It may be that thy brother’s eye
      Sees not as thine, which turns,
    In such deep reverence, to the sky
      Where the rich sunset burns;
    It may be that the breath of spring,
      Born amidst violets lone,
    A rapture o’er thy soul can bring,
      A dream to his unknown.

    The tune that speaks of other times—­
      A sorrowful delight! 
    The melody of distant chimes;
      The sound of waves by night;
    The wind that with so many a tone
      Some cord within can thrill;
    These may have language all thine own,
      To him a mystery still.

    Yet scorn thou not for this the true
      And steadfast love of years;
    The kindly, that from childhood grew,
      The faithful to thy tears! 
    If there be one that o’er the dead
      Hath in thy grief borne part,
    And watched through sickness by thy bed,
      Call his a kindred heart.

    But for those bonds, all perfect made,
      Wherein bright spirits blend,
    Like sister flowers of one sweet shade,
      With the same breeze that bend;
    For that full bliss of thought allied,
      Never to mortals given,—­
    Oh! lay thy lovely dreams aside,
      Or lift them unto heaven.

CONVERSATION.

Good conversation is one of the highest attainments of civilized society.  It is the readiest way in which gifted minds exert their influence, and, as such, is worthy of all consideration and cultivation.  I remember hearing an English traveler say, many years ago, on being asked how the conversational powers of the Americans compared with those of the English—­“Your fluency rather exceeds that of the old world, but conversation here is not cultivated as an art.”  The idea of its being so considered any where was new to the company; and much discussion followed the departure of the stranger, as to the desirableness of making conversation an art.  Some thought the more natural and spontaneous it was, the better; some confounded art with artifice, and hoped their countrymen would never leave their own plain, honest way of talking, to become adepts in hypocrisy and affectation.  At last one, a little wiser than the rest, explained the difference between art and artifice; asked the cavilers if they had never heard of the art of writing, or the art of thinking? and said he presumed the art of conversing was of the same nature.  And so it is.  By this art, persons are taught to arrange their ideas methodically, and to express them with clearness and force; thus saving much precious time, and avoiding those tedious narrations which interest no one but the speaker.  It enforces the necessity of observing the effect of what is said, and leads a talker to stop when she finds that she has ceased to fix the attention of her audience.