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254 SUNRISE. 



long-lost wanderer of the heavens with loud demon- 

 strations of joy. 



And now we were bathing in the atmosphere of 

 other days. The friend of all hopeful associations had 

 come back again to put a new glow into our hearts. 

 He had returned after an absence of one hundred and 

 twenty-six days to revive a slumbering world ; and as 

 I looked upon his face again, after this long interval, 

 1 did not wonder that there should be men to bow the 

 knee and worship him and proclaim him " The eye of 

 God." The parent of light and life everywhere, he is 

 the same within these solitudes. The germ awaits 

 him here as in the Orient ; but there it rests only 

 through the short hours of a summer night, while 

 here it reposes for months under a sheet of snows. 

 But after a while the bright sun will tear this sheet 

 asunder, and will tumble it in gushing fountains to 

 the sea, and will kiss the cold earth, and give it 

 warmth and life ; and the flowers will bud and bloom, 

 and will turn their tiny faces smilingly and gratefully 

 up to him, as he wanders over these ancient hills 

 in the long summer. The very glaciers will weep 

 tears of joy at his coming. The ice will loose its 

 iron grip upon the waters, and will let the wild waves 

 play in freedom. The reindeer will skip gleefully 

 over the mountains to welcome his return, and will 

 look longingly to him for the green pastures. The 

 sea-fowls, knowing that he will give them a resting- 

 place for their feet on the rocky islands, will come to 

 seek the moss-beds which he spreads for their nests ; 

 and the sparrows will come on his life-giving rays, and 

 will sing their love songs through the endless day. 



