202 STUDIES IN THE FIELD AND FOREST. 



The babbling echoes, that in deserts rude, 

 Delight to cheer the silent solitude 

 With voices, are her daughters. Creeping things, 

 That cherup from the hedges and the springs ; 

 The feathered warblers of the grove ; the leaves,. 

 That murmur when the rustling zephyr heaves. 

 Are her peculiar charge. At eventide, 

 If you go forth along the green hill-side. 

 You then will feel her presence, and confess 

 Her power to add to nature's loveliness. 



But there is still a loftier power, who sprang 



From heaven, when first the stars of morning sang 



Rejoicings, as the Ruler of the spheres 



Apportioned time in seasons, days, and years ; 



Her name Sublimity — the skies her throne — 



Her dwelling-place unfathomed and unknown ! 



The blue serene of heaven she studs with stars, 



And rolls the meteors in their fiery cars. 



She loves to pause where mighty torrents dash 



Down deep abysses ; where the billows' crash 



Is heard upon some lonely rock-bound coast, 



And moaning winds tell tales of vessels wrecked and lost; 



Where mountains rear their summits, lightnings flare, 



And northern lights emit their lurid glare. 



She holds dominion o'er the boundless deep. 



When waves are dashed on high, or when they calmly 



sleep. 

 Hers are the prairies and the seas, where space 

 Is limitless, and where the plains embrace 

 The circling skies. She lends a needful aid 

 To Beauty's mild creations ; thus displayed. 

 Each gives to each a more enlivening power. 

 As moonlight beautifies the solemn midnight hour. 



