PVH1HIBHHSIHH1HHKHVS!1&'' '
No. 0.
FA NOV HKKTOllKS.
113
Bhadow of oppression and tyranny posted
heavily in days gone by. The days of su
perstition are passed and every one may
worship God according to tlie dietates of
his own conscience.
Hut because we are living in such a
burst of light and liberty, wo must not
think there is nothing left for us to do.
Never in the history of the woild has
there been such a demand for those earn
est thinkers and willing workers, who
will enlighten the age, and help to push
forward the wheels of progress. The
world needs men who will shape the
doubtful destiny of the coming centuries,
and establish for all lime the freedom of
our i ace. Its needs demand true, earn
est, whole-souled men and women who
will not be content to make their own
lives pure and beautiful, but will labor
for the elevation of those with whom
they mingle, and strive to make the world
better and brighter for their having lived
in it. There is work for all; we cannot
atlbrd to be idle; labor and learn, work
and win are the chief maxims of life.
We have noble examples; the life work
and the record of the great men and wo
men of the past ages should inspire us
with higher aspirations and more earnest
labor. II they in the past were content
to work with such results, surely we
should be persevering when we may reap
so bountiful a harvest? Leave the past
with its sunshine and its shadrws, and
speculate not too much on the futuie, but
live, act, and work in the present; thus
the future will be cared for.
" Shut down and clasp "ie heny,
I hear itn tho oico that bids thu dreamer
Heave his dreams away,
For larger hopes and greater fears;
I.ITe xreatenH in thuso later year,
The country's aloe flowers to-day."
C. B. II.
FANCY SKETCHES.
Who has not sat in the twilight of a
summer's eve, when stern reality is awed
to silence by the solemn stillness of the
hour, and let fancy bring before the mind
in panoramic view, the pictures of the
Imagination V Or who has not sat in the
old home circle and read from the glow
ing coals, the happy assurance of his fu
ture greatness, so plainly pictured there f
Let us borrow for a time the wings of
Fancy and visit the ideal world, noting
as we go, whatever of interest we may
11 ml.
Immediately at the outset, we meet Re.
llection ; a quiet llgure of careworn ex
pression, standing on the shore of Time,
pointing backward along that stream.
We take the direction which the figure
indicates, and bid our thoughts retrace
the line of our foiccd march toward eter
nity; while we sketch the objects of h.
terost, as we pass along. As we turn down
the narrow path, the breeze which greets
us, mournfully whispers, " past", and oft,
along the way, springs up and greets us,
this weird phantom, Past. Anon, we
pass n monument to some by-gone pleas
ure; and near by it, one stands, a talisman
of pain ; and oft, we pass the half-decayod
ruins of ill-fated hopes.
How the smouldering fires of Passion
gleam out upon us as we pass, showing
faint traces of "what might have been;"
but upon the forms of each and everyone
of these, there appears the dim out-line
of tliis ever-present, Past. Thus we fol
low back along the course of Time,
sketching as we go until the light of
memory, is dimmed in infancy; and our
study is complete. We touch it up with
here and there a finishing stroke and
smile to think how perfect is our sketch.
We call in a friend to see our picture
of the past, and when lie looks, he also
smiles, and says, "O yes! but where you
have that moss-grown mound of Hope
should he a withered tree of Despair, j
sketched it once myself. That rippling
brook of joy should be n stagnant pool of
regret; that ivy -green should be a weep
ing willow; and those dark clouds which
stand darkly out in bold relief, should be
tinged with gold." As he spoke, my
g na -srri w n i , . -
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