Arouse thee, Soul! O there is much to do For thee if thou wouldst work for human kind— The misty Future through, A greatness looms-'tis mind, awakened mind! Arouse thee, Soul! Shake off thy sluggishness, As shakes the lark the dew-drop from its wing; One truth-thine offering to mind's altar bring! Arouse thee, Soul! Bo what thou surely art, An emanation from the Deity, A flutter of that heart, Which fills all nature, sea and earth and sky. Arouse thee, Soul! And let the body do Some worthy deed for human happiness To join, when life is through; Unto thy name, that angels both may bless! Arouse thee, Soul! Arouse thee, Soul! Leave nothings of the earth ; And if the body be not strong, to dare To blessed thoughts give birth, High as yon Heaven, pure as Heaven's air, Arouse thee, Soul! Arouse thee, Soul! Cr sleep for evermore, And be what all nonentities have beenCrawl on till life is o'er: If to be ought but this thou e'er dost mean, Arouse thee, Soul! NICOLL POEMS OF THE SEA AND THE SAILOR. I. NAPOLEON AND THE YOUNG ENGLISH SAILOR. "THE history of Napoleon, shows a spirit of self-exaggeration, unrivalled in enlightened ages, and which reminds us of an Oriental king to whom incense had been burnt from his birth as to a deity. This was the chief source of his crimes. He wanted the sentiment of a common nature with his fellow-beings. He had no sympathies with his race. That feeling of brotherhood, which is developed in truly great souls with peculiar energy, and through which they give up themselves willing victims, joyful sacrifices, to the interests of mankind, was wholly unknown to him. His heart, amidst its wild beatings, never had a throb of disinterested love. The ties which bind man to man he broke asunder. The proper happiness of a man, which consists in the victory of moral energy and social affection over the selfish passions, he cast away for the lonely joy of a despot. With powers, which might have made him a glorious representative and minister of the beneficent Divinity, and with natural sensibilities which might have been exalted into sublime virtues, he chose to separate himself from his kind, to forego their love, esteem, and gratitude, that he might become their gaze, their fear, their wonder; and for this selfish solitary good, parted with peace and imperishable renown."- Channing, I LOVE Contemplating-apart "Twas when his banners at Boulogne, They suffered him, I know not how, L His eye, methinks, pursued the flight A stormy midnight watch, he thought, To England nearer. At last, when care had banished sleep, He hid it in a cave, and wrought Oh dear me! 'twas a thing beyond For ploughing in the salt sea field, From neighbouring woods he interlaced A French guard caught him on the beach, Till tidings of him chanced to reach With folded arms Napoleon stood, "Rash youth, that wouldst yon channel pass On twigs and staves so rudely fashioned, THE SAILOR-BOY'S GOSSIP. "I have no sweetheart," said the lad; "And so thou shalt," Napoleon said, He gave the tar a piece of gold, And, with a flag of truce, commanded Our sailor oft could scantly shift CAMPBELL. 147 II. THE SAILOR-BOY'S GOSSIP. "Ir man could have been made to know that his existence depended upon certain acquisitions of knowledge, without any love of the knowledge itself, he might, perhaps, have made the acquisition that was believed to be so important. But to learn, if there had been no curiosity or pleasure in learning, would then have been a task; and like other mere tasks would probably have been imperfectly executed. Something would have been neglected altogether, or very inaccurately examined, the accurate knowledge of which might have been essential to life itself. Nature, by the constitution which she has given us, has attained the same end, and attained it without leaving to us the possibility of failure. She has given us the desire of knowing what it is of importance for us to know; she has made the knowledge delightful in itself; she has made it painful to us to know imperfectly. There is no task, therefore, imposed on us. In executing her benevolent will, we have only to gratify one of the strongest of our passions, to learn with delight what it is salutary to have learned, and to derive thus a sort of double happiness from the wisdom which we acquire, and from the very effort by which we acquire it. '-Brown's Philosophy. You say, dear Mamma, it is good to be talking And I think I have learnt something while I was walking He told me of lands where he soon will be going, Where humming-birds scarcely are bigger than bees, He told me that islands far out in the ocean That insects could work in the way that he said. He spoke of wide deserts where the sand-clouds are flying, No shade for the brow, and no grass for the feet; Where camels and travellers often lie dying, Gasping for water and scorching with heat. He told me of places away in the East, Where topaz, and ruby, and sapphire are found; Where you never are safe from the snake and the beast, For the serpent, and tiger, and jackal abound. He declared he had gazed on a very high mountain, I thought our own Thames was a very great stream, To those he has sailed on, three thousand miles long! He spoke, dear Mamma, of so many strange places, Who wear skins on their shoulders and paint on their faces, He told me of waters, whose wonderful falling Sends clouds of white foam and a thundering sound, Oh! I long, dear Mamma, to learn more of these stories ELIZA COOK. |