusetts.
Canada has, indeed, a noble parentage, the remembrance of which its
inhabitants may well cherish with respect, affection, and pride.
Egerton Ryerson: "The Loyalists of America and their Times." (Adapted)
[Illustration: EGERTON RYERSON]
OFT, IN THE STILLY NIGHT
Oft, in the stilly night,
Ere slumber's chain has bound me,
Fond Memory brings the light
Of other days around me;
The smiles, the tears,
Of boyhood's years,
The words of love then spoken;
The eyes that shone,
Now dimmed and gone,
The cheerful hearts now broken!
Thus, in the stilly night,
Ere slumber's chain has bound me,
Sad Memory brings the light
Of other days around me.
When I remember all
The friends, so linked together,
I've seen around me fall,
Like leaves in wintry weather;
I feel like one,
Who treads alone
Some banquet-hall deserted,
Whose lights are fled,
Whose garlands dead,
And all but he departed!
Thus, in the stilly night,
Ere slumber's chain has bound me,
Sad Memory brings the light
Of other days around me.
Moore
THE HARP THAT ONCE THROUGH TARA'S HALLS
The harp that once through Tara's halls
The soul of music shed,
Now hangs as mute on Tara's walls
As if that soul were fled.
So sleeps the pride of former days,
So glory's thrill is o'er,
And hearts that once beat high for praise,
Now feel that pulse no more.
No more to chiefs and ladies bright
The harp of Tara swells;
The chord alone, that breaks at night,
Its tale of ruin tells.
Thus Freedom now so seldom wakes,
The only throb she gives,
Is when some heart indignant breaks,
To show that still she lives.
Moore
HUDSON STRAIT
Hudson Strait opens from the Atlantic between Resolution Island on the
north and the Button Islands on the south. From point to point, this end
of the strait is forty-five miles wide. At the other end, the west side,
between Digges' Island and Nottingham Island, is a distance of
thirty-five miles. From east to west, the straits are four hundred and
fifty miles long--wider at the east where the south side is known as
Ungava Bay, contracting at the west, to the Upper Narrows. The south
side of the strait is Labrador; the north, Baffin's Land. Both sides are
lofty, rocky, cavernous shores lashed by a tide that rises in places as
high as thirty-five feet and runs in calm weather ten miles an hour.
Pink granite islands dot the north shore in groups that afford
harbourage, but all shores present an adamant front, edges sharp as a
knife or else rounded hard to have withstood and cut the tremendous ice
jam of a floating world suddenly contracted to forty miles, which Davis
Strait pours down at the east end and Fox Channel at the west.
Seven hundred feet is considered a good-sized hill; one thousand feet, a
mountain. Both the north and the south sides of the straits rise two
thousand feet in places. Through these rock walls ice has poured and
torn and ripped a way since the ice age preceding history, cutting a
great channel to the Atlantic. Here, the iron walls suddenly break to
secluded silent valleys, moss-padded, snow-edged, lonely as the day
Earth first saw light. Down these valleys pour the clear streams of the
eternal snows, burnished as silver against the green, setting the
silence echoing with the tinkle of cataracts over some rock wall, or
filling the air with the voice of many waters at noontide thaw. One old
navigator--Coates--describes the beat of the angry tide at the rock base
and the silver voice of the mountain brooks, like the treble and bass of
some great cathedral organ sounding its diapason to the glory of God in
this peopleless wilderness.
Perhaps the kyacks of some solitary Eskimo, lashed abreast twos and
threes to prevent capsizing, may shoot out from some of these
bog-covered valleys like sea-birds; but it is only when the Eskimos
happen to be hunting here, or the ships of the whalers and fur traders
are passing up and down--that there is any sign of human habitation on
the straits.
Walrus wallow on the pink granite islands in huge herds. Polar bears
flounder from icepan to icepan. The arctic hare, white as snow but for
the great bulging black eye, bounds over the boulders. Snow buntings,
whistling swans, snow geese, ducks in myriads--flacker and clacker and
hold solemn conclave on the adjoining rocks, as though this were their
realm from the beginning and for all time.
Of a tremendous depth are the waters of the straits. Not for nothing has
the ice world been grinding through this narrow channel for billions of
years. No fear of shoals to the mariner. Fear is of another sort. When
the ice is running in a whirlpool and the incoming tide meets the ice
jam and the waters mount thirty-five feet high and a wind roars between
the high shores like a bellows--then it is that the straits roll and
pitch and funnel their waters into black troughs where the ships go
down. "Undertow," the old Hudson's Bay captains called the suck of the
tide against the ice wall; and that black hole, where the lumpy billows
seemed to part like a passage between wall of ice and wall of water, was
what the mariners feared. The other great danger was just a plain crush,
getting nipped between two icepans rearing and plunging like fighting
stallions, with the ice blocks going off like pistol shots or smashed
glass. No child's play is such navigating either for the old sailing
vessels of the fur traders or the modern ice-breakers propelled by
steam! Yet, the old sailing vessels and the whaling fleets have
navigated these straits for two hundred years.
Agnes C. Laut: "The Conquest of the Great Northwest."
Good name in man and woman,
Is the immediate jewel of their souls:
Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing;
'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands;
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him,
And makes me poor indeed.
Shakespeare
SCOTS WHA HAE
Scots, wha hae wi' Wallace bled,
Scots, wham Bruce has aften led;
Welcome to your gory bed,
Or to victorie.
Now's the day, and now's the hour;
See the front o' battle lour:
See approach proud Edward's power--
Chains and slaverie!
Wha will be a traitor knave?
Wha can fill a coward's grave?
Wha sae base as be a slave?
Let him turn and flee!
Wha for Scotland's King and law
Freedom's sword will strongly draw,
Free-man stand, or free-man fa',
Let him follow me!
By Oppression's woes and pains!
By your sons in servile chains,
We will drain our dearest veins,
But they shall be free!
Lay the proud usurpers low!
Tyrants fall in every foe!
Liberty's in every blow!
Let us do, or die!
Burns
ST. AMBROSE CREW WIN THEIR FIRST RACE
(The chief characters in this sketch are Miller, the tyrannical little
cockswain of the crew; old Jervis, the captain; Tom Brown, number two,
who is rowing his first race; Hardy, a friend of Tom's and one of the
best oarsmen in the college--also Jack, the college dog. Though there
are several crews in the race the real struggle is between the boats
from St. Ambrose and Exeter Colleges. If St. Ambrose can drive the nose
of its boat against the Exeter boat--"bump it"--it wins.)
Hark!--the first gun. The report sent Tom's heart into his mouth again.
Several of the boats pushed off at once into the stream; and the crowds
of men on the bank began to be agitated, as it were, by the shadow of
the coming excitement. The St. Ambrose fingered their oars, put a last
dash of grease on their rowlocks, and settled their feet against the
stretchers.
"Shall we push her off?" asked Bow.
"No; I can give you another minute," said Miller, who was sitting, watch
in hand, in the stern; "only be smart when I give the word."
The captain turned on his seat, and looked up the boat. His face was
quiet, but full of confidence, which seemed to pass from him into the
crew. Tom felt calmer and stronger, as he met his eye. "Now mind, boys,
don't quicken," he said, cheerily; "four short strokes to get way on
her, and then, steady. Here, pass up the lemon."
And he took a sliced lemon out of his pocket, put a small piece in his
own mouth, and then handed it to Blake, who followed his example, and
passed it on. Each man took a piece; and just as Bow had secured the
end, Miller called out,--
"Now, jackets off, and get her head out steadily."
The jackets were thrown on shore, and gathered up by the boatman in
attendance. The crew poised their oars, Number Two pushing out her head,
and the captain doing the same for the stern. Miller took the
starting-rope in his hand.