Lines of decay that mark our human race. Like sounds and scents of yesterday they come. The breeze that cooled my warm and youthful brow, EVENING ODE, Composed on an evening of extraordinary splendor and beauty. HAD this effulgence disappeared With flying haste, I might have sent But 'tis endued with power to stay, And sanctify one closing day, Time was when field and watery cove With modulated echoes rang, While choirs of fervent Angels sang Or ranged like stars along some sovereign height, From hill or valley, could not move Than doth this silent spectacle-the gleam- No sound is uttered,—but a deep Herds range along the mountain side; Thine is the tranquil hour, purpureal Eve! An intermingling of Heaven's pomp is spread And, if there be whom broken ties Afflict, or injuries assail, Yon hazy ridges to their eyes, Presents a glorious scale, Climbing suffused with sunny air, To stop-no record hath told where! And tempting fancy to ascend, And with immortal Spirits blend! On those bright steps that heaven-ward raise Come forth, ye drooping old men, look abroad And if some Traveler, weary of his road, And wake him with such gentle heed As may attune his soul to meet the dower Such hues from their celestial Urn This glimpse of glory, why renewed? Dread Power! whom peace and calmness serve Oh, let thy grace remind me of the light, Tis past, the visionary splendor fades, FREEDOM, AND THE MEANS OF ITS PRESERVATION. FREEDOM, in every form, of every kind, is a transcendent privilege. Freedom of mind is a glorious gift. It is a blessing beyond all price, and beyond all power of language to express. We are ready to say that no man can surpass us, and that no man can instruct us, in the unutterable sense of its value. It is a good which nothing can transcend but the use of it. That dominion in the mind, that holy retreat from violence, oppression. and wrong; that place in the soul where freedom is, with its wide and boundless range of uncontrolled thoughts, with no power to govern in it but truth and right, with no presence to be worshiped but the presence of the divinity, it is the chosen dwelling-place of our most precious thoughts. But then, it is a 'holy place,' and to be en tered with trembling. It is like the flaming Mount of old, glorious indeed, but sending out awful voices to warn the rash intruder. It is dangerous, because it is glorious. Freedom of mind, like every exalted trust, like lofty intellect, immense wealth, and vast dominion, should inspire a solicitude, care, and fidelity, proportionate to the magnitude of the trust. And so it is with the freedom of a people. Our sympathies are with it; they are with it far abroad in every land where its air is breathed, and its soil is moistened with the dews of heaven. We go along, in our enthusiasm, with those who have labored and suffered in its holy cause. Our hearts are with them, when they put on buckler and sword as its last defence. Our hearts are with them, when in the 'red field' they seal their devotion to it, in sacrifices of blood. But God forbid that what is so dearly bought, should be negligently kept. Let it be no matter of idle boast or vain parade. Let it not be celebrated with a merely childish and boisterous exultation. Those who have fought, should ponder. We cannot go along with panegyric and shout and holiday felicitations, without any consideration or sobriety. It does not become the dignity and manliness of free citizens, to look with idle admiration upon their institutions, as children do upon the show and glitter of a military parade, never considering the anarchy and distress to which it may easily be turned. These are 'childish things,' which it becomes a wise people to 'put away.' A free people must reflect, must understand their privileges, and must solemnly and virtuously resolve to preserve them, or in that fearful poise between good and evil where liberty places them, they will inevitably fall into evil, disorder, and destruction. We would lay solemn charge upon the conscience of every voter at our elections. Let him remember that he is performing the first duty of a freeman, and that God and his country demand an honest and an unprejudiced suffrage. Let him remember that if he is governed by selfish interest and passion, if he gives up his individual judgment and conscience to a party, if he listens to the bribery of any personal fear or hope, he is forsworn and perjured at the very altar of liberty. He has sold his very birthright, and he ought to be the slave in form, that he makes himself in reality, and some other man, of nobler and freer soul, albeit compelled to bow before the throne of a despot, deserves his privilege. We would address ourselves, if our words could reach them, to men who are high in office. The inquiry often presses itself on our minds, and with unfeigned solicitude, whether the distinguished men in this country are looking with a sober sense of their duty and a deep feeling of their responsibility, to the great experiment, to which they are contributing so much to bring to a happy or a fatal issue. There may be those among them to whom all talk about their duties would pass for nothing better than cant. May God deliver this country from many such! If there ever were men to whom duty should be a serious word, who should tremble at their responsibility to God and men, they are the leading statesmen, orators, and teachers, whether religious or political, of this nation. If we could address them, we would say, 'No men ever enjoyed such an opportunity as is given to you, for accomplishing the best hopes of patriotism and philanthropy. Solon, Aristides, Demosthenes, the Fabii, Cato, and Cicero, had no such materials to work with as you have in the intelligence and virtue of this free people. To all human view, the last great experiment of republican freedom that is likely to be tried for ages, is passing under your guidance. The eyes of the world are upon you. Ages that have passed in the noble strife for liberty, ages of patriot tears and blood, call upon you, and unborn generations echo the call to you, to be faithful to the solemn trust. For God's sake, and for your country's, let us say, let us intreat you, hear the call. The happiness of one family is a sacred charge. What then must be the happiness of millions through unknown periods! With these multitudes, it is not too serious to say, you must yet bow low before the seat of Almighty justice. And then, when the dazzling world, with all its splendid honors, has passed away, one word of benediction from that throne of eternal truth and honor, shall be more than all the wreaths, the titles, the offices, the distinctions, that the world can heap upon you.' In every view, indeed, that we can take of liberty and its institutions, we shall find that they press down upon the mass of the people as an individual trust; and if freedom is anything valuable, it must be by becoming an individual good. Liberty ordains no lofty titles, and builds no magnificent palaces for the exclusive possession of the few. It is a blessing for all, or it is no blessing. Its sole advantage consists in its permitting all to pursue their own good, their own happiness; and if they do not pursue it, of what avail is the |