watch-stars shut up their holy eyes; the
east began to kindle. Faint streaks of purple soon blushed
along the sky; the whole celestial concave was filled with
the inflowing tides of the morning light, which came pouring
down from above in one great ocean of radiance, till at
length, as we reached the Blue Hills, a flash of purple
blazed out from above the horizon, and turned the dewy
teardrops of flower and leaf into rubies and diamonds. In a
few seconds, the everlasting gates of morning were thrown
wide open, and the lord of day, arrayed in glories too
severe for the gaze of man, began his state." ("The Uses of
Astronomy.")

"At last she began to be aware of a wonderful revolution,
compared to which the fire of Mittwalden Palace was but a
crack and flash of a percussion cap. The countenance with
which the pines regarded her began insensibly to change; the
grass, too, short as it was, and the whole winding staircase
of the brook's course, began to wear a solemn freshness of
appearance. And this slow transfiguration reached her heart,
and played upon it, and transpierced it with a serious
thrill. She looked all about; the whole face of nature
looked back, brimful of meaning, finger on lip, leaking its
glad secret. She looked up. Heaven was almost emptied of
stars. Such as still lingered shone with a changed and
waning brightness, and began to faint in their stations. And
the color of the sky itself was most wonderful; for the rich
blue of the night had now melted and softened and
brightened; and there had succeeded a hue that has no name,
and that is never seen but as the herald of the morning.
'Oh!' she cried, joy catching at her voice, 'Oh! it is the
dawn!'

"In a breath she passed over the brook, and looped up her
skirts and fairly ran in the dim alleys. As she ran, her
ears were aware of many pipings, more beautiful than music;
in the small, dish-shaped houses in the fork of giant arms,
where they had lain all night, lover by lover, warmly
pressed, the bright-eyed, big-hearted singers began to
awaken for the day. Her heart melted and flowed forth to
them in kindness. And they, from their small and high
perches in the clerestories of the wood cathedral, peered
down sidelong at the ragged Princess as she flitted bel