Morning Star

FAME AND PHILOSOPHY.

He who has lived for fame only, will learn that happiness and renown are scarcely speaking acquaintance. Even if he grasps the rainbow he has so madly pursued, he will find its tints fading with every passing cloud, and flickering at every changing ray. Nor is he who has wasted the energies of his youth in disentangling the knotty skein of controversy more likely to find the evening of his days cloudless and serene. The demon of dogmatism or of doubt, will grapple him closely, and convert his early glow of feeling and elasticity of thought, into rancorous prejudice, of shattered faith. But the deep stream of philosophical knowledge is untinged by one drop of bitterness. Its gurgling waters constantly speak of heaven from which they flow, and the quiet sound lulls the listening spirit into peace.

If age like infancy, must have its playthings, what can be so dignified as the battery and barometer, telescope and prism? Electric power may be increased with less danger than the power of man: it is safer to weigh the air than a neighbor's motives; it is less agitating to fix the eye upon volcanoes in the moon, than upon tempests in the political horizon;—and it is far easier to separate and unite the color in a ray of light, than it is to blend the many colored hues of truth, turned out of their course by the three cornered glass of controversy.

He who drinks deeply at the fountain of natural science, will reflect all around him the light which beams on his own tranquil spirit. If the sympathy of heart and intellect is within its reach, he will enjoy it more highly than any other man; but if he is alone in the world, no man can, with so much sincerity, say to the incitements of fame, the glitter of wealth, and the allurements of pleasure, 'stand out of my sunshine!'

Miss Francis.