MOUNT TAHAWUS. 7 



fallow flashes up in the darkness, and the cry of the 

 boding owl comes like a voice of warning on the ear. 

 How, under the influences of such a scene, the heart 

 throws ofi* link after link of its bondage, and the soul 

 loses its sternness and fierce excitement, and becomes 

 subdued as a child's 1 The man sinks before the early 

 dreamer, and dear associations come thronging back 

 on the staggering memory like sad angels, and the 

 spirit reaches forth its arms after the good and the 

 true. At least it is so with me ; and the presence of 

 nature changes me so that I scarcely know myself. 

 A new class of feelings and emotions is awakened 

 within me — new hopes and new resolutions spring to 

 birth. I think more of that unseen world towards 

 which I am so rapidly borne, and of the mysteries of 

 the life that surrounds me. In New York, life is all 

 practical and outward. Action^ action, action is the 

 constant cry, and action it is till thought gets fright- 

 ened away. 



Ice-cream saloons — crowds on crowds of prome- 

 naders — the rattle of wheels — the ringing of the fire 

 bells, and one continuous roar rising like the sea over 

 all, are the contrasts your city now presents to the 

 scene I have been describing. The night closes over 

 haunts of vice, dens of infamy, the gambling house, 

 and the drunken revel. Behold how peacefully it here 

 shuts down over the forest, where the wild bird has 

 gone to sleep beside its mate, and not a restless un- 

 holy spirit is abroad ! 



And then the morning — how difi'erent! The morn- 

 ing in New York is always associated in my mind 



