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Page 33
"Then you consider free agency only a chance game, depending, as it
were, upon the throw of a die?" observed Ella, inquiringly.
"I believe this much of free agency, that a train of circumstances often
forces some to evil and others to good; and that we should look upon the
former, in many cases--mind I do not say all--as unfortunate rather than
criminal--with pity rather than scorn; and so endeavor to reclaim them.
Were this doctrine more practiced by Christians--by those whom the world
terms good, (but whom circumstances alone have made better than their
fellows,) there would be far less of sin, misery, and crime abounding
for them to deplore. Let the creed of churches only be to ameliorate the
condition of the poor, relieve the distressed, remove temptations from
youth, encourage the virtuous, and endeavor, by gently means, to reclaim
the erring--and the holy design of Him who died to save would nobly
progress, prisons would be turned into asylums, and scaffolds be things
known only by tradition."
Algernon spoke with an easy, earnest eloquence, and a force of emphasis,
that made each word tell with proper effect upon his fair hearer. To
Ella the ideas he advanced were, many of them, entirely new; and she
mused thoughtfully upon them, as they rode along, without reply; while
he, becoming warm upon a subject that evidently occupied no inferior
place in his mind, went on to speak of the wrongs and abuses which
society in general heaped upon the unfortunate, as he termed
them--contrasted the charity of professing Christians of the eighteenth
century with that of Christ himself--and pointed out what he considered
the most effectual means of remedy. To show that a train of
circumstances would frequently force persons against their own will and
reason to be what society terms criminal, he referred to himself, and
his own so far eventful destiny; and Ella could not but admit to
herself, that, in his case at least, his arguments were well grounded,
and she shaped her replies accordingly.
Thus conversing, they continued upon their course, until they came to
the brow of a steep descent, down which the path ran in a zigzag manner,
through a dark, gloomy ravine, now rendered intensely so to our
travelers, by the hour, their thoughts, the wildness of the scenery
around, and the dense growth of cedars covering the hollow, whose
untrimmed branches, growing even to the ground, overreached and partly
obstructed their way. By this time only one or two stars were visible in
the heavens; and they shone with pale, faint gleams; while in the east
the beautiful gray and crimson tints of Aurora announced that day was
already breaking on the slumbering world. Drawing rein, Algernon and
Ella paused as if to contemplate the scene. Below and around them each
object presented that misty, indistinct appearance, which leaves the
imagination power to give it either a pleasing or hideous shape. In the
immediate vicinity, the country was uneven; rocky, and covered with
cedars; but far off to the right could be discerned the even surface of
the cane-brake, previously mentioned, now stretching away in the
distance like the unruffled bosom of some beautiful lake. A light breeze
slightly rustled the leaves of the trees, among whose branches an
occasional songster piped forth his morning lay of rejoicing.
"How lovely is nature in all her varieties!" exclaimed Ella, with
animation, as she glanced over the scene.
"Ay, and in that variety lies her loveliness," answered Algernon.
"It is the constant and eternal change going forward that interests us,
and gives to nature her undying charm. Man--high-souled, contemplative
man--was not born to sameness. Variety is to his mind what food is to
his body; and as the latter, deprived of its usual nourishment, sinks to
decay--so the former, from like deprivation of its strengthening power,
becomes weak and imbecile. Again: as coarse, plain food and hardy
exercise add health and vigor to the physical--so does the contemplation
of nature in her wildness and grandeur give to the mental a powerful and
lofty tone. Of all writers for poetical and vigorous intellects, give me
those who have been reared among cloud-capped hills, and craggy steeps,
and rushing streams, and roaring cataracts; for their conceptions are
grand, their comparisons beautiful, and the founts from which they draw,
as exhaustless almost as nature herself."
"I have often thought the same myself," returned Ella; "for I never gaze
upon a beautiful scene in nature, that I do not feel refreshed. To me
the two most delightful are morning and evening. I love to stand upon
some eminence, and mark, as now, the first gray, crimson and golden
streaks that rush up in the eastern sky; and catch the first rays of old
Sol, as he, surrounded by a reddened halo, shows his welcome face above
the hills; or at calm eve watch his departure, as with a last, fond,
lingering look he takes his leave, as 'twere in sorrow that he could not
longer tarry; while earth, not thus to be outdone in point of grief,
puts on her sable dress to mourn his absence."
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