following hymn will guide children as to the manner in which they should regard their great Father and God: My God, how wonderful Thou art! How dread are Thine eternal years, By prostrate spirits, day and night, How wonderful, how beautiful, The sight of Thee must be! Thine endless wisdom, boundless power, O how I fear Thee, Living God, With deepest, tenderest fears! And worship Thee with trembling hope, Yet may I love Thee too, O Lord, For Thou hast stooped to ask of me No earthly father loves like Thee; Bears and forbears as Thou hast done With me, Thy sinful child. Father of Jesus, love's reward, What rapture will it be, Prostrate before Thy throne to lie, And ever gaze on Thee! Night. N IGHT is the time for rest: How sweet, when labours close, To gather round an aching breast Stretch the tired limbs, and lay the head Upon our own delightful bed. Night is the time for dreams : The gay romance of life, When truth that is, and truth that seems, Ah! visions less beguiling far Than waking dreams by daylight are. Night is the time for toil, Night is the time to weep— Those graves of memory where sleep Night is the time to watch On the ocean's dark expanse; To hail the Pleiades, or catch The full moon's earliest glance; Night is the time for care; Like Brutus, midst his slumbering host, Night is the time to muse: Then from the eye the soul Takes flight, and with expanding views Describes athwart the abyss of night Night is the time to pray: Our Saviour oft withdrew To desert mountains far away. So will his followers do: Steal from their throng to haunts untrod, Night is the time for death: When all around is peace, Calmly to yield the weary breath, From sin and suffering cease; Think of Heaven's bliss, and give the sign J. MONTGOMERY. Life of Columbus. (ABRIDGED FROM IRVING'S LIFE.) CHAPTER VIII. FTER running along the coast of Cuba for two or three days, and passing a great cape to which he gave the name of Cape Cuba, he stood out to sea in the direction pointed by the Indians. The wind, however, came directly ahead, and after various ineffectual attempts, he had to return to Cuba. What gave him great uneasiness was, that the Pinta, commanded by Martin Alonzo Pinzon, parted company with him during this attempt. She was the best sailor, and had worked considerably to windward of the other ships. Pinzon paid no attention to the signals of Columbus to turn back, though they were repeated at night, by lights on the masthead: when morning dawned, the Pinta was no longer to be seen. Columbus considered this as a wilful desertion, and was much troubled and perplexed by it. Martin Alonzo had for some time shown impatience at the domination of the admiral. He was an old seaman of great abilities, and accustomed from his wealth and standing to give the law to his companions. He had furnished two of the three ships, and had found a good deal of money for the expedition. He therefore thought himself entitled to an equal share in the command, and several disputes had occurred between him and the admiral. Columbus feared he might have departed to make an independent cruise, or might have the intention to hasten back to Spain, and claim the merit of the discovery. These thoughts distracted his mind, and embarrassed him in the further prosecution of his dis coveries. Passing from Cuba to Hayti, Columbus had further intercourse with the natives, some of whom had ornaments of gold, which they readily exchanged for the merest trifle of European manufacture. At one of the harbours where he was detained by contrary winds, he was visited by a young chief, apparently of great importance, who came borne on a litter by four men, and attended by two hundred of his subjects. He entered the cabin where Columbus was dining, and took his seat beside him with a frank, unembarrassed air, while two old men, who were his councillors, seated themselves at his feet, watching his lips as if to catch and communicate his ideas. If anything were given to him to eat he merely tasted it, and sent it to his followers, maintaining an air of great gravity and dignity. After dinner, he presented the admiral with a belt curiously wrought, and two pieces of gold. Columbus made him various presents in return ; he showed him a coin, bearing the likeness of Ferdinand and Isabella, and endeavoured to give him an idea of the power and grandeur of those sovereigns. The chief, however, could not be made to believe that there was a region on earth which produced such wonderful people and wonderful things, but persisted that the Spaniards were more than mortal, and that the country and sovereigns they spoke of must exist somewhere in the skies. Shortly afterwards, the admiral's ship was wrecked near a part of the coast of this island. The sea had been calm and smooth, and the ship almost motionless; but one of those treacherous currents which run swiftly along this coast, carried her smoothly, but with great violence, upon a sandbank. When a chieftain, who lived near, heard of the misfortunes of Columbus, he was so much affected as to shed tears; and never in a civilised country were the vaunted rites of hospitality more scrupulously observed than by this uncultured savage. He assembled his people, and sent off all his canoes to the assistance of the admiral, assuring him, at the same time, that everything he possessed was at his service. The effects were landed from the wreck, and placed near the dwelling of the chief, and a guard set over them until houses could be prepared, in which they could be stored. There seemed, however, no disposition among the natives to take advantage of the misfortune of the strangers, or to plunder the treasures thus cast upon their shores, though they must have been inestimable in their eyes. Even in carrying the goods from the ship, they did not attempt to pilfer or conceal the most trifling article. On the contrary, they showed as deep a concern at the disaster of the Spaniards as if it had happened to them selves, and their only study was how they could administer relief and consolation. Columbus was greatly affected by this unexpected goodness. "These people," said he in his journal, intended for the perusal of the sovereigns, "love their neighbours as themselves; their discourse is ever sweet and gentle, and accompanied by a smile. I swear to your majesties that there is not in the world a better nation or a better land." When the chief first met with Columbus, he was much moved at beholding his dejection, and again offered him everything he possessed that could be of service to him. He invited him on shore, where a banquet was prepared for his entertainment, consisting of various kinds of fish and fruit. Afterwards, he conducted Columbus to the beautiful groves which surrounded his residence, where upwards of a thousand of the natives were assembled, all perfectly naked, who performed several of their national games and dances. Thus did this generous chief try by every means in his power to cheer the spirits of his guest, showing him a warmth of sympathy, a delicacy of attention, and an innate dignity and refinement, which could not have been expected from one in his savage state. He was treated with great deference by his subjects, and conducted himself towards them with a gracious and prince-like majesty. His whole deportment, in the enthusiastic eyes of Columbus, showed the inborn grace and dignity of lofty lineage. Three houses had been given to the shipwrecked crew for their residences. Here, living on shore, and mingling freely with the natives, they became fascinated by their easy and idle mode of life. They were governed by their chiefs with an absolute but fatherly and easy rule, and existed in that state of primitive and savage simplicity which some philosophers have fondly pictured as the most enviable on earth. "It is certain," says old Peter Martyr, "that the land among these people is as common as the sun and water, and that 'mine and thine,' the seeds of all mischief, have no place with them. They are content with so little, that, in so large a country, they have rather fulness than scarcity; so that they seem to live in a golden world, without toil, in open gardens, neither intrenched, nor shut up by walls or hedges. They deal truly with one another, without laws, or books, or judges." |