The messenger. (Fort Hawkins, Ga.) 1823-1823, September 08, 1823, Image 4
Fi
There is a spot —u quiet snot, which blooms -
tin earth's cold,heartless desert—li hath power
To vive u sweetness to the darkest hour,
As, in tiie starless midnight, from the rose,
New (lipp’d in dew, a sweeter perfume flows;
And suddenly the w and rer's heart assumes
New courage. ‘ ini he keeps hisrourse along,
Cheering the darkness witli u whisper’d song:
At every step a purer, fresher air
Salutes him, and the winds of morning hear
Soft odours from the violet bed* and vines ;
And thus he wanders, till the dawning shines
Above the misty mountains, and h line
Os verrnil blushes on tiie cloudless blue,
Tike henltli disporting on the downy check—
it is time’s fairest moment—as a dove
Shading the earth with azure* wings of love.
The sky broods o'er us, and the cool winds
speak
The peace of nature, andth/- waters fall,
From leap to leap, more sweetly musical,
And, from the cloudy bosom of the vale,
Come, on the dripping pinions of the gale,
The simple melody of early birds
Wooing their mates to love, the low of herds
Ami the faint bleating of the new-born lambs
Pursuing, with light-bounding step, their dams;
Again the shepherd s whistle, and the hark.
That shrilly answers to his call; and hark!
As o'er the trees the golden rays appear,
Bursts the last joyous song of chauticlere,
Who moves, in stately pomp, before his train,
Till, 4 from his emerald neck, and burnish’d
wings,
The pla} till light a dazzling beauty flings,
As it the stars had lit their fires again—
So sweetly, to the wand’rer o’er the piain,
The rose, the jessamine, and every flower,
That spreads its leaflets in the dewy hour,
And catches in its bell night's viewless rain,
In temper’d balm their rich aroma shower;
And wit'll this charm the morning, on his eye,
Looks from her portals in the eastern sky,
And throws her blushes o'er the sleeping earth,
And w akes it to a fresh and lovely birth—
O! such a charm adorns that fairest spot,
Where noise and revelry disturb me not,
But all the spirits that console me, come,
And o'er me spread a peaceful canopy,
And stand with messages of kindness by,
AuPbne sweet dove, with eyes that look me
bless’d,
Sits brooding nil my treasures in her nest,
Without one slightest wish die world to roam,
Or leave me, and that quiet dwelling—Home.
PERCIVAL.
LOVE’S PHILOSOPHY
The fountains mingle with the riv er,
And the rivers wuth the ocean ;
The w inds of heaven mix forever
With a sweet emotion ;
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
In one another’s being mingle;—
Why not I with thine ?
See the mountains kiss high heaven,
And the waves clasp one another;
No leat or flower would be forgiven,
If it disdains to kiss its brother.
And the sun light clasps the earth,
And the moonbeams kiss the sea;
What are all these kissings worth,
If thou kiss not me ?
‘sKrgreat A\r:r.
From the Lights and Shadows of Scottish Life.
THE FAMILY-TRYST. •
(Concluded from our last.)
Had any one died whose absence
would damp the joy and hilarity of the
Family-Tryst, and make it a meeting
for the shedding of tears ? No. A kind
God has counted the beatings of each
pulse, and kept the blood of them all
in a tranquil now. 7’lie year had not
passed by without many happy greet
ings—they had met often and often—
at church—at market— on chance vis
its at neighbors houses ; and not rarely
at the cottage at the Hall-gate. There
had been nothing deserving the name
of seperation. Yet, now that the hour
of the Family-Tryst was near at hand,
all their hearts bounded within them,
and they saw before them all day, that
smooth verdant plat, and heard the de
lightful sound of that waterfall,
The day had been cheerful,both with
breezes and w ith sunshine, and not a
rain cloud had shown itself in the sky.
Towards the afternoon the wind fell,
and nature became more serenely
beutiful every minute as the evening
was coming on with its silent dews.—
The Parents came first to the 7’ryst
ing place, cheered, as they approached
it down the woody glen, by the deep
ening voice of the Shaw-linn. Was
that small turf-built Altar, and the cir
cular turf-seat that surrounded it,
built by fairy hands? They knew at
once that some of their happy children
had so employed a few leisure hours,
and they sat down on the little mound
with hearts overflowing with silent;
perhaps speechless gratitude.
Gut they sat not long there by them
selves ; beloved faces, at short inter
vals, came smiling upon them ; one
through the coppice-wood, where there
was no path; another across the mead
ow ; a third appeared with a gladsome
shout on the dirt of the w aterfall; a
fourth seemed to use out of the very
ground before them ; and last of all
came, preceded by the sound of laugh
ter and of song, Abel and Alice, the
fairies who had reared the green gras
sy Altar, and who, from their covert
in the shade, had been enjoying the
gradual assemblage. “ Blessings be
to our God ; not a head is wanting,”
said the Father, unable to contain
his tears; “this lligl.t could 1 die in
peaceJ”
Little Abel and Alice, who from
their living so near the spot, bad ta
ken upon themselves the whole man
agement of the evening’s ceremonial,
brought forth from a bush where they
had concealed them, a basket of bread
and cheese and butter, ajar of milk,
and anothe r of honey, and placed them
upon live turf as if they had been a ru
ral gift to some rural diety. “ I
thought you would be all hungry, ’
said Abel, “ after your trudge ; and as
for Simon there, (he jolly gardeuer, lie
will eat all the kibbock himself, if ldo
not keep a sharp eye upon him. Si
mon was always asure hand at a meal.
But Alice, reach me over the milk jar.
Ladies and gentlemen, all your very i
good healths jour noble selves.” Tlvisj
was felt to be very fair wit of Abel’s ;
and there was an end to the old man’s j
tears.
“ 1 vote,” quoth Abel, “ that every
man (beginning with myself, who will:
be the oldest among you when I have ’
lived long enough) give an account ol!
himself, and produce whatever of the,
ready rhino he may have made, found
or stolen, since lie left the llow. j
However, I will give waytotny father
—now for it father—let us hear it you
have been a good boy.” “Will that j
imp never hold his tongue?” crit'd
the mother, making room for him at
the same time on the turf seat by!
her side—and beckoned him with a
smile, which he obeyed, to occupy
it. ‘ ‘
“ Well then,” quoth the father, “ I j
have not been sitting with my hands j
folded, or leaning on my elbows.— j
Among other small matters, I have
helped to lay about half a mile of high i
road on the Macadam plan, across the
lang quagmire on the Means Muir, so
that nobody need be sucked in there
again for fifty years to come at the ve
ry soonest. With my own single pair
of hands I have built about thirty rood
of stone dyke five feet high, with two
rows of through-stones, connecting
Saunders Mills’ garden wall with the
fence round the Fir Belt. I have delv
ed to some decent purpose on some
halt score of neighbors’ kail yards and j
clipped their hedges round and
straight, not forgetting to dock a bit oil’
the tails o’ the peacocks and outland- 1
ish birds on that queer auhl-fashioned |
terrace at Mallets-Heugh. I cannot;
have mown under some ten braid j
Scots acres of rye grass and meadow I
hay together, but finding my back stiff’
in the stooping, 1 was a stooker and a ,
bandster, on the Corn-rings, I have |
threshed a few thrieves in the minis
ter's barn—prime oats they were, for
the glebe had been seven years in lea.
I have gone some dozen times to Lcs
mahago for the clear-lowing coals, a
drive of forty miles back and forward
l’se warrant it. [ have felled and
houghed about forty ash trees, and lent
a hand now and then in the saw-pit.
I also let some o’ the day light into
the fir wood at Hail-side, and made a
bonny bit winding walk along the burn
side for the young ladies’ feet. So, to
make a long story short, there is a re
ceipt (clap a bit o’ turf on’t, Abel, to
keep it frae fleeting off the daises)
‘rom the Savings Bank, for 25/. 13s.
signed by Baillie Trumbuell’s ain
land. That is a sight gude fer sair
een. Now Mis. Alison, for I must
give you the title you bear at the Hall,
what say you ?
“ 1 have done nothing but surperin
tend the making o’ butter and cheese,
the one as rich as Butch, and the other
preferable to Stilton. My wages are
, ust fifteen pounds, and there they are.
Bay them down beside your Father’s
receipt. But l have more to tell. If
ever we are able to take a bit faTin of
our own again, my lady has promised
to give me the Ayrshire Hankie, that
yield sixteen pints a day for months at
a time, o’ real rich milkness. She
would bring 20/. in any market. So
count that 55/. my bonny bairns.”—
Speak out my Willy, no fear but you
have a good tale to tell.
“There is a receipt for thirty
pounds, lent this blessed day, at five
per cent, to auld Laird Shaw—as safe
as the ground we tread upon. My
wages are forty pounds a year —as you
know—and I have twice got the first
prize at the competition o’ Plough
men—thanks to you father, for that,
‘/’lie rest of the money is gone upon
fine cloths and jpon the bonny lasses
on a Fair day. Why should we not
have our enjoyments in this world as
well as richer folk ?” “ God bless
you, Willy,” said the old man, “ you
would not let me nor your mother
part with our Sunday clothes, when
that crash came upon us—though we
were w illing to do so to right all our
creditors. You become surety lor
the amount—and you have paid it—l
know that. Well—it may not be
worth speaking about—but it is worth
thinking about—Willy— and a Fa
ther need not be ashamed to receive
a kindness from his own flesh and
blood.”
“ It is my turn now,” said Andrew,
the young gardener: “ Tlfere is
twelve pounds—and next year it will
be twenty. lam to take the flower
garden into my own nand—and lef
the Paisley florists look after then
pinks, and tulips and, anemones, or l
know where the prizes will come af
ter this. There’s a bunch o’ flowers
for vou Alice —if you put them in wa
ter they will live till the Sabbath-day,
and vou may put some ol them into
your bonnet. Father, \\ illiatn said
he had to thank you for his plough
manship—so have 1 for my garden
ing. Anil wide and rich as the flow -
er-garden is that I am to take under
my own hand, do you think I will
ever love it better, or sa weel, as the
bit plot on the bank side, with its
bower in the corner, the birks hang
ing ower it without, keeping oil the
sun, and the clear burnie wimpling
away at its foot ? There I first del
ved with a smaH spade o’ my ain—
you put the shaft in yourself, Father
—and, (rust me, it will be a while
before that piece o’ wood gangs into
the-fire.”
“ Now for my speech,” said Abel
—“ short and sweet is my motto. I
like something pithy. Loand behold
a mowdiuart’s skin, with five and for
ty shillings in silver ! It goes to my
heart to part with them. M ind,father,
I only lend them to you. And if you
do not repay them with two shillings
and better of interest next May-day,
Old Style, I will put the affair into
the hands of scranty Pate Orr, the
writer at Thorny Bank. But, hold
—will you give me what is called
heritable security r That means land,
does’n’t it? Well then, turf is land, |
and 1 thus fling down the mowdiwart j
purse on the turf—and that is lend
ing money on (he heritable security.”!
A general laugh rewarded this ebul-j
lition of genius from Abel, who recei-j
ved such plaudits with a face of cun-j
ning solemnity,—and then the eldest
daughter meekly took up the word!
and said—“ My -wages were nine!
pounds—there they are !” “Oh ho,”,
cried Abel, “ who gave you that blue
spotted silk handkerchief round yourj
neck, and that bonny but gae droll
pattern’d gown ? You had not these |
at the How—may be you got them ‘
from your sweetheart;” and Agnes,
blushed in her innocence like the j
beautiful flower, “ Celestial rosy red,
Love’s proper hue.”
The little Noutice from the Manse
laid down on the turf without speak
ing, but with a heartsome smile, her
small wages of four pounds ; and, last
of all, the little fair-haired, blue-eved,
snowy-skinned Alice the shepherdess,
with motion soft as light, and with a j
voice sweet as an air-harp, placed her j
wages too beside the rest, “ There is ‘
a golden guinea ; it is to be two next
year, and so on till lam fifteen. Ev- (
ery little helps.” And her lather j
took her to his Heart, and kissed her,
glistening ringlets and her smiling I
eyes, that happily shut beneath thei
touch of his loving lips.
By this time the sun had declined ;’
and the sweet sober gloaming was
about to melt into the somewhat dark
e** beauty of a summer night. The air
was now still and silent, as if unseen ;
creatures that had been busy there had i
all gone to rest. The mavis that had j
been singing loud, and mellow, and;
clear, on the highest point of larch,
now and then heard by the party in
their happiness, and flitted down to be
near his mate on her nest within the
hollow root of an old ivy wreathed yew
tree. The snow-white coney looked ,
oqt from the coppice, and bending his
long ears towards the laughing scene,
drew back unstartled into the thicket.
The old man now addressed his
children with a fervent voice, and told
them that their dutiful behaviour to
him, their industrious habits, their
moral conduct in general, and their
regard to their religious duties, all
made them a blessing to him, for
which he could never be sufficiently
thankful to the Giver of all mercies.
“ Money,” said he, “is well railed
the root of all evil; but not so now.
There it lies—upon the turf—an of
feringfrom poor children to their pa
rents. It is a beau iful sight, my
bairns, but your parents need it not.
They have enough. May God for
ever bless yon, my dear bairns. That
night at the He w, I said this meeting
would be either a fast or a thanks
giving, and that we should praise
God with a prayer, and also the voice
of psalms. No house is near—no path
by which any one will lie coming
this quiet hour. So let us worship
our Maker—here is the Bible.”
Father,” said the eldest son,
“ will you wait a few minutes—for I
am every moment expecting two dear
friends to join us. Listen, 1 hear
footsteps and the sound of voices round
the corner of the coppice. They are
at hand.”
A beautiful yong woman, dressed
almost in the same manner as a farm
er’s daughter, but hith a sort of sylvan
grace about her, that seemed to de
note a somewhat higher station, now
appeared, along with a youth, who
might be her brother. Kindly greet
ings were interchanged, and room be
ing made fur them, they formed part of
[the ciide round the altar of iu... A
sweet surprise was in the hearts of the
partv at this addition to their number,
and every face brightened with anew
delight. “ That is bonny Sally Mather
of the Burn-House,” whispered little
Alice to her brother Abel. “She pas
sed me ae day on the brae, and made
me the present ol a comb for my hail
you ken; when you happened to be
on the ither side o’ the wood ! Oh !
Abel lias nae she the bonniest and the
sweetest ct-n that evei you saw
smile ?”
This young woman who appeared
justly so beautiful iu-the eves of little
Alice, was even more so in those of
her eldest brother. She was sitting
at his side, and the wide earth did not
contain two happier human beings
than these humble, virtuous and sin
cere lovers. Sally Mather was the
beauty of the parish ; and was also
an heiress, or rather now the owner of
the Burn-House, a farm worth about a
hundred a year, fck. one of the pleasan
test situations in the parish remarkable
for 1.1 ie picturesque and romantic
character of its scenery. She had re
ceived a much better education than
young women generally do in her rank
of life, her father having been a com
mon farmer, but by successful skill
and industry having been enabled, in
the decline of life, to purchase the
farm which lie had improved to such a
pitch of beautiful cultivation. Her
heart William Alison had won—and
now she had been for some days be
trothed to him as his bride. He now
informed his parents and his brothers
and sisters of this ; and proud was lie,
land better than proud, when they all
bade God bless her, and when his fa
! ther and mother took her each by the
hand, and kissed her, and wept over
ner in the fullness of their exceeding
! joy.
“ \\ e are to be married at mid
summer, and, father, and mother, be
'fore winter sets in, there shall be a
dwelling ready for you, not quite so
roomy as our old house at the How,
but a bonny bield for you, I hope for
many a year to come. It is not a
quarter of a mile from our own house,
and we shall not charge you a high
rent for it, and the two three fields
about it. You shall be a farmer again,
Father, and no fear of ever being turn
ed out again, be the lease short or
long.”
Fair Sally Mather joined her lover
in this request with her kindly smiling
eyes, and what greater happiness
j could there be to such parents than to
j think of passing the remainder of tiieir
! declining life near such a son, and
such a pleasant being as their new
daughter? “ Abel and I,” cried little
: Alice, uiiable to repress her joyful
affections,” will live with you again
|—l will do all the work about the
house that lain strong enough for
land Abel, you ken, is as busy as the,
1 unwatered uee, and will help my Fa
’ ther about the fields, better and bet
: ter every year. May we come home
to you from service, Abel and 1?”
1 “ Are you not happy enough where
| you are?” asked the mother, with a
j loving voice. “ Happy, or not happy,
i quotii Abel, “ home we come at the
term, as sure as that is the cuckoo.—
Harken now the dunce keeps repea
ting his own name, as it any body did
not know it already. Yonder he
goes w ith his titling a! his tail. People
talk of the cuckoo never being seen,
why, J cannot open my eyes without
seeing either him or his wife. W ell,
as I was saying, Father, home Alice
and I come at the term. Pray what
wages ?”
“ But what brought the young Laird
of Southfield here r” thought tiie mo
ther, while a dim, and remote suspicion
too pleasant, too happy to be true, past
across her mutual heart. Her sweet
Agnes was a servant in his father’s
house, and though that father was a
laird, and lived on his own land, yet
he was in the very same condition of
life as her husband, Abel Alison ; they
had often sat at each other’s table;
and her bonny daughter was come of
an honest kind, and would not dis
grace any husband either in his own
house, or a neighbour’s or in his seat
in the kirk. Such passing thoughts
were thickening in the mother’s breast
and perhaps not wholly unknown al
so to the Father’s, when the young
man, looking towards Agnes, who
could not lift up her eyes from the
ground, said, “ My Father is and is
willing and happy that I should mar
ry the daughter of Alnd Alison.—
For he wishes me no other wife than
the virtuous daughter of an honest
man. And I will lie happy—if my
Agnes makes as good a wife as her
mother.”
A pei feet blessedness now filled the
souls of Abel Alison and his wife. One
yiar ago, and they were what is call
ed, utterly ruined—l hey put their
trust in God—and now they received
their reward. But their pious and
humble hearts did not feel it to be a
reward, for in themselves, they were
conscious of no desert. The joy came
from heaven, up lescrved by them, and
Vviui silent tliar.L-givif,g a.id *\
tion did they receive it, lik L .
their opening spirits.
But now the moon shewed ( <
zling crescent light over their ;, P ’
as if she had issued gleaming j!, ‘’
from tiie deep blue of that very',
of heaven in which she hung; an (; ■ ‘ ‘
ter or brighter far and w ide over t’
firmament, was seen tiie great |, os " f
stars. The old man reverently u,
vered Ins head ; and looking up l( ,
diffused brilliancy of the magi;',:’
arch of heaven, he solemnly exth •
ed, “ The heavens declare the g| o '.,
of God, and the firmament slmv,.
forth his handy work. Day unto t | ls
uttereth speech, niirhtuntn night s | 1(l ,
eth knowledge. My children, | t ( (
kneel down and pray.” They ,r;
so; and on rising from that pKiv,
the mother, looking toward her | iu
band, said, “ 1 have been young aill
now am old ; yet have l not seen tl
Righteous forsaken, nor his seed be*,
ging bread.”
A Rowland for an Oliver.
A fresh water yankee, on a p e( j,
dling voyage Turk State’
arrived in our village last week.-!
Independent of the usual supply
Jonathan, it seems, had added t w
his stock of 1 nicknacs a number
of umtehes, to be disposed of either
in the 4 bartering line,’ or to be
‘ swapped off V as opportunities f o j
driving a trade offered. Meeting
a Dutch vagrant, well known in
our streets, with a long brass chain
dangling at his fob, Jonathan hit
him for a trade “ utt sight. unseen.”
Tommy was his man. The usual
preliminaries being settled, the
watches were deposited in the hat
of a third person. The umpire
then drew out the first watch.—
44 ‘That,” said Jonathan, ‘ is the
Dutchman’s watch.’ The other
watch, (which proved a wooden
one !) was drawn. — 4 I)at,’ cries
honest Tommy, ‘ ish de Yankee’s
vatch.’ 4 All firelock,’ exclaimed
the chop fallen Jonathan, holding
the apology for a watch by its chain
‘ a tarnal Dutchman got the rig on
ter a Yankee ! Who’d thought it”
While the Yankee stood viewing
his watch, with emotions that par
took less of anger than of chagrin.
Tommy, not satisfied with his tri
umph observed that “ de wooden
vatch would make good nutmegs.”
u Yes,” exclaimed Jonathan with
exultation, 44 and that there watch
of your’n would make a good nut
meg grater, for the case of it is
real block tin'’ Roch. Telegraph,
Ancient Laic of Virginia. —Amor,*
the edicts,founded on the martial code
sent over by Sir T. Smith, and put in
force bv Sir T. Dale, who was Gover
nor in Virginia in If>l4, there wasone
by which it was declared, that ever)
person should go to church, Sunday
and holy days, or be neck and heels
that niaht, and be a slave to the co
lonv the following week ; for (he se
cond offence he should be a slave for
a month ; and for the third a year and
a day.”
When any one was speaking ill
of another in the piesence of Peter
the Great, he first listened to lum
attentively, and then interrupted
him “Is there not,” said he, “i
fair side also to the character ot
the person of whom v ou are speak
ing ; Come, tell me what good qual
ities you have remarked about
him.’ One would think this mon
arch had learnt that precept, 44 speak
not evil of one another.”
Ham of Bacon. —A gentleman at
table, observing another paying
particular attention to a ham ofba
con, asked him what he would say
to that ham, if he were a Jew ; the
other replied, 44 I would say as
Agrippa said to Paul—thou al
most persuadest me to be a Chris
tian.”
A laborer in a stone quarry in the
village of Pautin, near Paris bavins
detached a large block of stone,found
in the middle, a skeleton of arani pe
trified. Each part of the stone con
tained a perfect half of the anim-* 1 -
the parts were very distinct.
block was dug out of the natural rot
at the depth of 30 feet from the suin’
mit of the quarry. A petrification
curious, was immediately deposited m
the Museum of Natural History.
JV*. E. Farmer,
It is the infirmity of poor spirit 51
be taken with every appearance, a nu
dazzled with every thing that spar;
kies ; but great geniuses have
little admiration, because few thing 5
appear to them new.
Trite Sayings. —Plato said ‘that
w re the only .men dial might lie without
trol, since our health depends upon the vall •
’ and laliacy of their promises. r