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ing of moroseness or misanthropy. On the contrary, he showed kindness to even the humblest animal. Birds instinctively learned it, and freely entered his dwelling, to receive from his hands crumbs or seeds.

5. But the absorbing delight of his existence was communion with the mighty Niagara. Here, at every hour of the day or night, he might be seen, a fervent worshiper. At gray dawn he went to visit it in its fleecy vail; at high noon he banqueted on the full splendor of its glory; beneath the soft tinting of the lunar bow, he lingered, looking for the angel's wing whose pencil had painted it; and at solemn midnight, he knelt, soul-subdued, as on the footstool of Jehovah. Neither storms, nor the piercing cold of winter, prevented his visits to this great temple of his adoration.

6. When the frozen mists, gathering upon the lofty trees, seemed to have transmuted' them to columns of alabaster, when every branch, and shrub, and spray, glittering with transparent" ice, waved in the sunbeam its coronet of diamonds, he gazed, unconscious of the keen atmosphere, charmed and chained by the rainbow-cinctured cataract. His feet had worn a beaten path from his cottage thither. There was, at that time, an extension of the Terrapin Bridge, by a single shaft of timber, carried out ten feet over the fathomless abyss, where it hung tremulously, guarded only by a rude parapet. To this point he often passed and repassed, amid the darkness of night. He even took pleasure in grasping it with his hands, and thus suspending himself over the awful gulf; so much had his morbid enthusiasm learned to feel, and even to revel amid the terribly sublime.

7. Among his favorite daily gratifications was that of bathing. The few who in'terested themselves in his welfare supposed that he pursued it to excess, and protracted it after the severity of the weather rendered it hazardous to health. He scooped out, and arranged for himself, a secluded and romantic bath,' between

'Trans mute', change from one nature or substance to another.— 'Al' a bås ter, a compact variety of sulphate of lime or gypsum, of fine texture, and usually white and semi-pellucid, but sometimes yellow, red, or gray. It is carved into vases, mantel ornaments, &c.- Branch Trans pår' ent, transmitting rays of light; clear: pervious to light - Shaft. Often (of′ fn).—' Båth

Moss and Iris islands. Afterward, he formed the habit of bathing below the principal fall. One bright, but rather chill day, in the month of June, 1831, a man employed about the ferry saw him go into the water, and, a long time after, observed his clothes to be still lying upon the bank.

8. Inqui'ry was made. The anxiety was but too well founded The poor hermit had indeed taken his last bath. It was sup posed that cramp might have been induced by the unwonted' chill of the atmosphere or water. Still, the body was not found; the depth and force of the current just below being exceedingly great. In the course of their search, they passed onward to the whirlpool. There, amid those boiling eddies, was the pallid corpse, making fearful and rapid gyrations upon the face of the black waters. At some point of suction, it suddenly plunged and disappeared. Again emerging, it was fearful to see it leap half its length above the flood, and with a face so deadly pale, play among the tossing billows; then float motionless, as if exhausted; and anon, returning to the encounter, spring, struggle, and contend, like a maniac battling with mortal foes.

9. It was strangely painful to think that he was not permitted to find a grave, even beneath the waters he had loved; that all the gentleness and charity of his nature should be changed by death to the fury of a madman; and that the king of terrors, who brings repose to the despot and the man of blood, should teach warfare to him who had ever worn the meekness of the lamb. For days and nights this terrible purgatory was prolonged. It was on the 21st of June that, after many efforts, they were enabled to bear the weary dead back to his desolate cottage.

10. There they found his faithful dog guarding the door. Heavily must the long period have worn away, while he watched for his only friend, and wondered why he delayed his coming. He scrutinized the approaching group suspiciously, and would not willingly have given them admittance, save that a low, stifled wail at length announced his intuitive knowledge of the master, whom the work of death had effectually disguised from the eyes

of men.

1 Unwonted (un wůnt' ed).- Gyration (jl rå' shun), a whirling, circular motion.3 Purgatory (pår′ ga to r), a place of temporary punishment, or purification.

11. In his chair lay the guitar', whose melody was probably the last that his ear heard on earth. There were, also, his flute and violin, his portfolio and books, scattered and open, as if re cently used. On the spread table was the untasted meal for noon, which he had prepared against his return from that bath which had proved so fatal. It was a touching sight, the dead aermit mourned by his humble retainers, the poor animals who oved him, and ready to be laid by stranger hands in a foreign grave.

12. So fell this singular and accomplished being, at the early age of twenty-eight. Learnèd in the languages, in the arts and sciences, improved by extensive travel, gifted with personal beauty and a feeling heart, the motives for this estrangement from his kind are still enveloped in mystery. It was, however, known that he was a native of England, where his father was a clergyman; that he received, from thence ample remittances for his comfort; and that his name was Francis Abbot. These facts had been previously ascertained; but no written papers were found in his cell, to throw additional light upon the obscurity in which he had so effectually wrapped the history of his pilgrimage.

MRS. SIGOURNEY.

MRS. L. H. SIGOURNEY was born at Norwich, Connecticut, 1791. Her maiden name was Lydia Huntley. She was married to Charles Sigourney in 1819. She is one of the most voluminous of American female writers, and equally happy in prose and verse. Her rare and highly cultivated intellect, her fine sensibilities, and her noble heart, have enabled her, in all her works, to plead successfully the cause of humanity and religion.

1

15. THE SONG OF THE SHIRT.

WITH

ITH fingers weary and worn,
With eyelids heavy and red,

A woman sat, in unwomanly rags,
Plying her needle and thread-
Stitch! stitch! stitch!

In poverty, hunger, and dirt,'

And still, with a voice of dol'orous' pitch,

She sang the "Song of the Shirt!"3

'Dirt (dőrt).-' Dål' o rous, doleful; dismal; sorrowful. -' Shirt (shert).

2. "Work! work! work!

While the cock is crowing aloof!.
And work-work-work!

Till the stars shine through the roof!
It's oh! to be a slave

Along with the barbarous Turk,
Where woman has never a soul to save,

If THIS is Christian work!

3. "Work-work-work!

Till the brain begins to swim!
Work-work-work!

Till the eyes are heavy and dim!
Seam, and gusset, and band,
Band, and gusset, and scam,
Till over the buttons I fall asleep,
And sew them on in my dream!

4. "Oh! men with sisters dear!

Oh! men with mothers and wives!
It is not linen you're wearing out,
But human creatures' lives!
Stitch-stitch-stitch!

In poverty, hunger, and dirt,
Sewing at once, with a double thread,
A SHROUD as well as a shirt!

5. "But why do I talk of death,

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That phantom of grisly bone?

I hardly fear his terrible shape,

It seems so like my own

It seems so like my own,
Because of the fast' I keep:

O God! that bread should be so dear,

And flesh and blood so cheap!

6. "Work-work-work!

My labor never flags;

And what are its wages? A bed of straw,

'Work (werk).—2 Turk (têrk).—' Sew (so). — Fåst.

A crust of bread-and rags:

A shatter'd roof-and this naked floor-
A table-a broken chair'-

And a wall so blank, my shadow I thank
For sometimes falling there!"

7. "Work-work-work!

chime to chime;

From weary
Work-work-work!

As prisoners work for crime!
Band, and gusset, and seam,

Seam, and gusset, and band,

Till the heart is sick and the brain benumb'd,

As well as the weary hand!

8. "Work-work-work,

In the dull December light;

And work-work-work!

When the weather is warm and bright:

While underneath the eaves

The brooding swallows cling,

As if to show me their sunny backs,
And twit me with the Spring.

9. "Oh! but to breathe the breath

Of the cowslip and primrose sweet;
With the sky above my head,
And the grass beneath my feet:

For only one short hour
To feel as I used to feel,

Before I knew the woes of want,

And the walk that costs a meal!

10. "Oh! but for one short hour!
A respite, however brief!

No blessed leisure for love or hope,
But only time for grief!

A little weeping would ease my heart-
But in their briny bed

'Chair. There (thår).

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