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Show 314 Tilt: J,IJUmTY n.t:LT •• Not far off men of the present have built a little church upon a hill, and a church tower, and in it hung o bell. !?rom a distant hill-side, I looked back, and saw the ancient towers. It was sunset. A cloud went over above and sprinkled a shower on the earth, at which there went up a rich smell gratefully to God. Tho green fields and darkening woods smiled suddenly ; and tho sky blushed its rosy pleasure. 'Men and women driving cows and goats, and carrying firewood, and spinning, greeted one another. At that moment, it was six o'clock, and from afar through the air came the sound of the Bell. What magic was in tho tone. At the first pulsation tho world dissolved into an Elysium. 'rho present past away ; the ancient ages opened their mellowed atmosphere and shades of priests and heroes flitted through tbe ncar shadows and tho distant rain streaks. The voice of the Bell was Til~; Bt:I.I •. the omnipresent spit·it of the f'Cene, the only allpervading reality. Such is tho Voice of ~J.lruth. Through the art!' and arms of life, through the atmosphere of civilir.ation occasionally washed by tho showers of Nature, through the perspective of one-sided knowledge, it fills all places instantly aml all souls unutterably with its thrill, reali:')ing the forgotten past and tho uncredited futme, avouching immortality and immutnbility for itself and for tho men of God, nnnouncing the impotence of destiny, the beauty of ruin, the security of goodness forever. Like the first brooding spirit on the water~:!, it murmurs to itself a.t OYcry new m·eation from the hand of God or God's vicegerent .l\Ian, a musical Bon! Bon ! Beau ! Bel ! Good, very Good ! and Beautiful ! ~f.1his is the true Dell sound. Phlladclpbia, Novewbtr, 1862. |