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L. T. BLOME & CO., .
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AUGUSTA, GA., MARCH 28. 1868.
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Father Bazin. —lt is with sincere re
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LEAVES FROM THE BOOK OF NATURE.
BY MRS. SUSAN H. WADDELL.
I remember, when a little child, that I
once was standing by a tall, uarrow, win
nowing house, just above a rice yard. It
was situated upon one of my father's
country residences and farming estates.
Just below was a large brick barn, built
upon the very verge of a canal, which
rolled its dark waters a little way, and
then disappeared iuto the river. This
barn, to all of the children, was a mys
tery, for it possessed a voice that inim.
icked ours. In vain was it that we ral
lied our courage, holding each other
securely by the hand, as we went forth
in search of ,its mysterious arcana.—
There was nothing to he heard, or seen,
but the delicate blue-bell, the rustling
of the wild rose, and quivering shadow
of the vine, as it wrapt its green man*
tie around the eold hard walls. As we
approached the barn, our sense of hear
ing became morbidly acute ; so much so,
that we were frightened by the stirring
of these beautiful creations of Nature,
The innocent little blackbirds appeared
of evil omen, as they sat looking down
from the cornice upon us. Their sable
dress and shoulders tipped with scarlet
and gold, their quick bright eyes and the
thunder of their wings, so soon as the cry
of the hawk was heard, added to our dis
may. We were almost afraid to breathe-
Jupiter and Juno would never have in
flicted a punishment for loquacity upon
us, as was by them decreed to the luck
less Echo. And after respectfully and
in good order walking to the door, with
out being able to discover anything, no
winged zephyr, floating midst etherial
blue, ever fled more fleetly, or with greater
agility than did we to reach the mansion
of our parents, that we might learn from
them what that invisible, yet perceptible,
Echo was. We were not sages in search
of physical laws, groping in the darkness
of sonorous pulses, investigating the the
ories of sound, the concavity of surfaces,
and such speculations ; no, we were wiser
—children as we were—and desired to
know if we were not in the strict path of
philosophical truth, when we accorded this
phenomena to an evil spirit, like “ Jack
with a lantern," who desired to entice us
into quagmires, or drown us in the
river. For this last information, we were
indebted to an old and valued servant,
who sometimes enlightened us with these
stories, when unexpectedly detained, by
a wintry storm, from returning to her
own domicile. Years have passed away,
yet the appearance of an igms-fatuvs,
flitting in a damp bay, with its lamp
sometimes burning brightly, sometimes
waning* away, and again, ns suddenly
flashing into brilliancy, or the musical
voice of an Echo, are sure to produce a
Medea’s touch, and metamorphose us to
childhood again. These are trifles; yet,
this is a questionable term, for how often
do we find that events of interest, and
sometimes of importance, are derived
from trifles . Can that be a trifle which
in itself produces that which is impor
tant ? We find this illustrated not only
in association of ideas, but in the very
crises of life itself.
Mr. Locke has given us an example of
the remarkable effect of association of
ideas. He says a \*ung gentleman,
having learned to dance, in an apartment
where there was an old trunk, found
upon the removal of it that his skill in
dancing had left him. He danced badly
until the trunk was replaced, when his
agility returned, and he never danced
well unless there was a trunk, or some
thing resembling one, in the apartment.
Sir Walter Scott relates a circumstance,
which occurred when he was at a gram
mar school in Edinhorough. There was
a boy of remarkable precocity among the
pupils. He was always head of the class.
Sir W. Scott remarked that when in reci
tation, he always twisted a particular
button upon his jacket. This button
Scott cut off, when the boy was not ob
serving him. The ela.-s was called soon
Mill® ©I m fOTHH.
afterwards ; the hoy felt tor his button;
it was gone. He missed his lesson, and
continued to do so until he was foot of his
class. Sir W. Scott remarks in his Diary
that he had never forgiven himself, or
ceased to regret this incident deeply.
The boy's success in recitation was cer
tainly associated with his button, and
Scott thought his never having risen
above mediocrity, in after life, was at
tributable to its loss.
From association of ideas, says Voltaire,
Henry the 4th, of France, was always un
easy when riding in a carriage, lest it
should overturn. The gallant Charles the
12th, of Sweden, dreaded to cross a bridge,
from a shock he received when a child ;
and Peter the Great had always to strug
gle with himself to conceal a shuddering,
which he possessed whenever he was near
a sheet of falling water.
Rut some ethical writers have gone
beyond the “ .sphen; terrestrial," for asso
ciation of ideas, and maintain that many
of them are derived from a pre-exuient
state of the soul.
Cicero, in his “ Vision of'Scipio'’ intro
duces Africanus, as conversing with his
son. He informs him that this life is the
true Hades, or place of punishment, and
that n pre-existence could he proved
bv individuals being conscious of having'
J Cs o
been in the same position; although they
had no recollection of having occupied
such position previously ; as in conversa
tion when some now incident is spoken
of, perhaps by an entire stranger, we are
impressed with the same surroundings.
So much are we persuaded of this that we
can anticipate what will he said before it
is spoken. Cicero recurs also to the an
cient belief that the facility with which
children acquire their lessons is blit the
effect of memory, derivable from a pre
existent state of the soul.
This was a favorite theory, in ancient
days, for we find that a belief in a prior
existence of the soul, was held by the
Chaldeans, Egyptians, and. at one period,
by the Grecians. The wise Einpydocles
was a Pythagorean, and believed in his
having personally undergone the change
from animate to inanimate life: such as
from a bird to a fish, from a fish to a bush,
etc. This confession, however, was given
in ver.sr, and we all acquiesce iu poetical
license
Our minds must ever be lost in specu
lative conjecture when we attempt an an
alysis of the soul, or the mysterious nature
and union of matter and mind. Gro
tius, in a dilemma of his bright intellect
to account for the perceptive powers of
brutes, alleged that man possessed, in his
soul, an unknown property, similar to in
telligence ; which created the difference
between the human and brute creation.
This the metaphysicians soon exploded,
as his hypothesis inferred two souls to one
being. Des Cartes denied perception to
brutes, and maintained that they have no
power of the will, and arc constructed as
a musical instrument—the piano, for in
stance —that will give out a tone if struck
by the finger. So is it with a hound who
mechanically follows the hare from the
stimulus of the odor of its track.
These wild vagaries do but furnish new
proofs that the finest minds are unable to
•upe with the difficulties which surround
the subject of mental organization. These
are, indeed, “the follies of the wise,”
To turn over another leaf iu the book
of Nature, and to observe die analogies
between her laws, in respect to mind and
matter, is scarcely less interesting, though
more within our grasp.
We find in this world of wonderful
creations that there is a progressive law
prevalent throughout nature. . A small
winged seed dropped from the cone, or
seed-vessel of the Abies, or fir-tree, pro
duces by slow development the tall whis
pering pine, so valuable to commerce and
the arts. Au acorn contains the germ, or
nucleus of the giant oak. The crocodile
was once a round white egg, and so was
the fleet ostrich of the desert. Man, upon
whom it has pleased Omnipotence to be
stow superior gifts to all other of his earth
ly creations, commences life a helpless
infant, with none of the perceptive faculties
of the soul, and with but one instinct in
common with other animals, that of im
bibing nourishment. Thus he is but little
superior to the young pine, as it vegetates
upon the properties of the earth. But
the great gift of the soul is developed, and
he becomes wiser and wiser, greater and
greater ; and, when he passes away into
eternity, the thread of research left by
him in the labyrinth of learning, wisdom,
and piety, is taken up by his descendants
who now explore yet more deeply into
the mazes of its lettered chambers and
subterranean mines of lore.
Sleep, another of nature’s mysterie's,
has been bestowed upon us iu common
with the vegetable and animal world, and
so nearly does it resemble death that Sir
Thomas Brown in his lleligio Medico ,
says: “1 always pray before closing my
eyes in sleep, so much does it appear like
death.” Asleep and unconscious of all
that surrounds us, the soul, or mind, is
not only present, but is traveling the most
distant countries, crossing rivers and
oceans, and in the compass of a few min
utes lives a lifetime from childhood to a<Te.
O
This soul and body, with all of their sym
pathies and dependencies upon each other,
are yet dividual. Let the mind he de
mented. and we will find with it corporeal
health, and vice the physical par
lytic in possession of a sound mind.
Thus the demented mind appears to he
only a suspended intellect, as it lias been
known to reappear and remain unclouded
through life. And should it never return,
the patient at the period of death under
goes the same process of dissolution as
though the mind had never been disturbed;
\\ hy then should we deny that they are
separate creations only for the reason that
there is a depedence of one upon another,
during this life. We can no more under
stand their temporal union than we can
their separation in dissolution. What
affinity can there be between a turnip
and beet, and the brain of the scientific
and logical Newton? or, that a hunch of
cool, given cresses and the muscular fi
bres of a pugilist should be one and the
same? or that the animal chyle, and the
sap of vegetables should, in their constitu
ent principles, resemble each other ? vet
physiologists affirm these truths.
We can know but little of the wonders
‘of the visible world around us, and mueh
less of immaterial life. The latter spec
ulations leave, many in the condition of
Cicero’s Tusculan pupil, who, after read
ing Plato, remarked : “When I read the
book 1 am convinced, but as soon as I
put it down T relapse again into doubt.”
Such must ever be the condition of our
reasoning faculties when we attempt to
apply them to subjects beyond their
reach. With hi the sphere of their proper
action, our reasoning powers are doubt
less our safest guides; bnt beyond and
without that sphere, they can only mis
lead us, and this may with sruth be said
not only of our investigations of Nature’s
laws, but of those of Revelation also.
THE PAPAL VOLUNTEERS
> ROM THE KATIIOUSCHE KIRCHENZIETUNG.
Tiie Papal army has always consisted
of volunteers, since the obligation of
rendering military service has never
been imposed on the people who inhabit
the States of the Church ; but the world
has never seen, from the days of Godfrey
do Bouillon, so picked and chosen a
corps of men as those who are at present
so enthusiastically hastening on to Italy
for the purpose of upholding and vindi
cating the cause of Pius IX. and the
Church of which he is the head.
It was in 1859 that the Revolutionists,
leagued with the King of Sardinia, be
gan to despoil the Pope. In doing so,
they hoped to attain a two-fold object:
first, to gain possession of his territory,
and, second, by withdrawing his reve
nues, without assuming his debts, to
force him into a financial capitulation.
At the same time, an over-busy inter
vention stood ready at band with
various plans of relief. But the words
of the Holy Father, T shall accept no
favors from the great ones of earth ; if
my children will give me alms I shall
receive it most gratefully!” theu. and
Hiere called the Peters-pence iuto life,
which have ever since frustrated those
plans of the enemy in a most signal
manner. And thus again, in our own
day and time, has the determination of
the Holy Father to defend by force of
arms, his rights and the peace of his
subjects against armed antagonists,
called out numbers of faithful sons in all
countiies, who are ready and willing 1 to
stake their fortunes and their lives in
the defence of the Father of the Faithful.
A special society, called “of St. Peter."
has been organized in Paris for the pur
pose of recruiting, fitting out, and main
taining of Papal Soldiers, especially of
Zouaves. At the head of this society
stands Count Lemercier, while Count
Latour, once an Austrian officer, is an
other of its principal members. To ac
complish their laudable object all the
more effectually, and, at the same time,
to give Catholics of all countries an op
portunity of partaking in the good work,
the Committee at Paris has joined hands
with similar committees already existing
in London and Belgium, so that even
now the most intimate, active, and well
organized communication exists between
them. Austria, too, has lately been
called upon to lend its aid in the holy
cause. Count Latour wrote a letter to
the Superiors of the “St. Michaels Asso
ciation” in Vienna, asking them to inter
est their countrymen, also, in the work,
as France alone was no longer able to
meet the demand. Simultaneously with
this letter, other letters from different
provinces of the Austrian empire, and
containing the self-same request, were
received by these gentlemen in Vienna.
They, of course, as in duty bound, laid
the matter before their Bishops. Some
of these have already given iu their
answer, that answer being in each case
in the affirmative ; thus, for instance, the
Bishops of Vienna, Olniutz, Brunn,
Linz, St. Pollen, and Yeglia.
Baron Stillfried, the President ot
“St. Michael’s Association,” then went
to Paris for the purpose of opening
communications with the committee
at that place, and, after his return,
made his report at a called meeting
on Dec. 28th. This meeting was, by
invitation, attended by leading men
from all parts of the Empire. Repre
sentatives were also there from the
Catholic societies of Bohemia, Moravia,
the Tyrol, Turingia and other places.
Baron Stillfried, while at Paris, lnid as-
sisted at one of the meetings of the As
sociation of St. Peter. There he met with
a Mr. Keller, well known as a member
of the former Corps Legislatif. Mr. Kel*
!er, made a report on his late protracted
stay in Rome and the notes he had
taken while there. At his parting* au
dience with the Holy Father, Pius JX
hud declared to him that he was firmly
resolved to defend his temporal power
with the sword, it the Catholic world
would only enable him to do so. The
Holy Father also informed Mr. Keller,
that the dangers to the Holy See were
by no means passed and gone, but still
looming up in closest proximity. “Day
after day, 5 ' lie said, “Garibaldians are
smuggled into Rome, and the secret so
cieties are one and all making prepara
tions for a general uprising* in flic
Spring.” It is this impending and un
avoidable conflict which fills the soul of
Pius IXwith such deep sorrow.
The Papal troops are to be armed in
the most complete manner possible, that
they may stand on the same vautage
groundhxs their opponents. To and • his,
10,000 muskets, and the same n umber
of revolvers are required. Just at pres
ent the procuring ol these arms is very
difficult, as all the European govern
ments are taxing their armories to the
very utmost for special purposes of their
own. The committee at Paris was,
however, fortunate enough to obtain
2,000 muskets from Louvain. Besides
these there are 4,ooostand of arms said
to be on sale, from America. Moreover
there is a want of 8 field-guns light
enough to be used in the mountain dis-
5