Till ah! one morn, thy throbbing heart grew chill, And from thy pale lip faintly came the breath; We saw thee slumbering beautiful and still, And knew it was the dreamless sleep of death! Through the “dark valley,” and the “shadows” dim, Thy Father’s “rod and staff” did comfort thee! Meekly didst thou repose thy trust in Him, And launch thy frail bark on Eternity! Could some bright spirit, from a distant sphere, Bend down to listen to our feeble wail, To our vain longings with a pitying ear, And for one moment raise the mystic veil! That we might see, though rocking on the tide, If our frail barks would gain the port at last; If sailing on Life’s ocean far and wide We’d gain the haven when the storm was past. Oh! looking backward on our dreary way— Recalling all our dreams of love and truth, And the “green spots” wherein we might not stay, Far back upon the “fairy isle” of Youth— And thinking of the hours of grief and pain, Of all the bitter tears that we have shed, That only ceased awhile, to flow again, Above the loved, the beautiful, the dead! Would we not close our eyes, nor dare the sight? The many blighted hopes, the cares, the fears— The fond eyes closed, that round us shed their light, The clouds that hang above our coming years? Would not a fearful shriek then pierce the sky, Sent up by thousands from this erring world Would they not then for pardon wildly cry, Ere in the whirlpool of Destruction hurled? ’Tis “hidden from our view,” and it is well! But traveling through this vale of sin and strife, Should not thy memory be to us a spell, Thy pure and holy thoughts, thy blameless life? They who above thy grave so sadly wept Shall change as other years roll swiftly by— And look upon the tokens they have kept, Scarce yielding thee the tribute of a sigh. Oh what is Life? We live a few short hours. Eternal joy or pain hang on a breath; We pass from earth, as fade the summer flowers, Wither and die away—and _this is Death_! Cora * * * * * WAS THE WORLD MADE OUT OF NOTHING? The idea of creation may be symbolically represented under a variety of images: under that of the evolution of numbers from an original unity; that of the eradiation of light from an original light; or that of an expression of syllables and tones, answered for aught we know to the contrary, _by an echo_. The Hebrews seem to have preferred this last symbol. “In the beginning God _created_ (Heb. BARA, _brought forth_) the heavens and the earth.” In the verb _bara_, the meaning _create_ and _cry_ are identified: for this reason, it is eminently adapted to denote a creation capable of being symbolically represented by a vocal utterance.