IXX A LETTER FROM MISS BREMER. 



When I was in Cuba, I rememlDer being strongly 

 impressed with a beality of nature and existence, tff 

 which! hitherto had formed no idea, and that enlarged 

 my conceptions of the realms of nature as well as of art. 

 I remember writing of it to Mi;. Downing, sayiug (if not 

 exactly in the same words, at least' to the same pur- 

 port): 



" You must come here, my brother, you must see these 

 trees and flowers, these curves and colors, and take into 

 your soul the image of this earthly paradise, while you are 

 still on earth ; and then, when God shall caU you to that 

 other world, to be there a gardener of His own, and you 

 will have a star of yoUr own to. plant and perfect — as of 

 course you will have — ^then you wOl mingle the palifls and 

 bamboo groves of Cuba with your own American oaks and 

 elms, and -taking niodels out of the beautiful objects of all 

 nature and all climates, you wiU build houses ^.nd temples 

 of which even ' The Seven Lamps of Architecture ' give 

 but distant ideas. You wUl bmld a cathedral, where 

 every plant and every creature wUl be as a link rising 

 upwards, joining in one harmonious Apocalypse revealing 

 the glory of the Creator." 



And now, when the call has come, and my friend is 

 taken away, and much of the charm of this world is taken 

 from me with him, I solace my fancy with the vision I thps 

 anticipated. I see my friend working in some more perfect 

 world, out of more perfect matter, the ideas of beauty and 

 perfection whi<;h were lif^of his life, so to make it a fit 

 abode for pure and heavenly spirits. 



Why should it not be so .? I think it must be so, as 

 God's gifts are of immortal cost as well as the individual 

 spirit to whom they were given. Is not all that is beauti- 

 ful in nature, true and charming in art, based upon laws 



