No. 12. 195': gilded arabesque and mosaic, the colors of which, by an art which seems to have been lost with the Moors, are as brilliant as when they were first laid on, five hundred years ago. Water is made to spout into the air, or, in smooth sheets bordered with flowers, refreshes the interior of the apartments. After the expulsion of the Moors, Charles V. built on part of its site a new palace, the external architecture of which was much superior; but it was never finished. THE WESTERN GIRLS. Oh tell me not of peerless girls Who breathe the air of Grecian Isles, Where brows are swept by raven curls, And looks tell love to answering smiles! But give me those whose cheeks are fanned By the wild winds here in the West, Whose thoughts sublime in accents bland Revive one's visions of the blest. Our Western girls most surely are In arts which please you, or perplex. And eyes that glance like stars at even, One look can strike your hopes forlorn, Or fill your heart with dreams of heaven. Their lips are sweet as lute of love, When minstrel wakens up his tune, Talk not to me of dreamy eyes, And words which, like the south wind's sighs, Peculiar to their own bright clime, And rouse the soul to pleasure's chime. They can admire each splendid thought Which, lark-like, leaps toward the skiesAnd every strain, with genius fraught, Woos on and wins their sympathies. You've seen the eagle on his wing, High up in heaven pursue his way, Their accents float upon the wind. And sing of smiles beyond all price, To fill our minds and make us blestFor our own girls have charms which keep Our fancies home, here in the West. RIGEL. No. 12. Laurel Hill Cemetery. 197 It chapel of beautiful proportions and chaste the place, and may hence be led to preparaworkmanship; a large Mansion House for tion. The consciousness that the lot marked visitors to rest in, or to retreat to in case of with our name, and decorated with our a storm; a handsome Receiving Tomb for hands, must ere long contain our mortal porthose who may require its use, and stabling tion, begets a new interest in the possession, sufficient to accommodate forty carriages, which seems to us the most cherished, beshould it rain at the time of a funeral; with cause that of all our earthly attainments will a green house intended to be filled with such alone interest us after death. The influence ornamental plants and shrubs as may be re- of these rural cemeteries, it may be truly quired for the embellishment of the grounds said, is tranquilizing and serene. It soothes in summer, which will not bear the cold of the heart of the mourner with the many winter. voices of nature, and fans the long funeral This is a summary of accommodations pre-procession with the breath of peace. sented by no other cemetery in the world, would scarcely seem a pain to sink into the provided by the prudent forsight of the com- dust surrounded by thick recesses of shrubpany. The land is ornamented by a great||bery, where the breeze, freshened from the number of magnificent forest trees, inter- river, comes with odor on its wings, and spersed with evergreens of fifty years growth, towering pines send perpetual murmurs on and to these have been added eight hundred the waftings of the gale. The poet's wish is ornamental trees and shrubs, in every va- here realized to the very letter: riety, calculated to embellish the view. Nature and art have combined their aid to render it one of the most enchanting spots in this or any country; in this opinion we are seconded by the testimony of distinguished foreigners, who have remarked with surprise and admiration the variety of inland and river views, the bold and rocky crags, the smooth inclining precipice, and the level upland, concentrated, as it were, by an unusual effort of nature, in so small a space. "Mine be the breezy hill that skirts the down, with here and there a violet bestrown, Here the visitor will not be shocked with the mouldering coffin, or sunken, yawning grave; here sleep the dead amid the beauties of nature, their memories associated with the most soothing and most simple emblems of mortality-emblems that are at once the most eloquent advocates of religion and morality, and the most determined foes to unnatural fear and superstition; which in fact inculcate the salutary conviction that the spirit lives eternally. In such a pleasing spot, where the birds sing over the graves, and flowers and trees present their ever new verdure, the dreariness of the grave is lost, the utter oblivion that awaits the tenant of a confined graveyard is forgotten-death is here robbed of half its horrors. Every nation, at one period A few words more on the plan, and we of its history, has thus consecrated a hal- have done with a topic of universal interest lowed spot to the dead; every where we to all mankind, which must be an excuse for trace them, in the characteristic remains of lingering so long on what greatly enlists our the most distant ages, and as far back as his- feelings. The Cemetery Company have laid tory carries its traditionary outlines. They out the grounds in the most tasteful manner: are found in the cairns and mounds of olden lots are surveyed of different sizes, varying times, reared by the uninstructed affection from one hundred to one hundred and fifty of savage tribes, and every where the spots square feet, for which deeds for ever are seem to have been selected with the same granted to individuals or families, at the low tender regard to the living and the dead; price of fifty cents per foot. When more that the magnificence of nature might ad- than one is required, two contiguous lots may minister comfort to human sorrow, and excite be purchased. These may be transmitted to human sympathy. In these spots family af- posterity in the same manner as real estate, fection is gratified in the assurance that and cannot, by the regulations, be alienated father and child may repose side by side, or seized by creditors; nothing exclusive has and no speculation scatter their bones, an entered into the plan; the price renders it offering to avarice, as has been too frequently accessible to every family, and no decoradone in all our principal cities. The smittention, to add to the cost, is required, beyond heart may, at stated periods, pour out its what may suit the wishes and the means of grief where the cherished one reposes, secure the purchaser, who, in taking possession, and from the gaze of idle passengers, and pluck complying with the easy terms of sale, will a flower consecrated to memory. Profit become an interested proprietor. comes from "meditations among the tombs;" we grow familiar with the spot and its attributes; we learn to connect our destiny with No. 12.-B We hope our citizens will all feel a just pride in this undertaking, which is the most popular one of the day, and therefore entitled to the first place in our series of descriptions of "The Lions of Philadelphia." It relates to a universal want of all our species: "Sinner and saint, alike, Emperor and slave, king, peasant lord, and vassal, Nor sex, nor age, nor strength, nor weakness 'scapes; VOL. I. A handsome stranger's ground has been laid out for the interment of others than lot holders, at a moderate cost. The regulations adopted by the Managers are highly judicious. The gate is opened at nine, A. M., and closed at sunset. Foot passengers are admitted during those hours, and the carriages of proprietors of lots only have free access to the ground. To render it quiet on Sunday, none but proprietors, with their friends accompanying them, are admitted, no carriages having egress on that day. The charter granted by the Legislature is ex-ready, to denote it as one of the first places tremely liberal to purchasers of lots, and they should visit while sojourning among us. every precaution for rendering the place per- Reference to engraving of ground plan: manent having been adopted that human 1, Mansion; 2, Chapel; 3, Receiving foresight could devise, we commend Laurel Tomb; 4, Superintendent's Cottage; 5, Hill to the fostering care of Philadelphians, Coach House; 6, Stabling; 7, Green House; and to strangers we have said enough al-8, Statues of Old Mortality, his Poney, and Ground Plan of Laurel Hill," No. 12. Trust in Heaven-A Brother's Love. Sir Walter Scott, by Thom; 9, Porter's Lodge; 10, Gardener's Lodge; 11, Shrubbery; 12, River Schuylkill. The following is the list of gentlemen corporated by the charter:` NATHAN DUNN, President. J. J. Smith, Jr., Secretary. W. M. Meredith, Written for the Ladies' Garland. THE SHIP-as thunder roll'd, and lightning flash'd — Terror unnerved strong arms, and wild despair Gave aimless energy and conscience wrung But in one young fair girl, the danger caused 44 199 A BROTHER'S LOVE. There is something transcendantly virtu in-ous in the affections of a high-hearted brother towards his gentle and amiable sister. He can feel unbounded admiration for her beauty-he can appreciate and applaud the kindness which she bestows upon himself. He can press her bright lips and her fair forehead, and still she is unpolluted; he can watch the blush steal over her features when he tells her of her innocent follies, and he can clasp her to his bosom in consolation when tears gush from her overloaded heart. With woman there is a feeling of pride mingled with the regard which she has for her brother. She looks upon him as one fitted to brave the tempest of the world; as one to whose arm of protection she can fly for shelter when she is stricken by sorrow, wronged or oppressed; as one whose honor is connected with her own; and who durst not see her insulted with impunity. He is to her, as the oak is to the vine, and though she may fear all other of mankind, she is secure and confident in the love and countenance of her brother. Nothing affords man such satisfaction, and nothing entwines a sister so affectionately among his sympathies and interests as profound reliance on her virtue, and strong convictions of her diffidence and delicacy. As these two latter are far the most delicious qualities of a beautiful female, so they are the strongest spells for enticing away the confidence of the other A female without delicacy is a woman without principle: and as innate and shrinking perception of virtue is a true characteristic of a pure hearted creature, so it is the most infallible union between hearts that truly beat in response to each other. There Dost thou not fear?-oh! see the lightning glare, She answered, "No! I fear no tempest where Spirit of pure affection! thou art sent "From heaven to guard and cheer our path below; But too too often in the blessings lent Do we forget the source from which they flow. We know-oh! could we feel for all e'er given, The calmest, brightest, happiest hour to bless The heart's first offering is due to heaven, -And there the one sure refuge in distress. A holy calm is their's who feel-howe'er The world's wide billows threaten to o'erwhelm "(Though tempest-tost, no earthly pilot near)— Their Heavenly Father still is at the helm. Whitemarsh, Pa., 12th mo. 1837. SENSIBILITY. ELLA. sex. is more tenderness in the disposition of woman, than man; but the affection of a brother is full of the purest and most generous impulses; it cannot be quenched for aught but delicacy and unworthiness, and it will outlive a thousand selfish and sordid attachments.-A deep rooted regard for a gentle creature born of the same parents with ourselves, is certainly one of the noblest feelings of our nature. Were every other feeling of human nature dead, save this, there would still a bright hope remain that the fountain of virtue and principle was not yet sealed. WAR. She was really full of sympathy, as well as of envy and falsehood, and her tears were as sincere as her words were treacherous. She When the ploughshare of war is passing wished with all her heart, that her fellow-over the field of the world, and levelling the creatures might be afflicted-for then she little anthills that we call cities, and scattercould feel for them, then she was the truesting their inhabitants in horror and ruin, we friend in the world, and remained so, till the feel almost reluctant to loose sight of the trouble was over, then immediately began to general suffering in any instance of individuenvy and calumniate again. al calamity. |