I. NIAGARA I. Flow on forever, in thy glorious robe 2. 3. And who can dare To lift the insect trump of earthly hope, Doth rest not night or day. The morning stars, When first they sang o'er young creation's birth, The solid earth, shall find Jehovah's name 4. 5. Lo! yon birds Do venture boldly near, bathing their wing Scarce lawful with our broken tones to speak Familiarly of thee. Methinks to tint Thy glorious features with our pencil's point, Were profanation. Thou dost make the soul A wondering witness of thy majesty ; And while it rushes with delirious joy To tread thy vestibule, dost chain its step, - MRS. SIGOURNEY. THE FALLS OF NIAGARA 1. The thoughts are strange that crowd into my brain “The sound of many waters," and had bid Thy flood to chronicle the ages back, And notch His centuries in the eternal rocks. 2. Deep calleth unto deep. And what are we In his short life, to thy unceasing roar? - BRAINARD. II. THE SEA AND ITS USES I. It is a common thing in speaking of the sea to call it a waste of waters." But this is a mistake. Instead of being a waste and a desert, it keeps the earth itself from becoming a waste and a desert. It is the world's fountain of life and health and beauty, and if it were taken away, the grass would perish from the mountains, the forests would crumble on the hills. Water is as indispensable to all life, vegetable or animal, as the air itself. This element of water is supplied entirely by the sea. The sea is the great inexhaustible fountain which is continually pouring up into the sky precisely as many streams, and as large, as all the rivers of the world are pouring into the sea. 2. The sea is the real birthplace of the clouds and the rivers, and out of it come all the rains and dews of heaven. Instead of being a waste and an incumbrance, therefore, it is a vast fountain of fruitfulness, and the nurse and |