ANCIENT BABYLON. 
65 
To tlie utmost has this fearful prophecy been fulfilled : Baby- 
lon has been destroyed ; the cruelties with which she visited Je- 
rusalem were repaid her in full by the awful justice of the Al- 
mighty, and the happy fame of her Persian conqueror has long 
been firmly fixed in history. What subhme, prophetic power in 
those simple words — ''who art to be destroyed" — when ad- 
dressed by the weeping captive to the mighty city, then in the 
height of her power and her pride ! That destruction has long 
since been complete ; Babylon is wasted indeed ; and we learn with 
interest from the traveller, that beside her shapeless ruins, stand 
the " gray ozier willows, on which the captives of Israel hung up 
their harps;" mute and humble witnesses of the surrounding 
desolation. 
Wednesday, Sd. — Pleasant walk on the open hill-side. Sweet, 
quiet day ; if the leaves were out, they would not stir, for the 
winds are all asleep. Walking over pasture-ground, we did not 
find many flowers : only a few violets here and there, and some 
young strawberry flowers, the first fruit-bearing blossom of the 
year. The fern is coming up, its woolly heads just appearing 
above ground, the broad frond closely rolled within ; presently the 
down will grow darker, and the leaves begin to uncurl. The 
humming-birds, and some of the many warblers, use the wool of 
the young fern-stalks to line their nests. 
The valley looked pleasantly from the hill-side this afternoon ; 
the wheat-fields are now very brilliant in their verdure, some of 
a golden green, others of a deeper shade. Nearly half the fields 
are ploughed this season, and the farms look like new-made gar- 
dens. As we stood on the quiet, open down, a SAveet song, from 
a solitary bird, broke the stillness charmingly : it came from the 
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