The black ship: with other allegories and parablesCharles, Elizabeth Rundle
General
The black ship: with other allegories and parables
Charles, Elizabeth Rundle
Allegories -- Juvenile literature; Parables -- Juvenile literature; Sunday school literature
Here the Legend ended. I heard, however, afterwards that the young
priest, the Augustinian friar, lived to spread Glad Tidings through
the city, but that he was at last burned in the cathedral square for
preaching to men what he had said about the church bells. Yet in the
flames, it was said, he looked up to the cathedral tower, and sang the
words of a psalm of praise the old bells were chiming, till his voice
was silenced in death. And ever since, the chimes have taken up his
message, and chant to those who will listen, hour by hour.
"'Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to
the glory of God.'"
What Makes Things Musical?
—————
WHAT MAKES THINGS MUSICAL?
"THE SUN!" said the Forest. "In the night I am still and voiceless. A
weight of silence lies upon my heart. If you pass through me, the sound
of your own footstep echoes fearfully, like the footfall of a ghost. If
you speak to break the spell, the silence closes in on your words, like
the ocean on a pebble you throw into it. The wind sighs far-off among
the branches, as if he were hushing his breath to listen. If a little
bird chirps uneasily in its nest, it is silenced before you can find
out whence the sound came.
"But the dawn breaks. Before a gray streak can be seen, my trees feel
it, and quiver through every old trunk and tiny twig with joy; my
birds feel it, and stir dreamily in their nests, as if they were just
murmuring to each other, 'How comfortable we are!'
"Then the wind awakes, and tunes my trees for the concert, striking
his hand across one and another, until all their varied harmonies are
astir; the soft, liquid rustlings of my oaks and beeches make the rich
treble to the deep, plaintive tones of my pines. Then my early birds
awake one by one, and answer each other in sweet responses, until the
Sun rises, and the whole joyous chorus bursts into song to the organ
and flute accompaniments of my evergreens and summer leaves. And in
the pauses, countless happy insects chirp, and buzz, and whirl with
contented murmuring among my ferns and flower-bells. The SUN makes me
musical," said the Forest.
WHAT MAKES THINGS MUSICAL?
"STORMS!" said the Sea. "In calm weather I lie still and sleep, or,
now and then, say a few quiet words to the beaches I ripple on, or
the boats which glide through my waters. But in the tempest you learn
what my voice is, when all my slumbering powers awake, and I thunder
through the caverns, and rush with all my battle-music on the rocks,
whilst, between the grand artillery of my breakers, the wind peals its
wild trumpet-peals, and the waters rush back to my breast from the
cliffs they have scaled, in torrents and cascades, like the voices of
a thousand rivers. My music is battle-music. STORMS make me musical,"
said the Sea.
WHAT MAKES THINGS MUSICAL?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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