XXXVIII. DECISIVE INTEGRITY. 1. The man who is so conscious of the rectitude of his intentions as to be willing to open his bosom to the inspection of the world, is in possession of one of the strongest pillars of a decided character. 2. The course of such a man will be firm and steady, because he has nothing to fear from the world. While he who is conscious of secret designs, which, if known, would blast him, is afraid of all around, and much more of all above him. 3. Such a man may, indeed, pursue his iniquitous plans steadily; he may waste himself to a skeleton in the guilty pursuit; but it is impossible that he can pursue them with the same health-inspiring confidence and exulting alacrity that one feels who is in the pursuit of honest ends by honest means. 4. The clear, unclouded brow, the open countenance, the brilliant eye which can look an honest man steadfastly, yet courteously, in the face; the healthfully beating heart and the firm, elastic step, belong to him whose bosom is free from guile, and who knows that all his purposes are pure and right. 5. Why should such a man falter in his course? He may be slandered; he may be deserted by the world; but he has that within which will keep him erect, and enable him to move onward in his course, with his eyes fixed on heaven, which he knows will not desert him. 6. Let your first step, then, in that discipline which is to give you decision of character, be the heroic determination to be honest men, and to preserve this character through every vicissitude of fortune and in every relation which connects you with society. 7. I do not use this phrase, "honest men," in the narrow sense merely of meeting your pecuniary engage ments, and paying your debts; for this the common pride of gentlemen will constrain you to do. S. I use it in its larger sense of discharging all your duties, both public and private, both open and secret, with the most scrupulous, heaven-attesting integrity; in that sense, further, which drives from the bosom all little, dark, crooked, sordid, debasing considerations of self, and substitutes in their place a bolder, loftier and nobler spirit; one that will dispose you to consider yourselves as born not so much for yourselves as for your country and your fellow-creatures, and which will lead you to act on every occasion sincerely, justly, generously, magnanimously. 9. There is a morality on a larger scale, perfectly consistent with a just attention to your own affairs, which it would be the height of folly to neglect,—a generous expansion, a proud elevation and conscious greatness of character, which is the best preparation for a decided course, in every situation into which you can be thrown; and it is to this high and noble tone of character that I would have you aspire. 10. I would not have you resemble those weak and meagre streamlets which lose their direction at every petty impediment which presents itself, and stop and turn back, and creep around, and search out every little channel through which they may wind their feeble and sickly course. Nor yet would I have you resemble the headlong torrent that carries havoc in its mad career. 11. But I would have you like the ocean that noblest emblem of majestic decision, which, in the calmest hour, still heaves its resistless might of waters to the shore, filling the heavens, day and night, with the echoes of its sublime declaration of independence, and tossing and sporting on its bed, with an imperial consciousness of strength that laughs at opposition. 12. It is this depth, and weight, and power, and purity of character that I would have you resemble; and I would have you, like the waters of the ocean, to become the purer by your own action. WILLIAM WIRT. XXXIX. THE PETRIFIED FOREST OF 1. Among California's most notable wonders may be mentioned the petrified forest, situated in the most romantic scenery of mountain wilds, about half way between two celebrated summer resorts, Mark West Springs, in Sonoma county, and Calistoga Springs, in Napa county. In speaking of these wonderful speciinens of petrified wood we fain would connect them with some mysterious designs of nature -for what purpose is left with man to conjecture. 2. Here in a mountainous region, wild and weird, with rugged bluffs of volcanic formation, separated by deep and gloomy cañons studded with a dense foliage of modern growth, the tourist pursues his uneven way among the ever-varying and romantic scenes of a wind. ing road, cut in the steep and rocky side of high mountains, between which Mark West Creek winds its way, splashing and tumbling over and around the rugged edge of some huge bowlder that has in times past occupied a more elevated position on the mountain side. 3. Arriving at the forest, one is surprised at its quiet, or rather spell-bound, appearance. We enter feeling as if we were treading the cemetery of an antediluvian forest, whose stateliest trees were embalmed to last forever, while those of smaller growth were allowed to mix again with mother earth and lose their identity. 4. What at a little distance is seemingly a tree stump proves, on examination, to be a broken section of the body of some prostrate pine petrified. Every circle or year's growth is easily discernible, so that the exact duration of the tree's existence may be determined. 5. Next we view the partially-excavated trunk of a large pine, lying in an inclined position. Here we see a mass of solid stone, in the form of a fallen tree, some seven feet in diameter-every fissure in the bark and knot plainly indicated, as in that of a tree fallen by the woodman's ax; while around, thickly strewn upon the ground, are numerous fragments, similar to the chips and broken pieces of wood that are scattered by the wood-cutter in preparing a tree to be cut into logs for the mill. 6. Striking the stony mass before us with a piece of petrified wood, it gives back a metallic sound very different from the dull thud produced by striking a rock against a wooden log. So are to be seen many smaller trees, as we call these peculiar rocks, varying only in size and length; all, however, having the same incline and same general position-north and south. 7. Occasionally a peculiarity is noticeable, such as being divided into sections of various lengths, ranging from three to seven feet; yet so slight are the fissures that separate these sections that at a very short distance they have the appearance of being one solid log. 8. Another peculiarity in one tree is its dark color. The general color of the stone logs is a grayish white. This tree is to all appearances a tree of stone-coal, and the proprietor assures us that it burns equally as well as the best quality of that article. 9. The largest of these wonders so far found measures eleven feet in diameter, and is excavated to view for a distance of sixty-eight feet, though doubtless it penetrates the hillside many feet further. 10. The space within the inclosure is cleared of underbrush, and contains very many beautiful shade trees of live-oak, young pines, and several other varieties peculiar to this locality. Here, indeed, is a field for the geologist; not only in this particular place, but the whole range of mountains offers many attractive subjects for analysis. XL. THE KING'S PICTURE. 1. The king from the council chamber I shall shrink to their shrunken measure, 2. "Paint me a true man's picture, It may fill my soul with its grandeur, . So the artist painted the picture, Had garnished the stately wall. |