The whole
scene was warmed with the equal brightness of the natural and the
human sun. Beauty was in the sky, and its semblance, at least, was
on the earth. God was in the heavens, and in his presence could
there be other than peace and harmony among men!
"How beautiful!" exclaimed the elder of our travellers--"could
anything be more so! How pure, how peaceful! See, Warham, how
soft, how spirit-like, that light lies along the hill-side, and
how distinct, yet how delicate, is the train which glides from it
down the valley, even to the white dwellings at its bottom, from which
it seems to shrink and tremble as if half conscious of intrusion.
And yet the picture below is kindred with it. That, now, is a scene
that I delight in--it is a constant picture in my mind. There is
peace in that valley, if there be peace anywhere on earth. The old
men sit before the door, and contemplate with mingled feelings of
pride and pleasure, the vigorous growth of their children. They
behold in them their own immortality, even upon earth. The young
will preserve their memories, and transmit their names to other
children yet unborn; and how must such a reflection reconcile them
to their own time of departure, not unfitly shown in the last smiles
of that sunlight, which they are so soon about to lose.
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