He rose, slow-cleaving with his steady voice
The intolerable hush.  “This well may be
The Day of Judgment which the world awaits;
But be it so or not, I only know
My present duty, and my Lord’s command
To occupy till he come.  So at the post
Where he hath set me in his providence,
I choose, for one, to meet him face to face,
No faithless servant frightened from my task,
But ready when the Lord of the harvest calls;
And therefore, with all reverence, I would say,
Let God do his work, we will see to ours. 
Bring in the candles.”  And they brought them in.

Then by the flaring lights the Speaker read,
Albeit with husky voice and shaking hands,
An act to amend an act to regulate
The shad and alewive fisheries.  Whereupon,
Wisely and well spake Abraham Davenport,
Straight to the question, with no figures of speech
Save the ten Arab signs, yet not without
The shrewd, dry humor natural to the man: 
His awe-struck colleagues listening all the while,
Between the pauses of his argument,
To hear the thunder of the wrath of God
Break from the hollow trumpet of the cloud.

And there he stands in memory to this day,
Erect, self-poised, a rugged face, half seen
Against the background of unnatural dark,
A witness to the ages as they pass,
That simple duty hath no place for fear. 
          
                                   —­Whittier.

Note.—­The “Dark Day,” as it is known, occurred May 19th, 1780, and extended over all New England.  The darkness came on about ten o’clock in the morning, and lasted with varying degrees of intensity until midnight of the next day.  The cause of the phenomenon is unknown.

CXXIV.  THE FALLS OF THE YOSEMITE. (426)

Thomas Starr King, 1824-1863, was born in New York City.  His father was a Universalist minister; and, in 1834, he settled in Charlestown, Massachusetts.  The son was preparing to enter Harvard University, when the death of his father devolved upon him the support of his mother, and his collegiate course had to be given up.  He spent several years as clerk and teacher, improving meanwhile all possible opportunities for study.  In 1846 he was settled over the church to which his father had preached in Charlestown.  Two years later, he was called to the Hollis Street Unitarian Church in Boston.  Here his eloquence and active public spirit soon made him well known.  He also gained much reputation as a public lecturer.  In 1860 he left the East to take charge of the Unitarian church in San Francisco.  During the remaining years of his life, he exercised much influence in the public affairs of California.  He died suddenly, of diphtheria, in the midst of his brilliant career.

Mr. King was a great lover of nature.  His “White Hills,” describing the mountain scenery of New Hampshire, is the most complete book ever written concerning that interesting region. ###