The Old Bible. By R. H. STODDARD,. The November Wind at Midnight,. The First Snow-Flakes. By CHAS. R. CLARKE,.35 The Cremation. By WM. BELCHER GLAZIER, 46 The Bunkum Flag-Staff and Independent The Wood-Duck. By W. H. C. HOSMER, Esq., 109 The Mariner's Requiem. By Miss E. H. The Unfolding Star. By C. A. ALEXANDER,. 124 True Freedom: a Sonnet. By RUFUS HENRY The German Hartz. By Jas. M. HOPPIN,....189 Phillis and Flora. By CARL BENSON,.......399 The Heart and the World. By AUGUSTA The Hermit of Utica. By A. B. JOHNSON, Esq., 203 They will return no more. By J. CLEMENT,..228 Two Characters. By a New Contributor,....231 The Winter Dream. By LILLIE GRAHAM,...248 The Loss of the Hornet: a Ballad of the Sea, 301 The Mysterious Pyramid. By HENRY J. The Swan. By W. H. C. HOSMER, Esq.,. The Warder's Tale. By HENRY FENTON,. ART. I. THE THOUSAND ISLANDS: WITH A GLANCE AT SOMETHING ELSE, II. STANZAS: THE CENTURY PLANT, III. THE SPECTRE-CARAVAN. FROM THE GERMAN ANTHOLOGY,' IV. OUR BIRDS: THE WOOD-THRUSH. By W. H. C. HOSMER, ESQ., V. FEMININE PERFECTIONS, OR THE UNREASONABLE BACHELOR, XX. THE BUNKUM FLAG-STAFF AND INDEPENDENT ECHO, GOSSIP WITH READERS AND CORRESPONDENTS. 1. MEDITATIONS ON SACRED GROUND AND AMIDST SACRED SCENES: THOUGHTS ON 69 75 76 77 78 To our Subscribers. THE Publisher of the KNICKERBOCKER gladly avails himself of this opportunity to return his thanks to the numerous patrons and friends of the work, for the generous interest many of them have taken in extending the circulation during the past year. By their efforts in saying 'a word in season' to their friends, many have been added to our subscription-list, and while we gladly acknowledge our indebtedness to them, we would respectfully suggest that many others, who have often taken occasion to express, with much cordiality and warmth, their satisfaction with our Magazine, could easily induce some of their friends to send us their names. We trust they will bear it in mind. We would beg leave again to say to those in arrears, that it is of the utmost importance to have our outstanding claims settled as early as possible. Though we cannot, like the facetious editor of the BUNKUM FLAGSTAFF, take hay, oats, or grits, in exchange, yet we shall most gladly receive the notes of all specie-paying banks in the United States at par. Our distant subscribers therefore need not wait to be called on, but just enclose the amount due by mail, in the best bills they can get, and we will send them a receipt in full, with our most grateful acknowledgments. Please address S. HUESTON, 139 Nassau-st., New-York. THE KNICKERBOCKER. VOL. XXX V. JANUARY, 1850. No. 1. THE THOUSAND ISLANDS. WITH A GLANCE AT SOMETHING ELSE. In these unchivalrous, matter-of-fact days, it would seem to border on the audacious to offer any remarks suggestive of a more liberal use of life, since the spirit of the age seems unsatisfied unless one toils, droops and dies, with harness on his back. We cannot now divine what may come from the nib of our pen, but as we do not belong to the regular army of 'litterateurs,' we may be excused if we should load, aim and fire in the most promiscuous and unsportsmanlike manner, taking now and then a feather from the game that may rise on our path. We may, however, avow thus much: we shall not avoid applying the language of censure to those who find no exhilarating, soul-improving influence in the ministrations of Nature, or who are inclined to deride or cheapen the motives of those who advocate the necessity of manly exercise. When we revert to the scenes that with no slight rapidity have succeeded each other during the season that is now closing, we feel much like the boy who, on his first visit to a museum, is so dazzled by the variety and extent of the objects he encounters that he can calmly contemplate none. He may possibly retain a dreary recollection of the hippopotamus, the big turtle, and Tom Thumb; and in like manner we can only recall such things as are chiefly rememberable from their size or insignificance. As a substitute for the forgotten, we may indulge in some general remarks, saying less of woman than man; and with the aid of our flyrod, bring an occasional fish into the upper air for the relief of the reader's eye. He who should take a view of the actual condition of his fellow-man might be surprised to find how large a portion of them are shut out or prevented from participating in the beauties and uses of the outward world; the positive requirements of daily life demanding the fulfilment of duties through which existence can only be sustained. But his surprise would be increased in contemplating another and higher class; such as possessing the requisite leisure and means to interrogate and report on the manifold objects of interest that are so profusely scattered over the Empire State, but with no will to do it. Such as these may be justly termed infidels to all beauty, culprits at the bar of Nature, and exposed to the severest sentence of her court: indifferent and apathetic; criminally at fault; exhibiting few aspirations beyond the confines of their own domicils, and fearful that the functions of life would stop if they could not hear the rattle of an omnibus, or the news-boy cry 'Herald, Tribune and Mirror;' singing hosannahs to sixpences, while the sweet minstrelsy of Nature appeals to them all in vain. Tell us, ye exclusives of city and suburb! if it is not an unfortunate state of mind that finds more pleasure and repose in silver dinner-sets, splendid mirrors, Sevres porcelain and Turkey carpets, than it does in the heavens and the earth? Not that there is folly in manifesting an attachment to such adornings, but the folly there is in being mastered by them. Devotion to the true interests of humanity may be preserved without idolatry; neither is the race of life expected to be run on a mile-course and repeat. We would not be understood as undervaluing the necessity and efficacy of employment, which is the Magna Charta of our well-being, but we do maintain that the conflicting cares of life, its wear and tear, would be better met and borne, and probably diminished, if a more equitable division was established between work and play. An indis criminate attachment to what is usually termed 'the requisition of duty' has contracted more souls than it ever enlarged; and, what perhaps is worse, it is apt to foster an uncharitable spirit, which pours out its bitterness without stint on many a devoted head; now frowning on any thing implying a genial impulse of the heart, and now rebuking any inspiration that the imagination may evoke in the presence of inanimate objects; in short, it is humanity half lighted up, and worshipping one idea. One of the shrewdest observers, and the most successful author of our age, has remarked: 'I have never remarked any one, be he soldier, divine, or lawyer, that was exclusively attached to the narrow habits of his own profession, but what such person became a great twaddler in good society.' Who does not know, or has not felt, the cold withering denunciations of your exclusively worldly man, when he assumes the censor's сар, endeavoring to suppress all local affection for the sake of gain; denying as delusive whatever cannot be crammed into one's pocket or put into a bank; dwelling with emphasis and severity on whatever allures from traffic; and prophesying defeat and disaster to him whose soul rejects being melted in his crucible and discounted! Such a man, rather than 'bind himself to Nature's chariot-wheels,' would go to the stake if he was sure the fuel were bank-notes; his conscience owning no fellowship but with 'tare and tret.' This is no fiction; a day's reality transcends a century of fiction. The lives of some people are passed in the contemplation of prospective benefits, keeping them idle on one spot, and subjecting themselves to a jail-like penance. They have an uncle or an aunt or grandfather on whom this day's sun may set for the last time, and believing that their moneyed salvation de |
