THE WIDOW OF NAIN.-N. P. WILLIS. The Roman sentinel stood helm'd and tall Of some poor mendicant, he raised his head And slumberously dozed on. 'Twas now high noon. The dull, low murmur of a funeral Went through the city-the sad sound of feet And by the crowd that in the burning sun, The only tie she had in the wide world, Jesus drew near to Nain as from the gate Nor wash his feet in Kishon's silver springs, Forth from the city-gate the pitying crowd 66 Weep not!" he said; and as they stay'd the bier, And at his bidding laid it at his feet, He gently drew the pall from out her grasp, SPRING IN RAVENNA.-LEIGH HUNT. The sun is up, and 't is a morn of May, A balmy briskness comes upon the breeze; 'Tis Nature, full of spirits, waked and springing :— And the far ships, lifting their sails of white Come gleaming up, true to the wish'd-for day, And chase the whistling brine, and swirl into the bay TO A WATERFOWL.-WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. Whither, 'midst falling dew, While glow the heavens with the last steps of day, Vainly the fowler's eye Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong, Seek'st thou the plashy brink Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide, There is a power whose care Teaches thy way along that pathless coast,- Lone wandering, but not lost. All day thy wings have fann'd At that far height, the cold, thin atmosphere, And soon that toil shall end; Soon shalt thou find a summer home, and rest, Thou 'rt gone, the abyss of heaven Hath swallow'd up thy form; yet, on my heart He who, from zone to zone, Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight, THE FALLS OF NIAGARA.-JOHN HOWISON. Now that I propose to attempt a description of the Falls of Niagara, I feel myself threatened with a return of those throbs of trembling expectation which agitated me on my first visit to those stupendous cataracts; and to which every person of the least sensibility is liable, when he is on the eve of seeing any thing that has strongly excited his curiosity, or powerfully af fected his imagination. The form of Niagara Falls is that of an irregular semicircle, about three-quarters of a mile in extent. This is divided into two distinct cascades, by the intervention of Goat Island, the extremity of which is perpendicular, and in a line with the precipice over which the water is projected. The cataract on the Canada side of the river is called the Horseshoe or Great Fall, from its peculiar form, and that next the United States, the American Fall. The Table Rock, from which the Falls of Niagara may be contemplated in all their grandeur, lies on an exact level with the edge of the cataract on the Canada side, and, indeed, forms a part of the precipice over which the water gushes. It derives its name from the circumstance of its projecting beyond the cliffs that support it, like the leaf of a table. To gain this position, it is necessary to descend a steep bank, and to follow a path that winds among shrubbery and trees, which entirely conceal from the eye the scene that awaits him who traverses it. When near the termination of this road, a few steps carried me beyond all these obstructions, and a magnificent amphitheatre of cataracts bursts upon my view with appalling suddenness and majesty. However, in a moment the scene was concealed from my eyes by a dense cloud of spray, which involved me so completely that I did not dare to extricate myself. A mingled rushing and thundering filled my ears. I could see nothing except when the wind made a chasm in the spray, and then tremendous cataracts seemed to encompass me on every side; while below, a raging and foamy gulf of undiscoverable extent lashed the rocks with its hissing waves, and swallowed, under a horrible obscurity, the smoking floods that were precipitated into its bosom. A At first the sky was obscured by clouds; but after a few minutes the sun burst forth, and the breeze subsiding at the same time, permitted the spray to ascend perpendicularly. host of pyramidal clouds rose majestically, one after another, from the abyss at the bottom of the fall; and each, when it had ascended a little above the edge of the cataract, displayed a beautiful rainbow, which in a few moments was gradually transferred into the bosom of the cloud that immediately succeeded. The spray of the Great Fall had extended itself through a wide space directly over me, and, receiving the full influence of the sun, exhibited a luminous and magnificent rainbow, which continued to overarch and irradiate the spot on which I stood, while I enthusiastically contemplated the indescribable scene. The body of water which composes the middle part of the Great Fall is so immense that it descends nearly two-thirds of the space without being ruffled or broken; and the solemn calmness with which it rolls over the edge of the precipice is finely contrasted with the perturbed appearance it assumes after having reached the gulf below. But the water toward each side of the fall is shattered the moment it drops over the rock, and loses as it descends, in a great measure, the character of a fluid, being divided into pyramidal-shaped fragments, the bases of which are turned upwards. The surface of the gulf below the cataract presents a very singular aspect; seeming, as it were, filled with an immense quantity of hoar frost, which is agitated by small and rapid undulations. The particles of water are dazzlingly white, and do not apparently unite together, as might be supposed, but seem to continue for a time in a state of distinct comminution, and to repel each other with a thrilling and shivering motion which cannot easily be described. The noise made by the Horseshoe Fall, though very great, is far less than might be expected, and varies in loudness according to the state of the atmosphere. When the weather is clear and frosty, it may be distinctly heard at the distance of ten or twelve miles-nay, much farther when there is a steady breeze; but I have frequently stood upon the declivity of the high bank |