Triumphal arch, that fill'st the sky
When storms prepare to part,
I ask not proud philosophy
To teach me what thou art.
Still seem as to my childhood's sight,
A midway station given,
For happy spirits to alight
Betwixt the earth and heaven.
How glorious is thy girdle cast
O'er mountain, tower, and town,
Or mirror'd in the ocean vast,
A thousand fathoms down.
As fresh in yon horizon dark,
As young thy beauties seem,
As when the eagle from the ark
First sported in thy beam.
For faithful to its sacred page,
Heaven still rebuilds thy span,
Nor lets the type grow pale with age,
That first spoke peace to man.
--_T. Campbell._
Never was rainbow so beautiful! Then the voice of God spoke from out the
skies to Noah, "This shall be to you a bow of promise. Never again shall
the earth and the people be destroyed by water."
[Illustration: NOAH AND THE DOVE (_Schopin._)]
But nowhere, as far as eye could reach, was there any sign of land;
there was only the peak of Ararat with the ark upon it, standing out
above the water.
Noah sent out first a raven, and it returned not. Then he sent out from
the ark a dove; and the dove came back after a long, long flight across
the waters and fell fluttering at Noah's feet.
Seven days went by. Then again Noah sent out a dove; and this time it
returned with an olive leaf. Noah knew now that the flood was subsiding,
and that he might lift the cover of the ark and step out upon the
mountain top.
Then Noah and his family went forth, together with all the creatures
that had gone into the Ark with them.
And so thankful was Noah that he built a great altar, and he and his
family offered sacrifices to God in gratitude for his loving care of
them.
[Illustration: COMING FORTH FROM THE ARK. (_Raphael._)]
[Illustration]