Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. II.djvu/140

Rh I fix my eyes immediately on my book. In the mornings however my leafy drawing-room is tolerably free from people, and interesting porpoises are sometimes the only living creatures that I see.

I have had some rich hours here nevertheless, by the actual reading of a book lately published, the fourth part of Örsted's “Aanden i Naturen” in which he still further develops, as I besought of him to do in Copenhagen, those germs of thought which lie hidden in his glorious little work, “Ofver förnuftlagarnas enhet uti hela universum.” Never shall I forget the delight which thrilled through me the morning on which I first read this little work, which Örsted had given to me, and when the consciousness that it was equally applicable to the whole higher human intelligence, flashed through my soul like lightning! It was early in the morning, but I could not resist going to Örsted and telling him my delight and my presage. That morning, and the conversations which thence ensued between the amiable old man and myself during the winter which I spent in Copenhagen, and the rich hours which they afforded me, I lived over again here whilst I have been reading this new work of Örsted's, and during the glorious prospects which have opened to me even beyond the horizon, which has been indicated by this noble, scientific man. But Örsted has done his work in a large manner; and whilst he has determined that which is known certainly, and that which, in all probability, may be taken for granted, he has left the field open for still further research and deduction, by the guidance of those laws and analogies which he has pointed out. How I rejoice in the thoughts of being able, on my return to Denmark, to see again this estimable old, but youthful-minded, man.

But I must now tell you about my life at Cape May. I pass my mornings in company with the sea and the porpoises. When the tide comes in—as for instance this