Part 9 (2/2)
Kiss but the crystal's mystic rim, Each shadow rends its flowery chain, Springs in a bubble from its brim And walks the chambers of the brain.
Poor Beauty! time and fortune's wrong No form nor feature may withstand,- Thy wrecks are scattered all along, Like emptied sea-sh.e.l.ls on the sand;- Yet, sprinkled with this blus.h.i.+ng rain, The dust restores each blooming girl, As if the sea-sh.e.l.ls moved again Their glistening lips of pink and pearl.
Here lies the home of school-boy life, With creaking stair and wind-swept hall, And, scarred by many a truant knife, Our old initials on the wall; Here rest-their keen vibrations mute- The shout of voices known so well, The ringing laugh, the wailing flute, The chiding of the sharp-tongued bell.
Here, clad in burning robes, are laid Life's blossomed joys, untimely shed; And here those cherished forms have strayed We miss awhile, and call them dead.
What wizard fills the maddening gla.s.s What soil the enchanted cl.u.s.ters grew?
That buried pa.s.sions wake and pa.s.s In beaded drops of fiery dew?
Nay, take the cup of blood-red wine,- Our hearts can boast a warmer grow, Filled from a vantage more divine,- Calmed, but not chilled by winter's snow!
To-night the palest wave we sip Rich as the priceless draught shall be That wet the bride of Cana's lip,- The wedding wine of Galilee!
CHAPTER VI
Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle which fits them all.
-I think, Sir,-said the divinity-student,-you must intend that for one of the sayings of the Seven Wise Men of Boston you were speaking of the other day.
I thank you, my young friend,-was my reply,-but I must say something better than that, before I could pretend to fill out the number.
-The schoolmistress wanted to know how many of these sayings there were on record, and what, and by whom said.
-Why, let us see,-there is that one of Benjamin Franklin, ”the great Bostonian,” after whom this lad was named. To be sure, he said a great many wise things,-and I don't feel sure he didn't borrow this,-he speaks as if it were old. But then he applied it so neatly!-
”He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another than he whom you yourself have obliged.”
Then there is that glorious Epicurean paradox, uttered by my friend, the Historian, in one of his flas.h.i.+ng moments:-
”Give us the luxuries of life, and we will dispense with its necessaries.”
To these must certainly be added that other saying of one of the wittiest of men:-
”Good Americans, when they die, go to Paris.”-
The divinity-student looked grave at this, but said nothing.
The schoolmistress spoke out, and said she didn't think the wit meant any irreverence. It was only another way of saying, Paris is a heavenly place after New York or Boston.
A jaunty-looking person, who had come in with the young fellow they call John,-evidently a stranger,-said there was one more wise man's saying that he had heard; it was about our place, but he didn't know who said it.-A civil curiosity was manifested by the company to hear the fourth wise saying. I heard him distinctly whispering to the young fellow who brought him to dinner, _Shall I tell it_? To which the answer was, _Go ahead_!-Well,-he said,-this was what I heard:-
”Boston State-House is the hub of the solar system. You couldn't pry that out of a Boston man if you had the tire of all creation straightened out for a crowbar.”
Sir,-said I,-I am gratified with your remark. It expresses with pleasing vivacity that which I have sometimes heard uttered with malignant dulness. The satire of the remark is essentially true of Boston,-and of all other considerable-and inconsiderable-places with which I have had the privilege of being acquainted. c.o.c.kneys think London is the only place in the world. Frenchmen-you remember the line about Paris, the Court, the World, etc.-I recollect well, by the way, a sign in that city which ran thus: ”Hotel l'Univers et des etats Unis”; and as Paris _is_ the universe to a Frenchman, of course the United States are outside of it.-”See Naples and then die.”-It is quite as bad with smaller places. I have been about, lecturing, you know, and have found the following propositions to hold true of all of them.
1. The axis of the earth sticks out visibly through the centre of each and every town or city.
2. If more than fifty years have pa.s.sed since its foundation, it is affectionately styled by the inhabitants the ”_good old_ town of”-(whatever its name may happen to be.)
<script>