WINTER.

BY H. A. RODMAN.

Yes, this is winter! Yonder range of hills,
So brown and bare, the line of vision fills,
Like frame-work to a picture.
To the eye
Its clear, bold outline seems to meet the sky,
And many a waving line of beauty trace,
Or clasp the clouds within its cold embrace.
Near to its base, in unrobed beauty, stand
The virgin oaks-the glory of our land ;—
While, through the meadows of the vale below,
A silver streamlet softly seems to flow.
The slant rays of the fast-descending sun
Proclaim the reign of night almost begun ;
While the bright region of the far South-west
Glows like a dream of Araby the Blest.
And gorgeous clouds are resting lovingly
Upon the yielding bosom of the sky,
As if to catch the last expiring ray,—
The dying splendors of the god of day.

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But lo, the scene is changed! Yon bank of cloud,
Which rested on the hill-tops, like a shroud,

Already, by the coming tempest driven,

Shuts from the sight the eastern half of heaven.
Again the prospect changes. Morning light
Presents a scene insufferably bright.

The warm rays of the sun, thrown back again
From every portion of the extended plain,
Too dazzling to the unaccustomed eye,
Compels an upward glance towards the sky.
Thus has each season its distinctive charm,
The mind to stimulate, the heart to warm.

Spring clothes the earth with beauty. Summer gives
A feast of joy to every thing that lives.

Ripe Autumn, mother of the plenteous year,

Fills human hearts with thoughts of goodly cheer.

Then Winter, throwing down his silver pall,

Spreads a peculiar glory over all.

CHRISTMAS EVE AT SEA.

THE captain would have it so. His generosity instantly took the form of obstinacy after he had once made up his mind to do any body a favor. I verily believe, that if one should succeed in obtaining a promise of a kindness from him, but should afterwards think it inadvisable to accept it, that the worthy captain would compel the reluctant beneficiary to receive it, if necessary, by a round "dozen," at the foot of the mast. His invariable reply was, when he gave a favorable answer: "Deuce take me, sir, but you shall have it: I tell you, sir, you shall have it, and shiver the rascal who says you sha'n't." This was said with a reddening face, a swelling throat, a shake of the head, and a look of warning cast at every individual within sight at the time. It was a universal defiance to passengers, crew, cabin-boy and cook.

But the captain need not have been in such a putter in the present instance. The young clergyman, who made the request, was a universal favorite on board the ship, and his request was of a nature calculated to please persons worn out with the monotony of a ten days' voyage. The meek, smooth face of the young churchman, resting on a faultless white cravat, and his mild eye, had inspired general regard and sympathy. His sallow skin and deeply crimson lips were marked with an expression of great meekness and resignation. He was bound to the island of Trinidad for the sake of his health, and had improved the time consumed in our voyage in making the acquaintance of every passenger and seaman in our company. The rough tars seemed to like him almost as well as a young Spanish senora, whose large, deeply curtained eyes followed every motion of his. However, I ought to say that she showed off to him none of the languishing coquetry of her race. She seemed rather to shrink from his calm, spiritual manner, when he approached for conversation. She appeared to be relieved the moment he left her, when her glances would instinctively be fixed upon him as if they were never weary of studying his face and motions. He was so unlike her father confessor, who was on board, that his religious character and position seemed to her, without doubt, a mystery un

fathomable. Perhaps the padré had pronounced some quiet anathemas against the heretic priest in the ear of the young girl. Certain it was, that she was at once deeply interested in and gloomily afraid of the meek divine.

Having probably convinced the reader by this time, that he does not know what I am talking about, I will now mention to him, that in the month of December, 182-, the good ship Bertha, bound for Trinidad, from one of our American ports, was in latitude 14° North, longitude 58° West,—about opposite, the captain said, to the island of St. Lucia. We had been driven, by the wayward although not violent winds, far eastward of our intended course, and had not yet touched at one of the Carribean islands, as we had intended. It was our ardent desire to reach our destination by the 25th, in order to celebrate Christmas on shore; as there is no place where they make more of the festival than in the West Indies. The mixture of races, the universally careless and holiday disposition of all the inhabitants, together with their unsurpassed fondness for religious pomp, unite to make Christmas a rare occasion among them. But we were, at the time of which I am speaking, full two hundred miles from Trinidad, and had therefore despaired of reaching it on the desired occasion, as it was now December 23d. Accordingly, the young divine, who had succeeded in inducing a few persons to listen to evening prayers nightly, and had gradually brought within the circle of devotion nearly all the passengers and occasionally a man or two of the crew, suggested, that we should celebrate Christmas Eve on board. To this the whole fourteen passengers—aside from the padré, his charge, and her servant, who were not consulted— agreed, and the reverend youth was instructed to request the countenance and assistance of the captain. The leaders in the movement, for certain manifest reasons, had concluded not to consult the young senora and her protector, although it was agreed that, when the occasion arrived, they should be invited to be present-not with any expectation that they would do so. As I have already stated, as soon as the petition was presented to the captain, he roared out his peremptory and furious assent.

Operations commenced immediately. The wife and sister-inlaw of an English physician, a resident in Puerto Espana, who was on board, with the aid of paper-cuttings, green veils, and artificial flowers, contrived to fashion some very pretty wreaths

and a neat semblance of a crucifix. Next morning the cabin was cleared, and large boxes, suitably arranged, and draperied over with white cloth, made quite a classic altar. This was festooned, and on its front, in small letters of green baize, was fixed the pregnant abbreviation, "I. H. S.” The excitement and esprit de corps, which these preparations stirred up in our little circle, made the day decidedly the happiest of our voyage. The padré and his fair charge looked curiously on, and the former, when caught watching us with an air of eager interest, would devoutly cross himself, as if in behalf of us poor heretics, whom he, without doubt, esteemed ignorant worshippers of his God.

The sun went down. The water, bright and placid as a mirror, appeared to feel the sacredness of the hour. The sky was divinely blue, and the stars seemed to burn with unusual lustre. I thought of the shepherds on the Judæan hill-sides, watching their flocks by night, as I never had before. I could easily fancy, standing in the luxurious climate of the tropics, how much real enjoyment there might be, in lying all night in the open air, beneath the skies of Palestine, tending quiet sheep. Although a ship's side was a strange place to suggest to one fine fancies about green slopes, dotted with snowy flocks, and sleeping in the silver garniture of the moon-beams, yet my imagination went so far as to bring a counterfeit of the scene which was acted eighteen hundred years ago, before me. I saw the misty blue of the sky roll away like a curtain from a centre, and the circle filled with a white dazzling effulgence, crossed with auroral flashes, which it is impossible to describe. This heavenly amphitheatre was girded on every side by angels clad in the glistering white of the Mount of Transfiguration-myriads upon myriads lining the whole outside of the circle, and stretching far back into its invisible depths. I saw them lift their harps, and waited for the first swell of that sublimest anthem ever sung within the hearing of earthly ears. But here my imagination faltered. There was nothing in the hushed plashing of the water against the sides of the vessel, or the sharp creaking of the cordage, to suggest ideas of that glorious chorus. I turned my head, and silently followed the sound of the bell, which was to be the signal of the commencement of the evening's exercises.

The services went on. Perhaps the circumstances of the time had wrought me up to a pitch of excitement, but the rich old Eng

lish of the ritual seemed never to have been read in a tone half so thrilling. The rough old Captain was there, looking a defiance at every body, which at last grew so serious and marked, that I began to supect him of being deeply affected by the scene. Occasionally he would shake his head so resolutely, that I believed that his own sensibility was the object of his defiance. Full half of the crew were present, with that studious solemnity, which always makes Jack's devotion seem a sort of pious deference to the company present. The passengers, as a body, seemed deeply interested in the scene, and invariably echoed the response of the two or three of our number, who were evidently the only persons among us accustomed to the service. The Spanish girl, her padré and servant were in her private cabin. They had treated the invitation to be present politely, but told the Captain that they desired to conduct their devotions in their own apartment and according to the ceremonies of their own church. To which suggestion the Captain retorted with his usual violent affirmative, and menaced the man who should dare to say nay, with his most awful frown. In fact, I believe that, for the special assurance of the padré, he vouchsafed to use a round Spanish oath on this occasion.

But I could not but feel a little annoyed at the absence of the beautiful young girl. To tell the plain truth, all the passengers, and myself particularly, had taken a sort of of chivalrous interest in the affairs of the fair Spaniard and the young minister. We had read the intense meaning of her glorious eyes, and knew by the very shyness of the youth, that he was carrying on a mighty struggle with himself on account of the beautiful Romanist.— Observing and being convinced of this, we felt outraged that there should be any thing to interfere with so delightful a romance.— In default of surly parents, or jealous duenna, we were obliged to pounce upon sect-religious bigotry-as the infamous meddler that was keeping these young hearts apart. We became liberal apace in our religious views, and, within this little world on shipboard, came to the conclusion that nothing was more malevolent in its influence upon the sweet charities of life and the spontaneous goodness of human hearts, than sectarian animosities. We learned then, what it has taken me all my life since to learn in the great world of society, that such animosities are essentially unchristian, for the reason that they often raise war and division between