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More vivid recollections are thus excited than by all we may have written upon the spot or all we may have heard or read of it before.

The grand and beautiful scenery of nature are like some perfect productions of art, their contemplation as a whole, fills the mind with delight and satisfaction, and not less the study of every part. So amid the glories of Trenton may we stand lost in the dream of its sublimity, with the dark waters at our very feet, now lashing in foam, and now eddying amid the rocks a black still pool, whose very margin shows no ray of light below its surface, and the overhanging rocks seeming almost to bend above us as the sound of rolling fragments from those time-worn cliffs mingle with the rushing of that resistless torrent. Again we may turn

to those mighty precipices and find in their very walls the exquisite forms, the delicate tracery of a perfect structure, the recondite hieroglyphics which, if rightly read, reveal the history of the earth and its inhabitants in ages beyond the history of time.

To a Ship.

France and its Financial System.

BY E. B. O'CALLAGHAN.

The population of this kingdom exceeds thirty-six millions of souls. Its revenue amounted in 1844, in round numbers, to twelve hundred and fifty (1250) millions of francs, equal to $234,375,000. Its public expenditure in the same year to twelve hundred and eighty-one (1281) millions=$240,187,500, leaving a deficiency in the revenue of over 30,000,000 of francs. The sources of revenue are numerous; so much so that the ingenuity of the government seems to be exerted rather in discovering new objects for taxation, than in endeavoring to lessen the public burthens. Indeed the minister avows this to be a principle in French policy; for he has declared the reduction of the public France, and one which often failed in accomplishing its expenses to have always been an unproductive task in object.

The public receipts may be classed under the following heads:

I. Direct taxes, including tax on real

and personal estate, and on doors

BY ATTICUS.

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Customs and salt tax,

33,937,500

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Thou hast rode where icebergs cast a shade,
Below on the foaming deep,

Where many a sailor's form is laid,
In cold and dreamless sleep.

Thou has bowed thy high and snowy head
To the tempest's howling breath,
When the lightning around its red glare shed,
And the billow spoke of death.

Thou has glided along on thy silvery way,
When music was in the billow,

In the pure sweet night, when the tropic day
Had sunk on its crimson pillow.

When the streamers played in the brilliant sky,
And lighted the depth below,

And the wave roll'd bright in the varied dye
Of its beautiful rainbow glow.

Thou has wandered full many a summer day
On the peaceful and sunny ocean,
When the sailor merrily sung his lay,
That died o'er the wave's soft motion.

Thy flag has floated where the palm

Bends green o'er the waters clear,
Where the pure winds sigh in an air of balm,
And roses perfume the year.

There is not an isle of the boundless sea
That purples the billow's foam,
But where thou has sailed as wild and free,
Thou callest the deep thy home.

Woman.-Shrink not from a woman of strong sense, for if she become attached to you, it is from seeing and viewing the different qualities in yourself; you may consult her, for she is able to advise, and does so with the firmness of reason and the consideration of affection; her love is lasting, and it will not have been lightly won; for weak minds are not capable of the loftiest grades of passion.

VI. Woods and forests,.. VII. Miscellaneous,.

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Expenses of collecting and managing revenue,..

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3,042,206 141,425,373

24,700,620

11.495,910

V. Drawbacks, repa ments, &c. The management of the intricate affairs and vast interests of this important country is committed, principally to nine ministers of State. These are, 1st. The Minister of Finance; 2d. The Minister of Justice and Public Worship; 3d. The Minister of Foreign Affairs; 4th. The Minister of Public Instruction; 5th. The Minister of the Interior; 6th. The Minister of Agriculture and Commerce; 7th. The Minister of Public Works; Sth. The Minister of War; 9th. The Minister of the Navy and the Colonies.

These compose, with the King, the government of France. Each of those ministers is at the head of a separate department or office, and through these offices all the public business of the nation is transacted. The allowance to the King, or the "civil list," as it is called, is twelve millions of francs, or $2,250,000 annually. The salary of each of the ministers is eighty thousand francs, or $15,000 a year.

The Minister of Finance is at the head of the most important department of the government. He has to superintend the management of the public debt, amounting to 5,554,000,000; of the public revenue and all other financial interests of the empire, the magnitude of which may be conceived when it is known that the value of the imports and exports combined, amount to 2,000,000,000 of francs or $375,000,000, and that nearly 3,000,000 tons of shipping are yearly entered in and out of the French ports.

80,000,000, equal to $15,000,000. One-eighth of this was in gold, and the remainder in silver coin. The per centage retained for coining is six francs ($1 12}) per kilogramme of two pounds weight of gold, and two francs, or 37 cents per killog. of silver. Ten per cent is deducted for medals and other fancy articles struck for individuals.

For the collection of that part of the revenue classed as "Direct Taxes," there are 86 Directors, (one for each department,) with an average salary each of $926; 86 Inspectors, each at $623; and 772 Comptrollers each at $318 per ann. The salaries and expenses attendant on this branch of the public revenue amount to over 15 millions of farncs.

The registry offices and public domain employ more than three thousand persons. These give and revise passports; register mortgages; grant licenses to indi

tates; such as have no heirs, and other public property. The officers connected with all this business are 86 Directors; 150 Inspectors; 308 Versifiers; 87 clerks, and 2,655 other functionaries, all of whose salaries amount to very nearly 9,000,000, or $1,653,125.

197

This department is subdivided, for the expediting of public business, into several bureaux, each of which has charge of a distinct branch of revenue. There is 1st. The Treasury Board; 2d. Registry and Stamps; 3d. Woods and Forests; 4th. Customs; 5th. Indirect Taxes; 6th. Tobacco; 7th. Post-office; 8th. The Mint. Over the Treasury there are seven Directors and one Cashier, each of whom has a salary of $3,750; 1 Ge-viduals to keep arms; have charge of confiscated esneral Teller, $2,812; 8 Subdirectors, each $2,250; 119 Chefs de Bureau, each from $750 to $1,875; 567 clerks with salaries ranging from $188 to $675, and a number of boys as messengers. Over each of the other bureaux presides a Director-General, with a salary of $3,750, assisted by Deputy Directors and a number of Clerks, with various salaries according to their rank. For the bureau of the Mint there is also a Director-General, with a salary of $3,375; a Commissary-General and an Assay M.ster, each $1,875; an Inspector of Assays, $1,313; 2 Assayers, each $938, an Assistant do. $169; 2 Chief Clerks, each $850, and 6 other Assistants. Apart from these boards there are attached to the department of the Minister of Finance, 10 InspectorsFor the management of the National forests there are General, each with a salary of $2,250; 12 first class 3,267 employees, viz.: 32 Conservators, 130 Inspect. Inspectors, each $1,313; 12 second class, each $935; ors, 60 sub-Inspectors, 20 Surveyors, 472 Generals of 18 third class, each $$750 a year; also several Receivers-Grounds, 12 apprentices, and a brigade besides of 2,520 General, and 85 Paymasters for the department. The horse guards, brigadiers, forest rangers, and clerks. latter are divided into four classes with salaries from 6 There is attached to this section a "Forest School," to 10,000 francs.

The whole financial system is controlled and checked by a Board or Court of Audit, which is composed of a President, at $4,688; 3 assistant do. each $2,813; 1 Attorney-General, $4,688; 18 councillors, $2,250 each; 1 Clerk of the Court, $2,250; 18 first class Referees, each $1,032; 62 second class do. each $450 with fees to each referee of both these classes averaging annually about $900. There are 71 other officers of different grades attached to this Court with various salaries.

The stamps give employment to 283 persons. of these are stationed at head quarters, Paris. 86 in the several departments of France; one of the latter is charged with the sale of stamps in his particular department. The gross expense is about 1,000,000 or $187,500, a small sum when it is understood that all legal documents and newspapers in the country must be stamped.

consisting of one Director with a salary of $1,313; 7 Professors and Inspectors of Studies, each $434, and 5 agents. The management of the woods and forests costs over five millions, or nearly a million of dollars.

The Customs, as may be readily anticipated, is the most extensive department in France in connexion with that of the public finances. Its total expense is stated to be between 24 and 25 millions of francs, or from four to five millions of dollars, on a revenue of about $34,000,000.* The number of persons engaged in its Having thus given some idea of the system and ar- protection, collection, &c., is an army in itself. It rangements in this particular department by which amounts to 27,000! This army, which includes a numpublic business is expedited and public accounts check-ber of women, consists of 26 Directors, 99 Inspectors, ed, it only remains to glance as briefly as possible at 97 sub-Inspectors, 165 directors' clerks, 865 Receivers, the various establishments connected with. and dependant on the department of the Minister of Finance throughout the Empire.

There are seven establishments connected with the Mint: one at Paris, Marseilles, Bordeaux, Lille, Strasbourg, Lyons and Rouen. Over each of these, the first excepted, there are usually four officers. The number of hands employed in all is between one and two hundred. The hours of work are from 5 A. M. to 10 P. M. The coin of the realir, and all the National Medals are manufactured and stuck in these establishments. The amount of money coined in 1812 was estimated at

*This sum is made up of import duties: from coffee, f.13,-20,000; olive oil, f.10,504,000; cotton, f.11,800,000; wool, f.6,281,000; coal, f.2,990,000; iron and castings, f.1,713,000; linen and hempen goods, f.2,160,000; other goods, f.28,246,000; French Colonial sugar, f.37,757,000; foreign do., f.1,45€,000 (a); export duties, f.1,401,000; navigation dues, f.3,085,000; confiscation and fines, f.1,052,000; miscellaneous, f 1,500,000; alt tax! f 57,500,

000.

(a) The quantity of sugar consumed in France in 1840 is stated officially to have been 314,000,000 lbs. Of this quantity 54,000,000 was the growth of France. This would be a little pounds per family of five persons. less than nine pounds for each person for a year, or forty-five

prime cost of the staple, is over 25 millions of francs or about five millions of dollars.

95 Comptrollers, 816 Visitors, 718 clerks, 271 Captains, 514 Lieutenants, 5,438 Brigadiers and sub. do., 18,164 rank and file, 348 ship masters and mates, 1,263 seamen, 33 cabin boys, besides a number of “sub-agents."|lar branch of the public revenue, is the licensed retail

The next branch is what are called "Indirect Taxes." These consists of the excise on wines, cider, beer and spirituous liquors, which amounts to the enormous sum of 94 millions of francs or seventeen millions and a half of dollars, (equal to forty-six cents per head on large and small of the population,) licenses to public carriages, duties on playing cards, on manufactured sugar and salt, ferries and other tolls, tythes of octrois, &c., 50,000,000; sale of tobacco 95,000,000, and of powder

5,000,000 francs.

For the collection and management of these several taxes, there are 8,132 salaried persons, viz: 85 Departmental Directors, 208 directors of arrondisements, 50 Comptrollers of accounts, 140 travelling do., 282 city do., 401 Directors Clerks, 1,296 Horse and 771 Foot Receivers, 1,297 Horse and 127 Foot additional clerks, 110 Comptrollers and Overseers of Navigation, 70 Comptrollers and Clerks of salt works, 3,038 Clerks and Supernuinaries, 36 Comptrollers of canals and bridges, 14 minor servants and 207 agents to prevent

frauds on the tobacco revenue.

The sale of tobacco and snuff in France, is a govern ment monopoly, from which is derived a revenue of nearly eighteen millions of dollars. This necessarily has created an establishment, the force of which it is impossible to estimate, embracing as it does every interest from the Inspector-General of tobacco leaves to the pedlar of penny cigars.

The next class of persons interested in this particu

ers of snuff and tabacco throughout the kingdom. To secure to each of these a salary equal to the ordinary profit of the retail trade, the article is delivered to them by the government at a price somewhat lower than the consumer is obliged to pay, according to a certain fixed scale. The prices submitted to judges in this country by the French government through this monopoly and are considered exceedingly high. The amount derived from intoxicating liquors is equal to a dollar a head on the population, rich and poor, old and young; a heavy

tax, it must be admitted, to contribute to the mere gratification of the palate.

The manufacture of gunpowder is another government monopoly. The quantity sold in 1842 was three millions three hundred and eighty thousand (3,380,000) pounds, valued at $511,347; from which a revenue of about a million of dollars was derived.

The Post-office is the best source of revenue which we shall examine. Exclusive of the central board, al

ready mentioned, there are employed in its administration and in the collection of postage, 13,845 persons. Of these 896 are employed in Paris. The salaries of all these officials amount to $1,652,055. In addition to these, there are connected with this branch of the public service 1,015 maitres de poste who furnish for hire the horses for mail transport; 281 couriers "estafittes;" 52 packet agents; 50 officers of packets; 619 seamen and artizans, which added to the former total, make in all 16,862 persons connected with the post-office department, not including, however, the men employed in driving the mail stages, nor the central board.

The allowance to the maitres de poste for horse hire was, prior to 1842, twenty-five cents of our money per horse for two leagues in four horse stages, carrying two or three passengers. This having been considered too

horse for stages of one to four seats. The drivers are allowed each the same sum per "myriameter," or two leagues.

There are ten Royal Tobacco Factories; that is, one in Paris, Havre, Morlaix, Toulouse, Lyons, Bourdeaux, Marseilles, Tonneins, Lille and Strasbourg, besides an establishment at Illkrich, and five general store houses in the departments. Work commences in the factories at day-light, and the men are often obliged to labor all night. So strict is the superintendance, lest the work-low the government raised the price to 32 cents per men should defraud the revenue, that the government agents sleep on the premises. The prime cost of the staple manufactured yearly, amounts to about twenty millions, or $3,750,000. Over the store houses in The entire expense of the French post-office, includwhich the tobacco in leaf is kept, there are in all sixty-ing the Mediterranean and Calais packets, was in 1842, one offices, viz.: 6 Tobacco Inspectors, 21 store keep- the date of the last report we have seen, between 26 ers, 18 Comptrollers and 16 Clerks. Over the ten fac- and 27 millions of francs or about five millions of doltories there are 2 Special Inspectors who are also mem- lars. bers of the government board in Paris, and 2 Deputies, The revenue, which is not quite double this sum, is 10 Managers, 10 Inspectors of the manufactured arti- derived, 1st, from postage on letters, which at the above cle, 10 Comptrollers, 14 Deputy Inspectors and Comp-date amounted to 41,157,300 francs, or $7,716,994; 2d, trollers, 10 storekeepers, 6 apprentices, 20 Clerks, and from 5 per cent on all money transmitted by post, $176,50 messengers. There are, besides, 165 other employ-494; 3rd, from a duty on gold and silver transmitted by ees to examine the quality of the tobacco raised in the the Mediterranean packets, $16,500; 4th, from seats in country. The pay of the whole of the above enume- mail stages, $424,125; 5th, from berth in mail packets, rated force amounts to about one million of francs. It requires two millions more to pay the salaries and wages of the hands employed in manufacturing and fitting up the article for market. There is no way of ascertaining the number of these persons, but it must be considera- The above details concerning the finances of France, ble when the lowness of wages in France is compared their sources, management and collection may appear with the large sum expended for that purpose. dry to many; but we have no doubt that they will be The amount expended in this branch, including the interesting, as they are new, to the greater number of

$220,000; and 6th, from a tax on the transit of foreign correspondence, $8,188. Making in all, $8,192,282. The law inflicts a very heavy penalty on such as defraud the revenue, by the private conveyance of letters.

our readers. Many points in the French system will be found pecullar, especially by the people of these States. Here few or none feel, in the common transactions of life, the action of government. Every man is free to go, like the wind, "whither he listeth," and to pursue his occupation or amusement as to himself it may seem best. But in France it is otherwise. The finger of government may be said to be "in every man's dish." Scarcely any branch of business can be cultivated, that the track of industry is not closely followed by the sleepless footsteps of the government in the shape of a taxgatherer, a competitor or a monopolist. Whoever wishes to visit a friend at a distance must pay the government for a passport, and if he uses the stage, pay the government for a seat therein. Should he choose to smoke a cigar, by the way, the government presents it. self as the tobacco manufacturer, and if he desires to go fowling, the powder he makes use of is furnished also by the government. The inhabitant of the vine clad hills of the sunny South is watched by a government agent in his efforts to take advantage of the bounteous blessings of nature, for every pint of wine removed from his cellar for sale must be guaged and permitted, at the same time that he pays a tax for the very sugar or salt with which he savors his daily meal. The air of heaven is not allowed to visit his dwelling except through a taxed window or a taxed door, and if his education prompts him to be inquisitive concerning the affairs of his country, it is only through a taxed paper that he can obtain the news. Various other are the ways in which he is made to feel that there is a government.

It is by becoming thus acquainted with the manner in which things are managed in other countries, that the inhabitants of this can correctly appreciate their own happy condition, in a social and political point of view. By cultivating peace and good will, the one to the other; by disseminating the blessings of education; by keeping the lights of an untrammelled industry constantly burning, can the happiness of that condition be permanently secured and transmitted to their posterity.

Mile.-The following exhibit of the number of yards contained in a mile in different countries, will often prove a matter of useful reference to readers :

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To the New-York Young Men's State Association.

BY D. PARISH BARHYDT.

Now forward in the glorious cause,
Without a momentary pause,

No flagging of your strength or will,
But forward in the march, until
Throughout the broad old Empire State,
Success upon your arms shall wait;
And you can count for every glen,
A band of young associate men.

A band. shall not be bent on strife,
Shall not be leagued for taking life;
But in the cause of wisdom just,
In God and in yourselves your trust,
Go forth with zeal, steadfast, intense,
To fight the tyrant ignorance!
Let every district furnish then,
A band of young associate men.
Your early steps are wisely taken,
Your purpose yet has been unshaken,
Pursuit of knowledge is your pride,
Let wisdom always be your guide;
Encourage love of learning, till
None shall be left untaught, then will
Each youth have cause to bless again,
The band of young associate men.

Throw open
wide your spacious halls,
Within be heard the free foot-falls
Of poor and laboring youth, there first
Find means to quench the knowledge thirst.
May all be numbered in your ranks,
Received with welcome, bringing thanks,
And millions bless the moment when

They joined the young associate men!

Military Heroism.-In the course of that melee, many feats of gallantry were performed; indeed the enemy's loss in killed and wounded was far greater than ours, inasmuch as not fewer than fifty, belonging to the latter class, were brought to the hospital of which we became inmates. But there was one man in particular, who died so nobly that I feel myself bound, as an act of justice to his memory, to speak of him. His name was Wilson. I saw him engaged hand to hand with a French Dragoon, I saw him-for I was by this time disabled by a severe wound, and stretched at length beside others of my suffering comrades-give and receive more than one pass, with equal skill and courage. Just then a French officer stooping over the body of one of his wounded countrymen, who dropped at the instant on his horses neck, delivered a thrust at poor Harry Wilson's body; and delivered it effectually. I firmly believe that Wilson died on the instant: yet though he felt the sword in its progress, he, with characteristic self command, kept his eye still on the enemy in his front; and raising himself in his stirrups, let fall upon the Frenchman's helmet such a blow, that brass and skull parted before it, and the man's head was cloven asunder to the chin. It was the most tremendous blow I ever beheld struck, and both he who gave and his opponent who received it dropped dead together. The brass helmet was afterwards examined by order of the French officer, who, as well as myself, was astonished at the exploit; and the cut was found to be as clean as if the sword had gone through a turnip, not so much as a dint left on either side.-United Service Journal.

An Old Man's Recollections.

the coffin lid, I observed my friend to shudder, and when the grave hid it from his view, he sunk on the ground in a state of insensibility. He was carried to his dwelling, and I was well aware that death would ere long possess himself of another victim. Every day I watched his countenance as he grew paler and paler, and I knew I must soon lose the friend of my youth. One evening, about a month after I had seen the tomb close upon his destined wife, I went to see him; his chamber was darkened, but a solitary lamp shed its feeble light around and showed, his pale features, on which the damps of death were fast settling. At my approach a faint smile illuminated his countenance, but his speech had failed. I sat and watched him. The recollection of the many blissful hours we had spent together, sprung up in my mind, and pierced my heart

agony.

A short time since and his bosom danced

- he cast

To the eye of the youthful, when the feelings of the heart are unchecked, and fancy revels among her most fragrant flowers, the world rises to view, surrounded with all her dazzling colors. But too often he is called to mourn over joys desolated, and too often the young heart blighted in its spring, sinks a victim to an untimely grave. Such is man: building his happiness upon the most unstable foundations, the slightest accident may crumble the base, and strew his hopes around in melancholy devastation. Life, like a summer sea, lays, to the unpractised eye, in all its azure screnity- the golden beams of pleasure dance upon its surface, and the bark of happiness floats along in peace and tranquility. But the blast soon arrives; the wave lifts its crested breast; the clouds of misery frown around, and with the frail bark is tossed and dashed against the rocks of with life and hope, now he was fast sinking in the emdespair. James was the playmate of my childhood and the friend of my youth. Endowed with the brace of death. A low murmer from my friend interbrightest genius and a noble heart, "none knew him rupted my meditations, and I stepped to his bed-side. but to love him, or named him but to praise." There He motioned me to raise him up in my armsare recollections which never fade away, but brighten his eyes upon me, but they were dimmed, and as I the heart and shed their sunshine influence on the past. | lifted his head, with a faint sigh he breathed his last. In the cloudless days of joy and happiness, when the soul rejoices in the orient ray of being, the friendships which are formed are never forgotten. Though years have rolled away since I saw thee, my friend, laid cold on the bed of death; yet memory still dwells upon thy virtues, and my heart still cherishes thy remembrance. How often have we pursued the sports of our child-heart beat with an agony too deep for words. And hood and wandered together, to inhale the balmy breath of morn, and watch the last gleam of a dying sunset. He was kind and affectionate. Thus passed our days of childhood. The world, which we had seen as it were at a distance, now appeared before us, and the rainbow of happiness spread its radiant arch to our delighted eyes. My friend thought with all the fire of genius, and his imagination pictured out scenes which were never to be realized. The rosy tie of love bound his heart with one who possessed feelings as susceptible as his own. With one, how beautiful! He loved she smiled on him - and his heaven was cloudless. The bridal day was fixed, and the breast of my friend already glowed with the thoughts of happiness. I saw her a short time before the marriage tie was to bind them together, and never shall her image fade from my memory. Anticipating her as the wife of my friend, I felt the warmest sentiments of admiration.

Obliged to leave them for a few days, I set out on my journey, in the hope that on my return I should find them united. My business being transacted, I returned, full with the prospect of seeing the friend of my youth joyful and happy. As I approached the dwelling, the deepest silence reigned around. I heard a soft low sob of grief; the door was opened, and I saw the lovely being laying motionless in death, and over her bent the form of my friend. I advanced towards him, but he heeded me not; I spoke to him, but he was silent. He stood, his hands locked, and his eye fixed upon her face, now so pale and death-like. As the coffin was raised I joined the procession in order that I might follow to the grave the remains of her who was once so beautiful and lovely. As the clods rattled on

The sun was sinking in the west, and throwing his farewell beams upon nature, as I followed the form of my friend to the narrow house appointed for all. A few scattered clouds floated on the horizon, and an air of tranquility was spread o'er the landscape. As I saw the coffin descending in the dark and silent grave, my

when all was finished and the mourners had departed, I threw myself upon the earth, and tears.deep and uncontrolled burst from my eyes. In the intenseness of my grief I called upon him who could no more hear; all the past thronged upon my memory, and my brain burned almost to madness. Though time has in some degree healed the wounds affliction made, yet my heart

still bleeds for him, the unfortunate, the ill-fated.

Nature.

A.

But

Nature is our benefactor and friend. It is not, however, in the fresh and bright hours of life, when pleasure wreathes its rose-buds for our brow, when a clear heaven is in our hearts that we appreciate and love her. The world-that glittering phantasmagoria of hope lies before us, bright as Eden, and we pine to enter it. We turn away from the purity and glory of nature. that world which receives its tinges from imagination is soon displayed. Truth tears asunder the glittering veil which conceals its harsh and repulsive features, the magic is gone, and we see but a gloomy scene where sin sows its tares, and death gathers his harvests. It is only when the sick soul turns away with disgust from disappointment, that nature woos us to her bosom. The linked seasons then scatter their charins for us, and a beauty we heeded not before lights each object upon which we gaze.

The lover of nature can fully appreciate the idea of Byron that "high mountains are a feeling." There is something so lofty, so magnficent in a mountain, as though the Eternal had there set His scal, that our souls enlarge as we look at it, and it seems like the christian's faith towering up towards heaven. The cloud covers

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