Page:Scenes in my Native Land.pdf/231

Rh The reader was less than thirteen years of age; in the language of affection of 'angelic beauty;' and many of those present, saw him now, for the first time, since but a few years before they had caressed him, an infant on the knee. His talents as a reader, by nature superior, were heightened by the excitement of the occasion; and the effect upon a numerous audience, to use the language of one who heard it, was 'indescribable and overpowering.' They remembered the words of the Psalmist 'out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength,' and their hearts yielded to the lips of a child, an obedience which age and wisdom could not have commanded. This incident, never forgotten by the inhabitants of his native valley, was afterwards recalled to mind with deep interest, when, after eleven years, he again adressed them as an authorized preacher of the gospel. This was his only subsequent visit, and but two years before his death."

Proud dowry hast thou, beauteous dell, Of murmuring stream, and mountain swell, And storied legend, stern and high Of ancient border chivalry, And ashes of the brave, that sleep In hallowed urn, mid foliage deep.

Still Memory calls with magic power. Forth from his cherished natal bower,