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lean void beneath. And in yon deep shadow a flock of ducks are floating silently, amid the sweet perfume of the wild lotus and white water-lily, which are growing near. One or two have wandered out into the lake, making no ripple, but moving as if lured away by the glossy loveliness of their shadows. The same mysterious influence which has brought me thus far, will transport me to the opposite shore.

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I am there! yet still my course is onward." I am come to a little lawn, so smooth and beautiful that it seems a fit playground for the fairies. Perhaps it is here the water-sprites and wood-nymphs are wont to meet, to revel and rejoice at midnight, "the dawn of the fairy day."

What sound is that! so like the far-off tones of an hundred musical instruments, Ah! I thought so!

faintly murmuring?

Here they are :

"They come from beds of lichen green,
They creep from the mullen's velvet screen;
Some on the backs of beetles fly,

From the silver tops of moon-touched trees,

Where they swung in their cobweb hammocks high,

And rocked about in the evening breeze;

Some from the hum-bird's downy nest,

They had driven him out by elfin power,

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And pillowed on plumes of his rainbow breast
Have slumbered there till the charmed hour.
Some had lain in the scoop of the rock,

With glittering ising-stars inlaid;

And some had opened the four-o'-clock,

And stole within its purple shade.

And now they throng the moonlight glade,
Above, ― below, on every side,

There little minim forms arrayed

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In the tricksy pomp of fairy pride! - Drake.

That was but a flight of fancy. I look again, and instead of the fairies, I behold a myriad of fair flowers, peeping at the sky from the green luxuriant grass.

But see! I have reached, surely it can be none other, a prairie. What dark cloud is brooding over this motionless ocean? - a mighty flame bursting from its centre? It comes! it comes! The prairie is on fire! The wind is rising, and swift as the wind speeds the flame. Maddened by fear, the buffalo, the wild horse, the wolf, the deer, birds, and other living creatures, are fleeing for their lives. Roaring and hissing, the fireflood rolls on, swallowing up every thing in its

course.

And now it has gone, leaving behind

it a wide path of blackness. The smoke obscures the moon and stars. "Far off its coming shone;" the incense of a sacrifice offered to the great God by the Earth, for some enormous sin. But it is gone; and I resume my journey.

I am now in an open country of hills and dales. A narrow but deep river is gliding by me, in its pride and beauty. Now it is lost to view by some abrupt headland, and anon it makes a long sweep through a plain or meadow, its ripples sporting in the moonlight.

I hear the splash of fish, leaping from their watery bed. I hear the measured stroke of a paddle. It is an Indian in his birch canoe, passing down the river. He has startled a loon from his wavy cradle below the rapids. I hear the sound of a waterfall. A mile away there is a precipice, where the river gathers all its strength for a fearful leap. Now, its surface is without a wrinkle; but a moment more, and it plunges down among the rocks, and the waves struggle, and leap, and rise and sink, like demon-spirits in agony.

I am standing on a hill which overlooks a lovely landscape of woods and lawns, streams, hills, valleys, and cultivated fields, — farm houses and church steeples. In the distance sleep the deep blue waves of a fresh-water sea. A streak of daylight is in the eastern sky. The spell is broken: my dream is ended.

OLD LOUIS OLMSTED.

"His silver hairs,

Will purchase him a good opinion,

And buy men's voices to commend his deeds."

Shakspeare.

OUR carriage drove up to the village inn, about two hours before sunset. Owing to the lameness of one of our horses, my companions concluded not to resume our journey until the morrow. How they spent the evening it matters not to relate. As to myself, after taking a short walk, I returned to the inn, and falling into conversation with a young gentleman there, invited him to sup with me, and we remained together until a late hour. I afterwards learned that he was, at that time, on a visit home from college. It was one of the loveliest evenings of summer. From our

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