The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No 4, August, 1864, page 20 by Various Authors
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eroic fighting, also, is a worship accepted at His seat. They bid us be thankful, as for the most sacred of all gifts, that thousands, in this loyal land of ours, have had the high grace, given from above,
'To search through all they felt and saw, The springs of life, the depths of awe, And reach the law within the law:
'To pass, when Life her light withdraws, Not void of righteous self-applause, Nor in a merely selfish cause--
'In some good cause, not in their own, To perish, wept for, honored, known, And like a warrior overthrown.'
PROVERBS.
Violets and lilies-of-the-valley are seen in a vale.
Family jars should be filled with honey.
All are not lambs that gambol on the green.
Ask the 'whys,' and be wise.
THE UNDIVINE COMEDY--A POLISH DRAMA.
Dedicated to Mary.
PART II.
'Du Gemisch von Koth und Feuer!' 'Thou compound of clay and fire!'
Why, O child! art thou not, like other children, riding gayly about on sticks for horses, playing with toys, torturing flies, or impaling butterflies on pins, that the brilliant circles of their dying pangs may amuse thy young soul? Why dost thou never romp and sport upon the grassy turf, pilfer sugarplums and sweetmeats, and wet the letters of thy picture book from A to Z with sudden tears?
Infant king of flies, moths, and grasshoppers; of cowslips, daisies, and of kingcups; of tops, hoops, and kites; little friend of Punch and puppets; robber of birds' nests, and outlaw of petty mischiefs--son of the poet, tell me, why art thou so unlike a child--so like an angel?
What strange meaning lies in the blue depths of thy dreamy eyes? Why do they seek the ground as if weighed down by the shadows of their drooping lashes; and why is their latent fire so gloomed by mournful memories, although they have only watched the early violets of a few springs? Why sinks thy broad head heavily down upon thy tiny hands, while thy pall