Graham's Magazine Vol XXXIII No. 5 November 1848Various
General
Graham's Magazine Vol XXXIII No. 5 November 1848
Various
Literature -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals
It is great injustice to assert that delicacy of feeling is confined
to the higher ranks, and is the offspring of refinement and education;
these may nourish and increase, but they cannot give it. It is innate;
the child of the untutored heart; the very essence of the beautiful:
chained to no climate, bounded to no rank.
We have seen the wealthy, those who thought themselves the great ones
of the earth, take leave of those of fallen fortunes with undimmed eye
and steady voice, as though they knew not that there was cause for
sorrow, guessed not that the heart was well nigh broken, and only
stayed the expression of its grief that the cold gaze might not mock
it. We have seen the lowly ones of earth, lowly in station, but how
high in worth! part from the same; and the lip could not speak for the
heart's feeling; and the tears of the mourner, repressed before lest
the cold should mock, mingled with theirs. The first passed on with
stately step, and a cold offer of future service; the last plucked the
only rose from the favorite tree, and placed it by the traveler's
cloak with a trembling hand and quivering lip. They thought that the
traveler would prize it as a memorial of a once happy home. That
single rose, and its kind and delicate giver, can they ever be
forgotten? If all the memories of misfortune were like that who would
not be unfortunate? What feeling so endearing, so ennobling as
gratitude? Even love, though it may have more of beauty and
brightness, is not so generous and so pure.
* * * * *
What a glorious day! Not a heavy cloud in all the sky, only a few
fleecy forms floating across the rich blue vault, and the sun shining
out in all its summer splendor, as though it had never shone before,
looking down for the first time on the gladsome earth, instead of
having run its course unnumbered years--undimmed in lustre--unimpaired
in power.
Where are the works of man? his labors of the past? The eye looks on
ruin; or time hath swept away even that poor trace; and a fable or
tradition alone remains. But time hath no power over the Eternal or
the works of His hands--itself His slave.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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