26 



■way is easy, and the path is open ; the landscape widens as we 

 cHrab the hill, the air is purer, and the vision more clear. This 

 great book which we call rural life, country, nature, is a beautiful 

 story which has no ending, its pages unfold ever new mysteries ; 

 the loftiest genius finds information and instruction and inspiration 

 there ; the highest intellect comes there to learn. It gives you 

 the " thoughts which lie too deep for tears," the sunshine, and the 

 glory which is brighter than the sun. In this marvellous book of 

 life, there is inscribed on every page, Excelsior ! Eternal progress 

 is the last and loftiest law of nature ; taught by the tender flowers 

 which leave the dark cold ground and seek the sweet sunshine, 

 unfolding their delicate beauty towards the heavens ; taught by 

 the trees which lift their green columns aloft, and from the top- 

 most limb that looks up at the sky, point always higher ; taught 

 by the never resting winds, which wander past the lonely moun- 

 tain peaks ; taught by the mountains, which lift away their grey 

 cliffs above the clouds, and stay their starry soaring only when 

 they have linked the earth and the sky together — until, as you 

 gaze on their aerial summits, heaven seems nearer and eternity 

 more sure. Astronomers tell us, that it is written in the won- 

 drous ordinances of heaven, that the stars shall change their 

 places in the long lapses of time. The constellations which are 

 now visible in our northern latitudes will disappear below the 

 horizon, and other stars will fill their places. Belted Orion, and the 

 white light of Sirius, and the sweet influences of the Pleiades will 

 pass away, and the Southern Cross, now seen only from the Land 

 of Palms, will arise in its mysterious beauty to shed its tender, 

 trembling radiance upon our midnight sky. Yes, even in the 

 stars, which we call fixed, there is endless change and progress. 

 Let us learn from them that highest lesson, and let us seek to 

 make our lives like the star that hasteth never — resteth never — 

 but still moves onward in its appointed way. We need not to 

 wait for another dawn, for another fife — we need not wait until 

 we pass the mountain and the river — we are on the mountain 

 now ; look up, the river is flowing noiselessly over our heads, 

 and — 



" From tlie sky serene and far, 

 A voice falls like the fallinjj; star, 

 Excelsior." 



