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Mrs. Lindsay's part in the sad story is soon told. On the day of the massacre she heard the firing in the harvest-field, and, from the windows of the house, witnessed the brief struggle of her husband

Behind the chief stood a small band of savage attendants, eagerly eyeing the young and helpless pale - faces," as though their fingers itched to be among their curls. "Who are you?" asked the warrior, and Davie with their foes. The fearful sternly.

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"To the fort," put in little Augus, eagerly; may be we shall find mither, and Effie, and Jenny a' there. O! Mister Thayendenaga, tak' us to the fort, if it's no' too far, for we hae lost our way."

Brant-who was an educated man, and had little of the Indian in his appearance or speech-smiled to hear himself addressed by his pompous Indian name, (a stroke of policy on the lad's part,) and replied: "That is easy to do. Cherry Valley is just over the hill-only a little way off. Let us go."

Saying this, and briefly commanding his warriors to remain where they were until he should return-an order received in sullen silence by the savages, who glared ferociously upon their lost prey-the chief strode forward through the forest, followed by the two boys. When they reached the brow of the hill overlooking the settlement he paused and said, "I had better not go any further. I will wait here till I see you safe. Good-by! Tell your mother that Brant did not kill her brave husband. Say to her that he's sorry about it-go.'

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The children sought to express their thanks, but he waved them away, and stood with folded arms under the shade of a gigantic oak, watching them as they descended the hill.

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sight at first benumbed every faculty-but one cry from her baby roused her from her stupor of grief and terror. She snatched the infant from the cradle and rushed with it into the woods, followed by Jenny, the maid. The two women concealed themselves so effectually in the thick under-brush that they remained undiscovered, though the shouts of the savages came to their ears with horrible distinctness, and even the blaze of their burning home reddened the sunlight that struggled through the thick foliage above them.

When, at length, the party left the little valley, it passed within a few yards of the fugitives. O! how fervently the mother thanked God that her baby slept tranquilly on her bosom, and by no cry betrayed their hiding-place! They did not venture to leave their leafy sanctuary until evening. They were on the side of the clearing opposite the harvest-fields, and near the road leading to Cherry Valley. This they found, and set out at once for the settlement, which they reached in safety about midnight, and were kindly received at one of the fortified houses. The next day a party of brave men, moved by the passionate entreaties of the two women, set out on what was thought a hopeless search for Captain Lindsay, his sons, and servant. They reached the harvest-fields safely, found there the bodies as they had been left, hastily buried them, and, after vainly seeking for the missing boys, returned to Cherry Valley, taking a dread certainty and a faint hope to the afflicted wife and mother.

Prostrated by her fearful bereavement, yet not wholly despairing, worn with cruel anxieties and fatigues, Mrs. Lindsay at last slept, watched over by her faithful nurse. She awoke in the early morning, raised herself eagerly from her pillow, looked around, and then sank back in tears.

"O, Jenny," said she, "I hae had sic a blessed dream! I dreamed I saw my twa boys-only twa noo, Jenny-my brave Douglas, and the bonnie Angus-coming over the hill wi' the sunrise. But they'll no' come ony mair-they are a' taken frae

me-a' but this wee bit bairnie," she murmured, pressing her babe to her bosom, and sprinkling its brow with the bitter baptism of her tears. For some minutes she lay thus, weeping with all that fresh realization of sorrow and desolation which comes with the first awakening from sleep after a great bereavement. Then she arose and tottered away from the bed, saying, "Lift the window, Jenny. I maun look on the hill o' my dream."

The boat sped on; the day was gone;
Dark clouds that child surrounded;
Yet like a star, it shone afar

As it ever onward bounded.

And higher grown, its alter'd tone

Sang firmly, faltering never :"Faith steers aright, through the blackest night,

On the Sea of Life forever."

Through perils dark, that magic bark

To its heavenly haven bounded;
And the child full-grown, like an angel shone,
Its brow with a crown surrounded,
And high it sung, with seraph tongue,
Its music ceasing never :-
"Love, shining bright, is the highest light
On the Sea of Life forever."

E. N. P. R.

Jenny obeyed, and supported her mistress as she looked out on the lovely landscape, kindling in the light of an August morning. "Ah, Jenny," she said, "it is a' as I dreamed-the yellow corn on the hill-side, and the dark pines above -the soft blue of the sky-the clouds a' THE DELUGE-ITS EXTENT AND ITS rosy and golden, and the glory o' the sunlight spread a' abroad, like the smile o' the Lord on this wicked and waefu' world. And,-look!-look! O, mercifu' God,there are the bairns!"

MEMORIALS.

[AD it not been for the use of letters,

HAD

many of the great events now forming epochs in the world's history would, doubtless, have perished altogether from

This history, fortunately, has nothing to human memory. But we can well condo with the terrible massacres and burn-ceive that such a stupendous visitation as ings which, a few months later, desolated Cherry Valley and the neighboring settlements. Mrs. Lindsay and her children were then safe in the city of New-York. Immediately on the close of the war they returned to their friends in Scotland.

Among the Highlands, Angus Lindsay lost his extreme delicacy of health, and with it, gradually, his mysterious faculty; yet he was ever singularly sensitive, thoughtful, and imaginative; and when he grew into manhood, though not recognized as a seer or a prophet, he was accorded a title which comprehended the greatest attributes of both-Poet.

Mrs. Lindsay returned to the family estate with her children; but the widow of her husband's friend was not deprived of her sad sanctuary, to which she had finally a dearer, if not a more sacred right, as the home of her daughter, the wife of Douglas Lindsay.

HOPE, FAITH, AND LOVE.

A MAGIC boat I saw afloat

On the stormy Sea of Life ;

With pure bright brow, a child at the prow
Steer'd through the raging strife.

And 'mid the storm, that cherub form

the destruction of the world by a flood of waters, would have left some imperishable traces of itself in the national traditions of mankind. For we well know that when written records fail as our guides up the historic stream of ancient nations and races, we find invaluable guidance in their mythologies, and in a comparison of their languages. Indeed, we may frequently, by following this apparently dim light, trace a people to their very fountain-head, and see them on the very soil which gave them birth; we may discover their primitive style of life, as agriculturists, as nomads, or as hunters, notwithstanding that they are now divided into many nations, each having its own distinctive national character and varied kind of civilization. Much also is enigmatically contained in the traditions and vocables of a people. Words in abundance are to be found among all the nations from the shores washed by the Atlantic to the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf-among that people belonging to the great IndoGermanic race-which prove that they were originally nursed in the same district, and that their present diversities of tongues and dialects sprang from the same parent stem. So we apprehend that in many of the

Bright Hope will sail through the fiercest gale traditions, and, as some of the learned men

Sang clearly, ceasing never :

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On the Sea of Life forever!"

have contended, in the mythologies cur

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rent among different people, vestiges are to be found of the deluge, an event which, at the first "moved" the soul of the pious patriarch with " fear," but afterward was the means of enlarging his acquaintance with God, and of strengthening his trust in his overruling goodness and love.

Our object will be, in the first instance, to ascertain what evidence we have of the fact of the deluge collateral with the sacred writings, and then to examine the question of its nature and extent.

I.

1. Invaluable evidence of the truth of the Scripture narrative is furnished by tradition. We might judge, a priori, that after the deluge, the great fact would be interwoven for ages with the thoughts

which the postdiluvians entertained concerning God and his providential rule over the world; and that certain objects, standing most prominent in their recollection of the event-such as the ark, the water, the bow in the cloud, and perhaps the raven and the dove-would be clothed with a kind of sacred interest. At length, some of these might even have been worshiped, or, if they did not become actual objects of worship, might have been associated with their devotions.

We are assured by Mr. Bryant, in his "System of Ancient Mythology," that "men repaired (for worship) in the first ages either to lonely summits of mountains, or else to caverns and to rocks and hollows in the bosom of the earth, which they thought were the residence of the

gods. At the entrance of these they raised their altars and performed their VOWS. When they began to erect temples, they were still determined in their vicinity by these objects, which they comprehended within the limits of their inclosure. These melancholy recesses were esteemed the places of the highest sanctity; and so greatly did this notion prevail, that in after times, when the practice ceased, still the innermost part of the temple was denominated a cavern." Mr. Bryant attempts to show in his work, with much learned labor, that the primitive gods of Egypt were eight in number; that they were the eight persons who were saved in the ark; and that almost all the heathen deities had, one way or another, reference to Noah.

This writer was followed by Mr. Faber, who strives to make out, with no less learning and ingenuity than his predecessor, that Noah was worshiped in conjunction with the sun, and the ark with the moon; and that these were the principal deities among the heathen. These laborious researches into the mythologies of the East, of Greece and Rome, were pursued with a similar design by Davies among the Celtic races, with remarkable perseverance. The last laborer in this field was the Rev. J. V. Harcourt, whose "Doctrine of the Deluge" is more of a compilation from the preceding works than an original production. With respect to the general value of these works, excepting the latter, it may be remarked that they were written before any true principles had been applied to the study of ancient mythology, and before scarcely anything was known of the gods of Egypt. And more fatal still for these works, the science of comparative grammar not having been placed as yet upon a true scientific foundation, their etymologies are consequently entirely without value. These remarks apply almost equally to "The Doctrine of the Deluge," because its author has, without proper discrimination, followed the earlier works of Bryant, Faber, and Davies. Etymology and mythology are, however, the two pillars on which the huge fabric of these authors rest. Their labors have been severely criticised, and their theories pronounced improbable, from the absurdity of supposing that all antiquity should be so "mad after Noah and the ark."

It has, however, on the other hand, been the opinion of the most accomplished scholars of our day, that traces of the flood of waters are to be found mingled in various ways with the traditions of almost all ancient nations. Each national tradition having retained its own separate individuality, yet all at the same time possessing certain characteristics in common, are circumstances which prove an identity of origin, analogous to that unity of descent observable in the diversities of the human race itself. The traditions of which we speak are to be discovered among the Egyptians, the Hindoos, and the Persians; the Greeks and Romans; the Celtic and other northern tribes; as also among the Mexicans and Peruvians. We shall proceed to give a brief outline of some of these traditions, beginning with those found in the East, which are of deep interest to the historical student.

The remarkable account that follows has been handed down through two different channels. One of them is Abydenus, who extracted the main facts from the archives of the Medes and Babylonians, and whose account has been preserved by Eusebius. For the more full details, however, we are indebted to Berosius, who lived in the time of Alexander, and wrote a history of the Babylonians. He relates that a general deluge happened in the days of King Xisuthrus, who, like Noah, was the tenth in descent from the first created man.

"Warned in a dream by Chronus and Saturn of the approaching calamity, he was commanded to build an immense ship, and embark in it having first furnished it with provisions, and with his wife, his children, and his friends, put into it a number both of birds and four-footed animals. As soon as these preparations were completed the flood commenced, and the whole After it world perished beneath its waters.

began to abate, Xisuthrus sent out some of the birds, which, finding neither food nor restingplace, returned immediately to the ship. In the course of a few days he again let out the birds, but they came back to him, having their sending them they returned no more. Concluding from this that the flood was decreasing, and the earth again appearing, he made an aperture in the side of the vessel, and perceived that it was approaching a mountain, on which it soon after rested, when he descended with his family, adored the earth, built an altar, and sacrificed to the gods. Xisuthrus having suddenly disappeared, his family heard a voice in the air which informed them that the country was Armenia, and directed them to return to Babylon."

feet covered with mud. The third time of his

In the writings of Sir William Jones, we have the following version of the event as preserved among the Hindoos:

"The demon Hayagriva having purloined the Vedas from the custody of Brahma, while he was reposing at the close of the sixth Manwantara, the whole race of men became corrupt, except the seven Rishis, and Satyavata, who then reigned in Dravira, a maritime region south of Carnata. This prince was performing his ablutions in the river Critamala, when Vishnu appeared to him in the shape of a fish, and thus addressed his amazed votary: In seven days all creatures which have offended me shall be destroyed by a deluge, but thou shalt be secure in a capacious vessel, miraculously formed. Take, therefore, all kinds of medicinal herbs, and esculent grain for food; and, together with the seven holy men, your respective wives, and pairs of all animals, enter the ark without fear. Thou shalt know God face to face, and all thy questions shall be answered.' Saying this he disappeared; and after seven days the ocean began to overflow the coasts, and the earth to be flooded by constant showers, when Satyavata, meditating on the Deity, saw a large vessel moving on the waters. He entered it, and Vishnu, in the form of a fish, suffered the vessel to be tied with a great sea-serpent, as with a cable, to his measureless horn. When the deluge ceased, Vishnu slew the demon, recovered the Vedas, and instructed Satyavata in divine knowledge."

He was

Proceeding from the East, the source whence these ancient traditions were derived, we arrive at Greece, and there we meet with the celebrated flood of Deucalion. This ancient story possesses so many points of similarity to the great event recorded in the Scriptures, that we can scarcely doubt its being the same event preserved in both accounts. Deucalion was the son of Prometheus. king in Phthia. His wife was Pyrrha. After the ill treatment which Zeus had received from Lycaon, he resolved to destroy the wicked race of men upon the earth. Prometheus entreated Deucalion to build a ship, and carry into it stores of food. When Zeus sent a flood all over Hellas, which destroyed all its inhabitants, Deucalion and his wife alone were saved. The ship floated about for nine days, after which it landed on Mount Parnassus. Some accounts, however, state that a few other persons were likewise saved. When the waters had abated, Deucalion offered sacrifice to Zeus Phyxius, or the helper of fugitives; and, after this act of worship, Zeus sent Hermes to him to promise that he would grant any wish which Deucalion might make known. He prayed that God would restore the race of men. The tra

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dition adds, that while Deucalion and his wife were in the sanctuary of Themis, the goddess bade them cover their heads as they walked away from the temple, and throw the bones of their mother behind them as they went along. They were greatly perplexed as to the signification of this singular request. They at length interpreted it to mean that they were to throw stones behind them, the earth being frequently called their mother. When they proceeded to obey the goddess, according to this explanation of her request, those stones which were thrown by Deucalion sprang up into men, while those which were thrown by his wife were converted into women.

Though the preceding account of Deucalion's flood differs in many particulars from that of the sacred historian, yet the points of agreement are very remarkable. Both coincide in representing the deluge as a punishment of sin from God-in the salvation of a pair of human beings-in the ship or ark as a means of preservation its resting upon a mountain-and in the sacrifice offered to God after the removal of the waters. Indeed, in most of these circumstances, all the traditions agree with more or less precision. And these points of agreement are the more important since they are almost the only incidents in which naturalness is preserved in the traditional accounts; while the discrepancies, on the other hand, are exactly those which are evidently the additions of human fancy. These latter being a departure from fact, there consequently could be no agreement among them. Strabo relates, that near the coasts of Phthistis there are two small islands of the name of Deucalion and Phthia. The author of "The Doctrine of the Deluge" would tell us that this was in commemoration of the fact that the ark, or mountain on which the ark rested, was surrounded by the waters of the deluge like an island. We must leave it to the judgment of our readers whether or not to accept such an interpretation of this circumstance, and numerous similar facts. To us, the whole theory which led Mr. Harcourt to attach such a meaning to this fact seems too fanciful, and the evidence on which it rests too uncertain to warrant belief.

Let us now leave the old world in quest of what is to be discovered among the tribes of the new. And we shall be

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