rain, the sight of bright red, bright blue, and other gaudily plumaged birds, of the brilliant humming bird, and of innumerable fireflies, that at night appear like the reflection upon earth of the stars shining above them in the heavens, would almost persuade the emigrant that he was living in the tropics. As autumn approaches, the various trees of the forest assume hues of every shade of red, yellow, and brown, of the most vivid description. The air gradually becomes a healthful mixture of sunshine and frost, and the golden sunsets are so many glorious assemblages of clouds, some like mountains of white wool, others of the darkest hues, and of broad rays of yellow, of crimson, and of golden light, which, without intermixing, radiate upwards to a great height from the point of the horizon, at which the deep-red luminary is about to disappear. As the winter approaches, the cold daily strengthens, and before the branches of the trees and the surface of the country become white, every living being seems to become sensible of the temperature that is about to arrive. The gaudy birds, humming birds, and fireflies, depart first; then follow the pigeons; the wild fowl fly away to the lakes, until scarcely a bird remains to be seen in the forest. Several of the animals seek refuge in warmer regions; and even the shaggy bear, whose coat seems warm enough to resist any degree of cold, instinctively looks out in time for a hollow tree, into which he may leisurely climb, to hang in it during the winter as inanimate as a flitch of bacon from the ceiling of an English farm house; and even many fishes make their deep water arrangements for not coming to the surface of the rivers and harbors during the period they are covered with ice. Notwithstanding the cheerful brightness of the winter's sun, I always felt that there was something indescribably appalling in all these precautions of beasts, birds, and fishes; and yet it is with pride that one observes that, while the birds of the air and the beasts of the field, one after another, are seen retreating before the approaching winter, like women and children before an advancing army, the Anglo-Saxon race stand firm; and indeed they are quite right to do so, inasmuch as when the winter does arrive, it turns out to be a season of hilarity and healthful enjoyment. Not only is the whole surface of the ground, including roads and paths of every description, beautifully macadamized with a covering of snow, over which every man's horse, with tinkling bells, can draw him and his family in a sleigh, but every harbor becomes a national play-ground to ride on, and every river an arterial road to travel on. In all directions running water congeals. The mill wheel becomes covered with a frozen torrent, in which it remains as in a glass case; and I have even seen small waterfalls begin to freeze on both sides, until the cataract, arrested in its fall by the power of heaven, is converted for the season into a solid mirror. Although the temperature of the water in the great lakes is very far below freezing, yet the restless air, and the rise and fall of the waves, prevent their congelation. As a trifling instance, however, of their disposition to do so, I may mention that, during the two winters I was at Toronto, I made it a rule, from which I never departed, to walk every morning to the end of a long wooden pier, that ran out into the unfrozen waters of the lake. In windy weather, and during extreme cold, the water, in dashing against this work, rose in the air; but before it could reach me it often froze, and thus, without wetting my cloak, the drops of ice used to fall harmless at my feet. But although the great lake, for want of a moment's tranquillity, cannot congeal, yet, for hundreds of miles along its shores, the waves, as they break on the ground, instantly freeze; and this operation continuing by night as well as by day, the quiet shingled beach is converted throughout its length into high, sharp, jagged rocks of ice, over which it is occasionally difficult to climb. LXVIII.-THE FERRY. UHLAND. [JOHANN LUDWIG UHLAND was born in Tubingen, April 26, 1787. Among the living poets of Germany, he holds a very high, perhaps the highest, place. He has written dramas, balk is, odes, and lyrical pieces. But few of his poems have been translated into Engli, and these have a dreamy and spiritual beauty, and much tenderness of feeling.] MANY a year is in its grave Since I crossed this restless wave; Then in this same boat beside One on earth in silence wrought, So whene'er I turn my eye Saddening thoughts of friends come o'er me But what binds us, friend to friend, Take, O boatman, thrice thy fee; For, invisible to thee, Spirits twain have crossed with me. LXIX. THE SHIP OF HEAVEN. SOUTHEY. [From The Curse of Kehama, a poem illustrating the Hindoo mythology.] THEN in the ship of heaven Ereenia * laid The ship of heaven, instinct with thought, displayed The clouds of morn along its path divide; That bark, in shape, was like the furrowed shell, An angel's head, with visual eye, Through air and sunshine sails the ship of heaven. * Ereenia is a Glendoveer, the most beautiful of the good spirits. He is commissioned to bear Kailyal, a pure and beautiful maiden, to Swerga, one of the Hindoo heavens. Recumbent there, the maiden glides along How swift she feels not, though the swiftest wind Feeling no fear; for that ethereal air With such new life and joyance filled her heart, Fear could not enter there; For sure she deemed her mortal part was o'er, And she was sailing to the heavenly shore, And that angelic form, who moved beside, Was some good spirit, sent to be her guide. Daughter of Earth! therein thou deem'st aright; Rise on the raptured poet's inward eye. The immortal youth of heaven who floated by, Low thought, nor loose desire, nor wasting care The wings of eagle or of cherubim Angelic power, and dignity, and grace Were in his glorious pennons; from the neck Down to the ankle reached their swelling web, Richer than robes of Tyrian dye that deck Imperial majesty; Their color, like the winter's moonless sky, |