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النشر الإلكتروني

She sprinkled bright water from the stream
On those that were faint with the sunny beam;
And out of the cups of the heavy flowers
She emptied the rain of the thunder showers.

She lifted their heads with her tender hands,
And sustain'd them with rods and osier bands;
If the flowers had been her own infants, she
Could never have nursed them more tenderly.

And all killing insects and gnawing worms,
And things of obscene and unlovely forms,
She bore in a basket of Indian woof,
Into the rough woods far aloof,

In a basket, of grasses and wild flowers full,
The freshest her gentle hands could pull
For the poor banish'd insects, whose intent,
Although they did ill, was innocent.

The Sensitive Plant.

THE TRIAD

(FROM WORDSWORTH.)

I.

O Lady, worthy of earth's proudest throne!
Nor less, by excellence of nature, fit
Beside an unambitious hearth to sit

Domestic queen, where grandeur is unknown;
What living man could fear

The worst of Fortune's malice, wert Thou near,
Humbling that lily-stem, thy sceptre meek,

That its fair flowers may brush from off his cheek
The too, too happy tear?

Queen, and handmaid lowly!

Whose skill can speed the day with lively cares,
And banish melancholy

By all that mind invents or hand prepares;
O Thou, against whose lip, without its smile
And in its silence even, no heart is proof;
Whose goodness, sinking deep, would reconcile
The softest Nursling of a gorgeous palace
To the bare life beneath the hawthorn-roof
Of Sherwood's Archer, or in caves of Wallace-
Who that hath seen thy beauty could content
His soul with but a glimpse of heavenly day?
Who that hath loved thee, but would lay
His strong hand on the wind, if it were bent
To take thee in thy majesty away?

II.

Open, ye thickets! let her fly,

Swift as a Thracian Nymph o'er field and height!
For She, to all but those who love her shy,

Would gladly vanish from a Stranger's sight;

Though where she is beloved and loves,
Light as the wheeling butterfly she moves;
Her happy spirit as a bird is free,
That rifles blossoms on a tree,

Turning them inside out with arch audacity.

What more changeful than the sea?

But over his great tides

Fidelity presides;

And this light-hearted Maiden constant is as he.
High is her aim as heaven above,

And wide as ether her good-will;

And, like the lowly reed, her love

Can drink its nurture from the scantiest rill :
Insight as keen as frosty star

Is to her charity no bar,

Nor interrupts her frolic graces

When she is, far from these wild places,

Encircled by familiar faces.

O the charm that manners draw,
Nature, from the genuine law!
If from what her hand would do,
Her voice would utter, there ensue
Aught untoward or unfit;

She, in benign affections pure,

In self-forgetfulness secure,

Sheds round the transient harm or vague mischance

A light unknown to tutored elegance:

Her's is not a cheek shame-stricken,

But her blushes are joy-flushes;

And the fault (if fault it be)

Only ministers to quicken

Laughter-loving gaiety,

And kindle sportive wit.

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REVELATIONS OF TRUTH.

CHAP. XI.

THE allegory of Love: the doom of Progression.

So God created man in his own image: male and female created he them. And they were both naked, the man and the woman; their minds void, their bodies defenceless: and their ignorance was not ashamed, knowing no better existence.

Now the Serpent-which is Love-was, in its dissatisfaction with the mere physical enjoyment, more subtil than any animal passion: and he said unto the woman, Yea, hath Sloth-the evil spirit of content which opposeth the progressive Love-hath Sloth said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

And the woman said unto the Serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: the mere animal pleasures which are around us.

But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden-the fruit of the tree of knowledge, the desire of improvement which is in the midst of satiety he hath said, Ye shall not eat, lest ye die.

For the slothful Spirit had threatened the woman with much evil consequence, dreading the temptation of Love.

Then Love, feeling the insufficiency of the Present, and daring all in the prophetic faith of its own omnipotence, said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die.

And the woman, Love-persuaded, took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also to her husband with her; and he did eat.

And the eyes of them both were opened; and they knew that they were naked, bare and exposed to evil and defenceless: and they made unto themselves a protection from the more immediate dangers and inconveniences of their rude existence.

And they heard the voice of the Slothful Spirit walking in the garden, in the cool of the day: when the first exultation of their improved condition had passed its noon; when the shades of evil supervened; and they felt the chill of troublous thought, dreading further advance toward the knowledge of good and evil, yet unable to reassume the former content.

And the man and his wife hid themselves, fearing to return to the worship of Sloth, knowing the dangers that environed them: he said, I was afraid, because I was naked.

And he said the Slothful Spirit, still disputing against Love for the soul of man-Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

And the man reproached the woman for the trouble which the new knowledge occasioned.

And the woman said, Love beguiled me: therefore I did eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

And Sloth cursed Love, and said, I will put enmity between thee and the woman; and thus the seed of the woman hath continually bruised the humbled head of Love: yet ever and anon Love turneth upon the trampler; and in the end shall overcome.

Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

And unto the man he said, Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.

And the foreboding of the Slothful hath been fulfilled for the good of humanity can be attained only by great travail and enduring pain.

And woman, the better-loving, hath been rendered the slave of man; the sorrows of Love have been multiplied, as knowledge engendereth capacity,

whether of good or evil: in the sweat of his brow hath man eaten of the wisdom of experience.

And he hath been shut out from the Garden of Eden, the pure instincts of the early life.

BUT THE CURSE IS NOT ETERNAL; Sloth shall be conquered, and the indomitable and ever-working Love re-enter the garden of content: the Serpent-Saviour shall give unto mankind the fruit of the tree of knowledge and of the tree of life, and both shall be unmixed and perpetual good.

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CHASTITY AND CELIBACY.

"Let the gall'd jade wince!"

CELIBACY-the mere abstinence from sexual intercourse-is not chastity. Chastity, purity, modesty-these have one meaning: but celibacy may be none of these. The father or the mother of a family may be as chaste as the most immaculate virgin; and, on the contrary, even an eunuch may be impure, immodest, unchaste. Celibacy is a mortification of our natural propensities, destructive of health, and preventing the due growth and development of the best affections; it is unnatural, in most cases (wherever the unconnected desires companionship) immoral, and the cause of abundant physical and mental suffering. There is nothing unchaste, or immodest, in the natural desire which one organized being has of being united to another. On the contrary, it is the basis of the highest virtues and greatest happiness which can be built up by humanity. "To the pure all things are pure." This is chastity-to behold no evil in gratifying all our natural desires in the most perfect manner of which our natures are capable, without injury to others: not transgressing the bounds of temperance; ner violating the integrity of our individual nature. This is the duty of both man and woman. The majority of women will never be chaste till men also are chaste—till both sexes feel what chastity is, and dare to value it above reputation. The woman who dresses to attract the attention of men, is scarcely less immodest than the wanton who strips herself, for the same purpose. The woman who marries without a decided preference, either through disgust at her situation or to obtain a home, is a prostitute, even though she may never have connection, or, even, desire of connection, with any but one man. The man who marries merely to secure the attentions of a trustworthy servant, to command a certain station in society, or to gratify a mere physical desire (supposing his nature to be of a superior character), is a prostitute, even though he may never have connection, or, even, desire of connection, with any but one woman. Men and women who are no more than the beasts, cannot be expected to act otherwise than as beasts-and they are, in so doing, justified to themselves. We cannot make a silk purse of a sow's ear. They who are at all superior to the beasts, are not justified in acting as beasts. Prostitution is sexual intercourse without such affection as the nature of the individual is capable of feeling and inspiring. Such an intercourse is still prostitution, however the law may license it. When, some little time back, the church publicly licensed the markets of prostitution, no one thought therefore of calling the prostitutes virtuous.

We need not define what Love is. The Spirit of God liveth in the hearts of the Loving; and the Unloving have no understanding wherewith to appreciate the Beautiful.

March 16, 1839.

"The dunghill kind

Delights in filth and foul incontinence:

Let Gryll be Gryll, and have his hoggish mind;

But let us hence depart whilst weather serves and wind."

Spenser's Faery Queene,

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