292 THE BEAUTIFUL LADDER. 
‘ When day, with farewell beam, delays 
Among the opening clouds of even, 
And we can almost think we gaze 
Through golden vistas into heaven. 
Those hues that mark the sun’s decline. 
So soft, so radiant. Lord, are thine!’ 
^‘When the dark and damp hours of night 
have hung gloomily over the earth, and the 
longing thoughts reach forward for the return 
of light, how greatly is the blessing enhanced 
by the radiance which overspreads the east as 
the herald of its coming ! What an entrancing 
spectacle, to watch the transition from darkness 
to the full blaze of morning—first the earliest 
rosy tintings, then passing into soft silvery rays, 
growing brighter and brighter, longer and long¬ 
er, until every shadow flees away and the whole 
landscape is glowing in the full refulgence of 
day! No wonder that at such a transition bird¬ 
songs fill the air with melody, the voices of 
flocks and herds have a cheerful tone, and the 
joyful whistle of the swain is heard as he 
‘drives his team afield,’ while 
‘The milkmaid singeth blithely. 
And the mower whets his scythe.’ 
“ The brightness of the morning gives place 
