1. ALL Nature speaks in music,--every tone A jarring discord mid her thousand strings, One note that chimes not with the hymn she sings, 'Tis man that strikes the chord and mars the key.— Then, o'er the mountains shall that sun arise Which sees no strife, and hears no bitter voice LESSON CLXI. FORMER AND PRESENT CONDITION OF NEW YORK. BANCROFT. 1. SOMBER forests shed a melancholy grandeur over the useless magnificence of nature, and hid in their deep shades the rich soil which the sun had never warmed. No ax had leveled the giant progeny of the crowded groves, in which the fantastic forms of withered limbs, that had been blasted and riven by lightning, contrasted strangely with the verdant freshness of a younger growth of branches. The wanton grapevine, seeming by its own power to have sprung from the earth, and to have fastened its leafy coils on the top of the tallest forest tree, swung in the air with every breeze, like the loosened shrouds of a ship. 2. Trees might every where be seen breaking from their root in the marshy soil, and threatening to fall with the first rude gust; while the ground was strewn with the ruins of former forests, over which a profusion of wild flowers wasted their freshness in mockery of the gloom. Reptiles sported in the stagnant pools, or crawled unharmed over piles of moldering trees. The spotted deer crouched among the thickets; but not to hide; for there was no pursuer; and there was none but wild animals to crop the uncut herbage of the productive prairies. 3. Silence reigned, broken, it may have been, by the flight of land-birds or the flapping of water-fowls, and rendered more dismal by the howl of beasts of prey. The streams, not yet limited to a channel, spread over sand-bars, tufted with copses of willow, or waded through wastes of reeds. The smaller brooks spread out into sedgy swamps that were overhung by clouds of musketoes; masses of decaying vegetation fed the exhalations with the seeds, of pestilence, and made the balmy air of the summer's evening as deadly as it seemed grateful. Vegetable life and death were mingled hideously together. The horrors of corruption frowned on the fruitless fertility of uncultivated nature. 4. And man, the occupant of the soil, was wild as the savage scene, in harmony with the rude nature, by which he was surrounded; a vagrant over the continent, in constant warfare with his fellow-man; the bark of the birch his canoe; strings of shells his ornaments, his record, and his coin; the roots of the forest among his resources for food; his knowledge in architecture surpassed both in strength and durability by the skill of the beaver; drifts of forest-leaves his couch; mats of bulrushes his protection against the winter's cold; his religion the adoration of nature; his morals the promptings of undisciplined instinct; disputing with the wolves and bears the lordship of the soil, and dividing with the squirrel the wild fruits, with which the universal woodland abounded. 5. How changed is the scene from that, on which Hudson gazed! The earth glows with the colors of civilization; the banks of the streams are enameled with richest grasses; woodlands and cultivated fields are harmoniously blended; the birds of spring find their delight in orchards and gardens, variegated with choicest plants from every temperate zone; while the brilliant flowers of the tropics bloom from the windows of the green-house and the saloon. 6. The yeoman, living like a good neighbor near the fields he cultivates, glories in the fruitfulness of the valleys, and counts with honest exultation the flocks and herds that graze In safety on the hills. The thorn has given way to the rosebush; the cultivated vine clambers over rocks where the brood of serpents used to nestle; while industry smiles at the changes she has wrought, and inhales the bland air which now has health on its wings. 7. Man is still in harmony with nature, which he has subdued, cultivated, and adorned. For him the rivers that flow to remotest climes, mingle their waters; for him the lakes gain new outlets to the ocean; for him the arch spans the flood, and science spreads iron pathways to the recent wilderness; for him the hills yield up the shining marble and the enduring granite; for him the forests of the interior come down in immense rafts; for him the marts of the city gather the produce of every clime, and libraries collect the works of genius of every language and every age. 8. The passions of society are chastened into purity; manners are made benevolent by civilization; and the virtue of the country is the guardian of its peace. An active daily press, vigilant from party interests, free even to dissoluteness, watches the progress of society, and communicates every fact that can interest humanity; the genius of letters begins to unfold his powers in the warm sunshine of public favor. And while idle curiosity may take its walk in shady avenues by the ocean side, commerce pushes its wharves into the sea, blocks up the wide rivers with its fleets, and, sending its ships, the pride of naval architecture, to every clime, defies every wind, outrides every tempest, and invades every zone. LESSON CLXII. NOTE. To read or speak the following poetry intelligibly, will be found no less difficult than to analyze it grammatically. The utterance requires a distinct and marked emphasis in order fully to express the sentiment. Previous to reading or speaking it, it should be studied with care and attention, in order clearly to comprehend the sentiment. PHILOSOPHY. 1. EFFUSIVE source of evidence and truth! A luster shedding o'er the ennobled mind, THOMPSON. Hence through her nourished powers, enlarged by thee, That bind the fluttering crowd; and, angel-winged, Obvious, or more remote, with livelier sense, 2. Without thee, what were unenlightened man? And elegance of life. Nor happiness And woes on woes, a still-revolving train, 3. Nor to this evanescent speck of earth 4. But here the cloud, So wills Eternal Providence, sits deep. By boundless love and perfect wisdom formed, |