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nature's teachings.
iii.
Go trace the waters of the sparkling rill,
From out their rocky birthplace wildly gushing,
Trickling in infant beauty from the hill,
Or in the sun with diamond lustre flushing:
Now gliding onward for awhile serene,
Now, twisted roots and vexing rocks between,
Then dashing on, with fiercer, wilder force,
And swifter race along their destined course,
To mingle with the ocean waves at last;
And such is Life—its Childhood's fount so fair,
Its Youth's gay morn so joyous and so free,
Its Manhood's hour of fearful strife and care—
Its Age of rapid flight so quickly past—
'Till lost amid thy depths, Eternity.
From out their rocky birthplace wildly gushing,
Trickling in infant beauty from the hill,
Or in the sun with diamond lustre flushing:
Now gliding onward for awhile serene,
Now, twisted roots and vexing rocks between,
Then dashing on, with fiercer, wilder force,
And swifter race along their destined course,
To mingle with the ocean waves at last;
And such is Life—its Childhood's fount so fair,
Its Youth's gay morn so joyous and so free,
Its Manhood's hour of fearful strife and care—
Its Age of rapid flight so quickly past—
'Till lost amid thy depths, Eternity.
iv.
Go in the spring-time—when the smiling earth
Puts on her robes of beauty for thine eye,
And lo, she speaks of that celestial birth
The Spirit knows in brighter worlds on high:
Puts on her robes of beauty for thine eye,
And lo, she speaks of that celestial birth
The Spirit knows in brighter worlds on high: