Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

The temples of the Greeks were mostly built in groves. Tacitus informs us, that the first part in consecrating the Roman capital, consisted in the soldiers entering with boughs of trees, and then the vestal virgins, attended by boys and girls, sprinkled the floor with spring, brook, and river water.

The oratories of the Jews were surrounded by olive trees, whilst in the deepest recesses of the forests, the Druids of Gaul, Britain, and Germany were accustomed to sacrifice. Virgil, describing Elysium as filled with the most luxuriant gifts of nature, also represents that the highest bliss of the happy spirits, is to repose on flowery banks, or to wander among its shady groves. The Icelanders believe that upon the summit of Boula, a mountain which no foot has yet ascended, there is a cavern, opening to a paradise of never-fading verdure, delightfully shaded by trees, and abounding in large flocks of sheep. We know that our boasted AngloSaxon race once worshipped trees, because of Canute's having forbidden this species of idolatry among them. When a native of Java has a child born, he immediately plants a cocoa-nut tree, which, adding every year a circle to its growth, indicates the age of the trees, and by this means the age of the child. He, in consequence, regards the tree with affection all the rest of his life. The Tartar diviners assure us that whoever plants trees will enjoy life to an advanced age. We Christians dress our houses and churches with holly, bay, and cedar, as it were, to welcome the Nativity of our Saviour, and we sing the carols of the Advent, and we place in our dwellings the "Christmas Tree," the evergreens-beautiful emblems of the bright and unfading world, where Christ has gone to prepare endless mansions of bliss, joy, and happiness for his faithful followers.

The use the poets have made of trees is very striking, beautiful, and important. Old Homer frequently embellishes his subjects with them; and no passage in the Illiad is more fine than where he compares the falling of the leaves and shrubs to the fall and renovation of ancient families. Such illustrations are frequent in the sacred writings. Says the author of Ecclesiastes, "I am exalted like a cedar in Lebanon," and 66 as a cypress tree upon the mountain of Hermon. I was exalted like a palm tree in Engedi, and as a rose plant in Jericho; as a turpentine tree I stretched out my branches, and my branches are the branches of honour and grace." In the Psalms there is a fine allegory, where the vine is made to represent the people of Israel.

How beautiful is the passage in Ossian, of Malvina's lamentation for Oscar: "I was a lovely tree in thy presence, Oscar, with all my branches round me: but thy death came like a blast from the desert, and laid my green head low; the spring returned with its showers, but no green leaf of mine arose." Again, when Osssian is old, blind, and weary, and almost without friends, 'he compares himself to a tree, dried up and decayed: "But Ossian is a tree

[ocr errors]

that is withered; its branches are blasted and bare; no green leaf covers its boughs; from its trunk no young shoot is seen to spring; the breeze whistles in its grey moss; the blast shakes its head of age; the stom soon will overturn it, and strew all its dry branches with thee, O Dermid and with all the rest of the mighty dead, in the green winding vale of Cona." Phocian, one day hearing an orator promise many fine things to the Athenians, exclaimed: "I think I now see a cypress tree; in its leaves, its branches, and in its height it is beautiful, but, alas! it bears no fruit." Very beautiful, too, is the metaphor, with some delicate flattery, where Horace represents the glory of Cæsar's house like a tree rising slowly from its seed, and after several ages, spreading its branches to the heavens-there towering with as much dignity in the forest, as did Marcellus above all other youths. Dr. Blair compares a good man to an oak, whose branches the tempest may indeed bend, but whose root it can never touch-a tree which may be occasionally stripped of its leaves and blossoms, but which still maintains its place, and in due season will flourish anew.

Mythologists have supposed trees to be the residence of inferior deities, and beautiful are some of the fictions which have arisen from this notion. Not to mention any from the ancients, and far superior to those of Ovid, is that of Tasso, where he describes Rinaldo as living in an enchanted wood-a large myrtle surrounded by a hundred smaller ones. As he approaches the air resounds with strains of enchanting music-every tree opens, disclosing nymphs of seraphic beauty, who, forming into a circle, welcome him to their enchanted grove, with songs of pleasure and delight.

Thus is it that the forest, from time immemorial, has been the theme of song, and to this day the sylvan solitude is the magic spell of romance. And truly, what can be compared to the forests? It is nature's own sanctuary. From its ever-green moss, and its flowers, are sheda balmy freshness, whilst leaves, dew-drops and sunbeams seem mysteriously to dance through the branches, and conduct the mind by an invisfble power into the realm of wonders. Such is the forest, the labyrinth of fairy tale and table-the silent retreat of useful, solitary thought.

The oak is the aboriginal tree of Europe, and early was reverenced as the Tree of of Life, the precious gift of the Great Father. Its fruit appeased the hunger of the wandering hordes on the shores of Greece; in its trunk they found a dwelling; from beneath its roots sprang the rivulet that gave them drink.

The Greeks and Romans consecrated the oak to the gods of Olympus, as from its nestling branches were heard the voices of the future. In the oaktops the German and the Scandina vian beheld the abode of the god of thunder, whilst their priests cherished the sacred mistletoe, strangely growing on its trunk. There was no tree for bold, irregular beauty, which could

be compared to it; nor any offering such efficient services for the first wants of manthe house of the living, the coffin for the deadthe ship which conveyed the daring crusader, and the spear for the hunters' arm. To cherish it was a solemn duty, and the Anglo-Saxon alphabet beautifully says of it:

"On the land the oak is,

To the children of men,

For the flesh a depository;

It travels often,

Over the path of the waterfowl,
Exploring the lake.

Let each one possess an oak-
The noble tree!"

lining its sides with a dense shield, wards off' the strong blows. Up here, the monarch of the mountain has planted his foot,-a giant hero, admirably equipped, and rejoicing to fight the battle of the clouds with olus and his wild combatants;-while, from below, the evergreen ivy and the honeysuckle climb and twine around the stem, and the robin and the blackbird sing fresh songs amid its branches.

Such is the American oak. It has seen the native Indians, Columbus and Hudson, with the earliest colonists. It still stands, proud and green, but there are few like it, by which we may count back the boundary marks of past history. In this land the fatal axe is too unsparingly wielded against what is planted by the hand of Nature, and we say, "Woodman, spare that tree." Old England, so poor in forests, does Luxuriance and vigour unite in its growth, differently-she shows great veneration for these from the far reaching root to the firm, shield-like truthful witnesses of the past. Proud is she of leaf. There stands the oak, the tree of strength, her oaks, and has a right to be so. In Sherwood the monarch of the forest (quercus rober), with Forest to this day stands the tree under whose its daring zigzag branches, and grand crooked- branches King John gave audience, and perhaps ness of stem. This is the hoar king of the in his time it was centuries old. There stands forest, to whom the eagle resorts, and heroes the very oak in which famed Robin Hood pretake for an example. How fitting and ingeni-sided when the royal deer were cut up and disous the device of the English kings when they ascended the throne, to select an oak to bear their name, and carry it down to coming generations.

The heroic nature of the tree seems to be proclaimed by another circumstance: it is seldom seen in a crowd; mostly standing alone, or mingled with other trees of different foliage. In low plains it is often associated in fine groups, and forms a picture for the painter. Such a beautiful sight have we seen in the "Live Oak Plantation," as it is called, belonging to the United States, along Santa Rosa Sound, Florida. This sheet of water extends some twelve miles amidst meadows of luxuriant green, with clear, white sandy shores. Here and there, the stag, but seldom disturbed, raises his proud antlers, as if listening to cries from afar. As our little self-moving steamer passed along, pleasant peeps were obtained between the dark, grotesque zigzag trunks, while through the deep, solemn masses of green foliage, there glided silently the golden sunbeams.

On the mountains, however, we have seen the oak in all its native grandeur, and amidst the aboriginal Alleghanies. There you may behold those monarchs, whose age is a thousand years. Reubens' and other pencils have painted such. Far above Nature's wails of rock, the roots gripe with distorted grasp, deep into the stony ribs, as if they would cleave the earth. Then, the noble tree shoots and grows upwards out of the earth slowly, but of gigantic size, even unto the pathway of the clouds. Like impenetrable armour, the deeply-scared bark fastens itself around the body and limbs of the giant of the woods. The knotty branches show great strength, and when the boisterous north wind hurls his darts against the iron trunk, the shaggy covering of moss,

tributed. There, too, is the parliament oak, in which he held his meetings, with the green oak of the valley, in whose towering and branched trunk the bold outlaw met his merry company. In the New forest a stone points out where, until a hundred years ago, the oak tree once stood, beneath whose branches William Rufus fell by Tyrrell's hand. Thus, the old trees of England call to mind memorable scenes and personages. What protected these oaks? The spirit of reverence for law and self respect. This it is which watches over and preserves her relics, monuments, and trees. So should it be with us.

PRAYSE OF GOODE WYMEN.

BY ROBERTE OF GLOUCESTER, ANNO 1400.

Nothing is to manne so dear
As wymene's love in good mannere;
A good woman is manne's blysse
Where her love right and steadfast is.
There is no solas under heven
Of all that to a manne may neven,
That should a manne clinging to,
As a good woman that loveth true.
Nought dearer is in God's family,
Than a pure woman who speaketh lovelily.
Neven-Have knowledge of.

THE TOILET.

(Specially from Paris.)

Dress unbroken trellis pattern between the puffs, from the beginning of the corset to the base of the skirt. The proper coiffure with this dress sprays of myosotis.

FIRST FIGURE: Evening Toilet. composed of a first skirt of white satin; second skirt, a long train made of green satin; short sleeves. A chemisette of tulle illusion. Mignon coiffure, accompanied by velvet foliage, with amber fruit and long tresses, intertwined with foliage hanging down on the shoulders.

SECOND FIGURE: Visiting Toilet. - Half short. This dress consists of a first skirt made of violet cashmere; second skirt, of black pou de soie. Body round at the waist. Double sleeves, the second pair hanging considerably below the elbow. If desired the violet cashmere may be replaced by satin of the same tint. Empire bonnet of black velvet, ornamented with roses inside and out.

There seems to be no medium in the eccentricities of fashion, and the last caprice in evening dress affects a first skirt that almost traces the figure: this is made of white satin. The second skirt is likewise of satin, almost flat. The first skirt is ornamented at the base with three rows of cherry-coloured ribbon velvet; the second is cut into deep scallops and edged with the same. In the hair groups of cherry-coloured velvet.

A second ball-dress of blue velvet is also without plaits at the waist, and is accompanied by a square-cut corselet, with silver gimp trimmings. Long loose sleeves. Hair to be dressed in the Empire style.

A third model is composed of a jonquil satin dress with a long train, and a trimming in the apron form in front, formed of puffings separated by satin rolls; with this dress gold chains should be worn in the hair.

A fourth model consists of a light-blue silk dress, covered with a tulle skirt, puffed from top to bottom with blue satin rolls, forming an

Feather trimmings are much in vogue, and are worn on dresses, paletots, and inside and outside of bonnets; indeed, we have seen a Paris shape covered with a fanchon of the downy marabout, which appeared all that ladies comprehend in the expression "A love of a bonnet." Fringes, too, of all sorts are greatly worn-of jet, amber, emerald, white and gold beads, and glands; pearls also and crystal are greatly used in this way.

Flowers chosen at will, and disposed in a multitude of agrafes, are worn on ball-dresses, and in coiffures.

The newest silk robes are of full shades; many of them are embroidered en tablier, in black silk. The newest poplins are brocaded with tiny bouquets of very bright flowers. Satins are, and will be, very much worn: they are of exquisite texture and of rich shades. Where short dresses are adopted-and as yet they are by no means prevalent - the plan is to wear very small round hoops; the petticoat, which has very little fulness, is made just to clear the ground. The dress, of the same material, is made a quarter of a yard shorter, the edge being cut out in scallops, points, or turrets.

Though fancy under-skirts are greatly worn, plain scarlet promises to be the favourite, especially through the skating season. Jannings, of Oxford Street, has produced a novelty, consisting of a bordering of patent leather cut as described above, and bordered with buttons and braid. As this border is washable without removal from the skirt, the latter has great advantage over other forms of jupons.

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]
[graphic][subsumed]
« ZurückWeiter »