Etc. [pp. 478-483]

ETC.
profound quiet fell upon the grove; a newing each intonation, in its dialect of
lull, such as you may remember to have joy, like an orchestra that swells to enfelt upon the verge of a coming tem- thusiasm at the moment when the solopest, or in that slumber of the gale which ist has ravished every ear.
resembles the interval of glassy water The young theologian, melted to the
between two towering billows; and the very heart, recalls these words: "'There
whole landscape lay infolded in an in- is no speech nor language where their
stant's uttermost repose-like some voice is not heard. Their line is gone
panting human breast, in the brief in- out into all the earth, and their words to
terval between troubled waking memo- the end of the world."
ries and troublous phantoms of a dream. The song had also awakened respondThe entire scene fell off, an instant, into ing sounds in the distance, that might
such a stillness, that the leaf, ready to be the stanzas of the sunset hymn, in
drop, seemed to check its flutterings, Ultrawa; and, as theuntranslated words
lest it should break the calm. were flung forward into space, Bendle It was but a moment's tension. Then, ton thought that he distinguished among
as the last cadence of the child's anthem them the undying, universal ascription,
triumphed in the atmosphere, the spirit "Hallelujah!"
of the material sphere appeared to draw Nevertheless, he could not be cera long breath of ecstasy, and throb tain of it; and so he rode on, as in a
again at every fibre of pulsation-re- dream.
ETC.
IT was a rare treat to hear Professor Agassiz deliver his lecture on the forms and divisions of animal life, from polyp to man, trace
wvith admirable clearness and precision the
law of evolution, and ascribe to a creative
mind, beneficent and loving, the ideas which
are manifested in the progressive scale of
being. While the matter was not new to
the more intelligent of his hearers, it was
freshened even to them, by his delivery and
illustration; by that compact and perspicuous expression which comes from perfect mastery of the subject; by the glow of that noble enthusiasm which has found in the study
of Nature the sufficient motive of a long and
busy career; and by the eloquent appeal
with which he concluded in behalf of scientific culture in this new community. Many
of his audience had never before listened to
a great platform-lecturer on science, and will
probably date from that evening a perception
that there is something in the world more
wonderful and worthy than the sordid cares
which make it so wretched. Here was a
man, who had never found time to make
money, telling those who had made money
their grand aim, that intellectual culture in
its highest forms could not be neglected without the penalty that overtook Carthage. His
contrast between the fate of this city, above
whose ruins survives nothing but the memory
of barren commercial success, and that of
Athens, whose philosophy, letters, and art
make her still the pride and teacher of mankind, recalled the words of Plato, who declared that the Phcenicians boasted of their
wealth, the Greeks of their knowledge. We
almost expected that he would quote from
"The Apology" these words, which Plato
puts in the mouth of Socrates: "O0, my
friend, why do you, who are a citizen of the
great and mighty and wise city of Athens,
care so much about laying up the greatest
amount of money, and honor, and reputation,
478
[Nov.