THE MOUNTAIN FORGE. From thirty to sixty, fair, plain, red, and pale, Of every description all flocked to the sale. The auctioneer then in his labors began, And forty old maidens, some younger, some older, THE MOUNTAIN FORGE.-BY T. IRWIN. N the gloomy mountain's lap All have passed their labor-nap, Where some aged bones are aching; Lo! the moon is in the wane- By the blossomed sycamore, Filled with bees when day is o'er it, Strew the umbered ground before it, 141 142 THE MOUNTAIN FORGE. Yes, the moon is in the wane; Hark! the sound of horses tramping Through the slaty runnels crumbling, The red lamps are dimly burning. Now 'tis stopt-and one springs down, Up springs the brawny blacksmith now, Then hastens to the horses standing With drooping heads and hotly steaming, A sweet maiden, light and beaming. He strikes a lusty shoulder-blow: "Four shoes," he cries," are quickly wanting;' His face is in an eager glow. "Take my purse and all that's in its Heart, if you in twenty minutes Fit us for the road." The smith Looks at the wearied horses panting, Then at the clustering gold; And thinks, as he falls to his work, A tale to-morrow to be told. THE MOUNTAIN FORGE. But now the forge-fire spirts alive To the old bellows softly purring, In the red dot the irons dive; Brighter and broader it is glowing, Stronger and stronger swells the blowing; Now the forge is in a glow, Bellows roaring, irons ringing; Ra-ra, ra-ra, ra-ra-rap; Split the ruddy sheddings sparky, Ra-ra, ra-ra, ra-ra-rap; Strikes the quick and lifted hammer On the anvil bright and worn; With a yellow misty glamor, Looks the moon upon the corn. On the hill-road, moving nigher, "Haste, O haste!" they're working steady; Pats the pawing horses, testing On the ground their iron footing; Helps the lady, lightly-resting On his black arm up the carriage; Takes the gold with doubt and wonder-And as o'er the stones and gorses Tramp the hot pursuing horses, 143 144 NECESSITY OF RELIGION. Cries with voice of jolly thunder, "Trust me, they won't stop the marriage!" Scarce a minute's past away When, O magic scene! the village But hark! who throng again the street Flushed with dawn-light's silent warning, With a rapid right good-will; While behind that father fretting, The pale night-sick moon is setting. G NECESSITY OF RELIGION.-VICTOR HUGO. ENTLEMEN, it is not because I would prevent religious instruction, but because I would prevent the union of Church and State, that I oppose this bill. So far from wishing to proscribe religious instruction, I maintain that it is more essential at this day than ever. The more a man grows, the more he ought to believe. As he draws nearer to God, the better ought he to recognize His existence. It is the wretched tendency of our times to base all calculations, all efforts, on this life only,—to crowd everything into this narrow span. In limiting man's end and aim to this terrestrial and material existence, we aggravate all his miseries by the terrible negation at its close. We add to the burthens of the unfortunate the insupportable weight of a hopeless hereafter. God's law of suffering we convert, by our unbelief, into hell's law of despair. Hence these deplorable social convulsions. That I am one of those who desire-I will not say with sincerity merely, but with inexpressible ardor, and by all possible means of NECESSITY OF RELIGION. 145 But the first and How do our finite -to ameliorate the material condition of the suffering classes in this life, no one in this Assembly will doubt. greatest of ameliorations is to impart hope. miseries dwindle in the presence of an infinite hope! Our first duty, then, whether we be clergymen or laymen, bishops or legislators, priests or writers, is not merely to direct all our social energies to the abatement of physical misery, but, at the same time, to lift every drooping head toward Heaven-to fix the attention and the faith every human soul on that ulterior life, where justice shall preside, where justice shall be awarded! Let us proclaim it aloud to all, No one shall unjustly or needlessly suffer! Death is restitution: The law of the material world is gravitation; of the moral world, equity. At the end of all, re-appears God. Let us not forgetlet us everywhere teach it-There would be no dignity in life, it would not be worth the holding, if in death we wholly perish. All that lightens labor and sanctifies toil,--all that renders man brave, good, wise, patient, benevolent, just, humble, and, at the same time, great, worthy of intelligence, worthy of liberty,—is to have perpetually before him the vision of a better world, darting its rays of celestial splendor through the dark shadows of this present life. For myself, since chance will have it that words of such gravity should at this time fall from lips of such little authority, let me be permitted here to say, and to proclaim from the elevation of this tribune, that I believe, that I most profoundly and reverently believe, in that better world. It is to me more real, more substantial, more positive in its effects, than this evanescence which we cling to and call life. It is unceasingly before my eyes. I believe in it with all the strength of my convictions; and, after many struggles and much study and experience, it is the supreme certainty of my reason, as it is the supreme consolation of my soul! I desire, therefore, most sincerely, strenuously, and fervently, that there should be religious instruction; but let it be the instruction of the Gospel, and not of a party. Let it be sincere, not hypocritical. Let it have heaven, not earth, for its end! |