Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Shadows.
day , as without them we wencl on our way , with hushed voices , and often faltering steps , to that far and shadowy land which lies beyond the " silent sea . " A ucl if there are times in every life of ours when these shadows fall in startling vividnessor in solemn pathos over its
, stern reality , over the broad way of business , profit , toil , trouble , nay , even pleasure , surely , even though they be but " shadows " they should have , as they are meant to have , a living and quickening influence on us all . AVhen the voice is mute , Avhen the
heart is heavy , when fading one by one , are the soft visions of the " silvery land , " when experience has but its own bitter and soft humiliating tale to tell , how good it is , if how chastening for us all , to linger amid that shadow-clime once more .
How soothing and yet how refreshing is it , to re-people the busy scene of to-day with the dear familiar faces of the long-buried dead , to rekindle the smile of old affection , to bow before the domestic shrine once
more , long since sadly shattered to its base , to live amid those loved and loving shadows of the past , in engrossing reverie by day , in tender visions of the night . It seems but as yesterday we were standing side by side , to start sr > joyously together
in the rapid race of life , that we were what we are not now , in all the freshness of early trust , that we were clasping hands and interchanging vows , with those whose unwithered memory and unfaded grace alone can move our cold and callous sympathies
to-day . Ah ! that was " amici et sodales , " a joyous time for you and for me , ere we had bridged over the intervening distance between the aspirations of youth and the realizations of maturity , ere change aud
chance and separation and sorrow , like the Harpies at the feast , had spoiled our viands , and driven us both famished and lamenting away . Hail then to thee , thou Shadow-land ! Welcome , most welcome , are those thy
shadows ' which dim the full sunshine of later , of busier , of more prosperous years , which take us from the present to the past , which surround with the fascination of awakened memory , ivith the moving retrospect of things that once Avere , yet never here can be more , the outer and inner life of our daily sojourning . Perhaps , thus far , with these my shadowy
Shadows.
fancies , some of the friendly readers of the Masonic Magazine may have been inclined somewhat to sympathize , nay , may have kindly borne with so vagrant an imagination , and may have resolved to read on even to the end , if then to sec these , like
all other " shallows , " assuredly fleet away . AV . ( To be continued . )
Contemporary Letters On The French Revolution.
CONTEMPORARY LETTERS ON THE FRENCH REVOLUTION .
Letter II . THIS letter is believed to be of February , 15 th , but as the date is missing , it is printed here , though whether quite correct in order is not clear . Ed .
Supposed date , Feb . lo , 1790 . No particular event has occurred since my last which has altered the situation of the capital , or that of the principal actors . Alfcho' I never heard on what ground 100 was supposed to be merely an intriguante
, be assured that the aristocratic party have that opinion of her , and are firmly convinced jealousy of 1 G and personal fears are one of the greatest obstacles they encounter .
Everything convinces me that the storm is approaching . 133 assured me it would not be loug before it burst . I have every reason to be of bis opinion . All the aristocrats are daily stealing off one by one , and the few that remain are preparing to follow their examplebut to what quarter
, of the horizon to look for the black specs I know not . Your Hamburg friend says it must be from Germany ; you will best know if there is power or inclination in that quarter . The Assembly are certainly daily losing
ground , but I doubt whether the people are not yet firm to them—firm to them , not from affection , but because they look upon the present state of affairs as assuring them that violent anarchy , ivhich nothing but force or extreme misery will
induce them to renounce ; yet Normandy is universally aristocratic . I know not ivho conducts at Turin , but I think there is some danger from the report of all the young noblemen who once Avere the companions of his sole
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Shadows.
day , as without them we wencl on our way , with hushed voices , and often faltering steps , to that far and shadowy land which lies beyond the " silent sea . " A ucl if there are times in every life of ours when these shadows fall in startling vividnessor in solemn pathos over its
, stern reality , over the broad way of business , profit , toil , trouble , nay , even pleasure , surely , even though they be but " shadows " they should have , as they are meant to have , a living and quickening influence on us all . AVhen the voice is mute , Avhen the
heart is heavy , when fading one by one , are the soft visions of the " silvery land , " when experience has but its own bitter and soft humiliating tale to tell , how good it is , if how chastening for us all , to linger amid that shadow-clime once more .
How soothing and yet how refreshing is it , to re-people the busy scene of to-day with the dear familiar faces of the long-buried dead , to rekindle the smile of old affection , to bow before the domestic shrine once
more , long since sadly shattered to its base , to live amid those loved and loving shadows of the past , in engrossing reverie by day , in tender visions of the night . It seems but as yesterday we were standing side by side , to start sr > joyously together
in the rapid race of life , that we were what we are not now , in all the freshness of early trust , that we were clasping hands and interchanging vows , with those whose unwithered memory and unfaded grace alone can move our cold and callous sympathies
to-day . Ah ! that was " amici et sodales , " a joyous time for you and for me , ere we had bridged over the intervening distance between the aspirations of youth and the realizations of maturity , ere change aud
chance and separation and sorrow , like the Harpies at the feast , had spoiled our viands , and driven us both famished and lamenting away . Hail then to thee , thou Shadow-land ! Welcome , most welcome , are those thy
shadows ' which dim the full sunshine of later , of busier , of more prosperous years , which take us from the present to the past , which surround with the fascination of awakened memory , ivith the moving retrospect of things that once Avere , yet never here can be more , the outer and inner life of our daily sojourning . Perhaps , thus far , with these my shadowy
Shadows.
fancies , some of the friendly readers of the Masonic Magazine may have been inclined somewhat to sympathize , nay , may have kindly borne with so vagrant an imagination , and may have resolved to read on even to the end , if then to sec these , like
all other " shallows , " assuredly fleet away . AV . ( To be continued . )
Contemporary Letters On The French Revolution.
CONTEMPORARY LETTERS ON THE FRENCH REVOLUTION .
Letter II . THIS letter is believed to be of February , 15 th , but as the date is missing , it is printed here , though whether quite correct in order is not clear . Ed .
Supposed date , Feb . lo , 1790 . No particular event has occurred since my last which has altered the situation of the capital , or that of the principal actors . Alfcho' I never heard on what ground 100 was supposed to be merely an intriguante
, be assured that the aristocratic party have that opinion of her , and are firmly convinced jealousy of 1 G and personal fears are one of the greatest obstacles they encounter .
Everything convinces me that the storm is approaching . 133 assured me it would not be loug before it burst . I have every reason to be of bis opinion . All the aristocrats are daily stealing off one by one , and the few that remain are preparing to follow their examplebut to what quarter
, of the horizon to look for the black specs I know not . Your Hamburg friend says it must be from Germany ; you will best know if there is power or inclination in that quarter . The Assembly are certainly daily losing
ground , but I doubt whether the people are not yet firm to them—firm to them , not from affection , but because they look upon the present state of affairs as assuring them that violent anarchy , ivhich nothing but force or extreme misery will
induce them to renounce ; yet Normandy is universally aristocratic . I know not ivho conducts at Turin , but I think there is some danger from the report of all the young noblemen who once Avere the companions of his sole