Page images
PDF
EPUB

more frequently attended with symptoms of weeping, than otherwise. There are almost as many varieties of laugh, as there are dispositions among men. To some of these, I will briefly allude. Hark! Hear that laugh in the street. It comes from one of that group of boys, “just let loose from school;" it means nothing, and that is the beauty of it. It is like the silvery sound of a crystal brook, leaping from ledge to ledge, dancing and rambling along over the smooth-worn pebbles, like some glad, innocent thing. Such a laugh conceals nothing, for there is no care there; no sorrow; no bitterness; it tells nothing, for the very sound is gladness made vocal. Will the child always laugh so, do you think? Will it never be changed into the suppressed exclamation, which tells of a fountain more bitter than Marah's waters? Who has not heard such a laugh; aye, and felt it too? O, for the branch that Israel's leader cast into the wave of old! We gladly turn from this to the good-natured, hearty laugh, that shakes the sides, expands the chest and banishes, far away, dyspepsy, and its horrid train. This laugh is contagious; every thing within hearing laughs too; men and women, rocks and hills. Then there is the laugh of mingled malice and exultation. Even this, the own begotten of depravity, is sometimes heard in the parlor and the drawing-room! I cannot describe it; neither is it necessary that I should; but I can fancy a horde of banditti, gathered around their fire by night, while its lurid glare throws every line and lineament, traced and scarred by passion, into bold relief; I can see them as they lean towards each other, absorbed in the fearful interest of some tale of horror, recounted by a comrade; I can see them, as with hungry eyes they seem to devour each precious word and syllable; and I can hear, yes hear that wild, demoniac shout; just such a shout as White's "twelve with

N

ered witches" raised; and just such a shout, as I have heard in no realm of fancy, but among civilized, enlightened, christian men!

When you have been deeply interested in relating to a friend, something which you consider true and important; perhaps the result of patient study, which seems a treasure to you, and all the richer,because acquired by your own toil, have you never felt disheartened and chagrined, at that friend's reception of it? Not because he turned abruptly away; not because he expressed one unfavorable opinion, but because an incredulous smile lurked about the corners of his mouth or eyes, (for some people laugh with their eyes, you know,) saying with most gratifying emphasis, "I doubt it." What a damper is such language to a man's zeal! Some people laugh, all to themselves, like a man who orders dinner for one; though an ungovernable chuckle sometimes escapes them, despite their selfishness. I knew a person who always laughed thus; and I used to fancy that he enjoyed it extremely; it seemed to linger so, about his heart. Washington was remarkable for this inly laugh, as it may be termed. There is no laugh more incompatible with frail human nature, than that of exultation, whether over another's woes, or on account of some real or fancied advantage; it seldom falls sweetly on the ear; and upon none so harshly, as of him who is its subject.

I can mention only one more example of this species of natural expression; and though it is an inaudible smile, I may be allowed to introduce it in this place. I do not hope to describe it; it is not an angel's smile. O, no, if it were that, I might say so. The dream-smile that flits over the little features of a sleeping infant, is most like it of anything earthly, but it is far more glorious, even than that. It is a

smile that thrills the soul of the beholder; it makes the frivolous, thoughtful, and the gay, grave. It illumines the countenance, but not with the light of the sun; a strange, fearful radiance; the soul-light from within, and the light of Eternity from without, are blended there. Do you know what smile I mean, reader?

[ocr errors]

In each of the various expressions, which I have just enu. merated, there is some tinge of passion, or some mingling of bitterness, or some element of human frailty; but that to which I now allude, is purer, holier; mort al yet, the magic dial has flung its last earthly shadow, and only stays its dissolution for a moment, to reflect, what glacial-cliff nor silver lake has never caught-the light of endless day! That dial, reader, and that smile, are the countenance and the smile of THE DYING CHRISTIAN.

With this, I must close my notices of Natural Language. But when I review the preceding pages, I can scarcely recognize in the faint resemblance, the mental original, which sat for it. So dim in outline, so broken and confused in manner, it seems as if the interesting views and the valued thoughts, (interesting and valuable at least to me,) had been touched by the wizard's wand, as one by one they were transferred to the more during characters of legible language, and a heap of dry and withered leaves, alone remained, for the bright gold, of which I was the fancied possessor.

I am consoled, however, by the recollection of how slight a cause first awakened an interest upon this subject in my own mind, and how trifling the encouragement, which has stimulated me to investigation and lured me on, step by step, to the results of which this volume is only a tithe. Such remembrances, allow me to hope that I have not written in vain; that you, too, may be interested, instructed, and what is more,

172

LANGUAGE OF ANIMATED NATURE.

induced to examine this subject for yourself. I need not tell you of the materials which are strewn every where around you, with a lavish hand; of the varied and delightful contemplations of which language is a worthy and ennobling theme; of the intimate relation which it sustains to our whole being, interwoven, as it is, with every thing that can enlist the feelings or touch the heart; with all that is called thought, and all that bears the impress of mind, I need not tell you, that consciousness will whisper approval from within; that the constant disclosure of new beauties and excellencies will proclaim success from without; that laden with the cares of a troublous life, you will, nevertheless, turn from time to time, to contemplate language, ever finding some field unexplored, some wide range untraversed; that thus it will be, till the last expiration shall sigh along the ethereal tube, of mind's noblest instrument, the Organs of Voice.

I need not particularize farther, for if you have put forth a single effort, for the acquisition of mental wealth; if you have advanced a single step into the great treasure-house of knowledge, you know that a new and more glorious creation sprang into being at that effort, heaved into view at that step, at first partly visible, but ever expanding with the dilating pupil of the mental eye, to what limit, who can tell!

[ocr errors]

PART THIRD,

LANGUAGE OF REASON.

CHAPTER I.

Man a mystery-How an artificial language is formed-Exclamations-Man a social being-Imitative language-SoundsScriptural account of the confusion of tongues-Illustrations— The original language-The western Indians-Tributaries to the English language-Its present vast extent.

MAN is emphatically a living, breathing mystery. Mystery is stamped upon his brow, written in every lineament of his countenance, elaborately traced in every delicate nerve and folded in every muscle. Mortal and immortal! This emanant from God; that springing from dust; this soaring to Him who gave it; that "earth to earth!" The perishable and imperishable are bound so intimately in his being, that, for what we know of the one, we are indebted to the other, and the crowning beauty of the former, is but the faint, feeble reflection of the latter. He is placed in this beautiful world, where every object, from the stars that illumine the nightly canopy, to the tiniest flower in the low vale, eloquently declares that the tenant and the dwelling are the creation of the same Almighty Hand.

Imagine this noble being, thus gloriously endowed, to be a man in stature, but an infant in mind, unacquainted with language, and a new comer upon earth. Let us suppose that no day has yet dawned upon him; that while he is attempting to discern

« PreviousContinue »