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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
Yet the Solitary looked on him with anger , and arose hastily , and plunged into the depths of a wood which skirted the sunny down . And he traversed its shades till he came to a quiet nook , where a spring burst forth from the thicket , and the closely-woven boughs shut out the sunshine .
" I can see no more the spreading main , " said he to himself , " but here I can be at peace . No eye folioweth me here , and no cup is dipped in this spring , " He drank thereof , and his soul was once more hushed to stillness . But after a while the breeze brought a sweeter music than the rustling of the boughs or the plashing of the spring .
Infant voices were chauntinor near . The song of their praise was sweet , and the words thereof were holy . The Solitary left his covert , and beheld a cottage which the thicket had hidden from him . It stood on a sloping grass-plat . It was open to the heavens . The sun shone on its humble roof , and the ivy which twined around tossed its branches in the breeze . An aged woman sat on the bench beside the door , and around her were little children srathered .
She had read to them the words of life ; but her feeble voice was not heard afar off . She taught them to sing hymns : and their praises were holy as the Hermit ' s prayer . But his soul was not as a little child ' s , and he could not bend to listen . And the aged woman rose up , and the children besought his blessing . But he hardened his heart , and yet again hastened away .
A rock towered high above the wood . The ascent thereof was steep , and the path rugged . But wrath glowed in the breast of the Solitary , and impelled his steps . He paused not till he reached the summit , and planted his foot where the step of man had never before trod . There again he beheld the sea spreading farther than eye could reach . The roar of its waves ascended not so high . The ships appeared to be motionless on its bosom ; and the small boats were no longer seen . Then the holy man exclaimed with joy , " Now at length I am alone I " But , as he spoke , a living cry arose . He turned , and behold ! the nest of an Eagle . And the flapping of wings was heard . The young eagles arose at the approach of their parent ; and she fed them from her beak . Then the Hermit saw how she spread her wings , and bore her young thereon , and flew gently a short flight , and returned again , that they might not be weary .
And the Solitary looked down abashed and sighed . And a still , small voice whispered within his breast , " Behold ! in all the universe of God , praise aboundeth unto Him ; and is thy worship so pure that none other may mingle therewith ? " ho ! the Eagle hath wings that bear her up to the gate of heaven . She can battle with the storms of the sky . She can abo gaze on the noonday brightness of the sun ; for her eye shrinketh not , nor is weary . " Yet she heareth the cry of her little ones , and beareth with their
weakness till they can soar with her on high . " Therein is her wisdom greater , and her heart more expanded than thine . "
Untitled Article
362 The Solitary .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1830, page 362, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2585/page/2/
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