DREAM-LAND BY DAYLIGHT, A PANORAMA OF ROMANCE.
BYCAROLINE CHESEBRO'.
REDFIELD, CLINTON HALL, NEW YORK. 1851.
ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Fifty-one, by J. S. REDFIELD, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern District of New York.
A Love Word—In Dedication.
- MOTHER OF CONSOLATION! soul-shed tears
- Fall on the thought as baptism—hast thou not
- Been the consoler of my "human years,"
- The one great blessing of my mortal lot?
- Thy faith it was that gave the faithless hope,
- Thy love it was that fill'd the weak with power,
- My weary hands would long and vainly grope,
- Were they outstretched for seeking in this hour
- One worthier of blessings! Light of Life,
- Heart-light wert thou when darkness gathered round;
- Only within thy love, from all this strife
- Of worldliness, have I a resting found:
- This is thy TITLE, there is not another,
- In any king's gift like it, BLESSED MOTHER!
- I call thee Consolation: when I slept
- Within thy arms, a little, thoughtless child,
- Saw'st thou prefigured, in those shades which crept
- With sleep above me, storms so dark and wild,
- As we have battled?—when I grew, with years
- Still more a dreamer, were thy tender eyes
- Quick to discern, thro' childhood's grieving tears,
- A soul whose birth-right was to agonize?
- I call thee Consolation! If thy heart
- Saw in such vision as the loving have,
- The drama wherein I must bear my part,
- Thou could'st have done no more to soothe and save
- Than thou hast done, Friend rich beyond all other
- In steadfastness, and trust, my blessed mother!
- I think upon thee as in years long past:
- Thou wert not half so beautiful as now,
- Though Time hath over thee a shadow cast,
- And sorrow's trace is left upon thy brow:
- Nor wert thou half so precious, when the child
- Bade, opening her trustful heart, "COME IN,"
- To all who looked upon her so they smiled,
- Nor feared, nor thought of falsehood, guile, and sin:
- Ah, Consolation! I have learned thy truth,
- The grandeur of thy power, and all thy worth,
- Since fled the sweet and happy dreams of youth,
- Since dead my trust in every god of earth;
- I am not poor, but rich, while I have thee,
- For thou art God's own gift of love to me!
- Thou knowest all my wealth; and that it lies
- In Thought alone, and not in lands, nor gold;
- Thou knowest in what mood these Tales were told,
- That I have never aimed to teach the wise.
- Thou knowest, (none so well,) who said, "Arise,
- And work, and dream no longer, dreaming child:"
- Thou knowest if my masters loved and smiled,
- And if my path spread clear before our eyes!
- To whom, then, should I bring such gift as this,
- Encourager thro' grief, and toil, and pain,
- Whose smile inspired as a lover's kiss
- Through strife for human needs, (oh, not for Fame!)
- To WHOM BUT UNTO THEE? and not with tears,
- But boundless hopes, I bring this work of morning years!
CONTENTS.
- DEDICATION. PAGE iii
- Preface, by MRS. E. F. ELLET. vii
- Shades and Sunbeams. 1
- Aurora Borealis. 31
- The Phbe Bird. 55
- The Clairvoyant. 77
- The Human Verb. 84
- Three Pictures. 98
- The Coquette. 115
- The Serpent and the Dove. 127
- The Man in the Moon. 143
- About a Genius. 160
- Callore. 178
- Thistle Down. 191
- What Katy Did. 206
- Eulalie. 220
- Magnetic Influences. 230
- The Dead Heart. 250
- Little Alvah. 258
- Head and Heart Worship. 273
- page: vi (Table of Contents) -vii[View Page vi (Table of Contents) -vii]
- The Withered Fig Tree. PAGE 288
- The Sexton of the Old Brick Church. 349
- The Black Frost. 353
- The Haunted. 357
- Ground Birds and Eagles. 366
- Hearts of Oak. 389
PREFACE.
SO GREAT is the number of books at the present day, that the public, somewhat in the condition of revellers after a repast, is disposed to show itself fastidious in the discussion of any dish newly presented, and to require unusual excellence of flavor and piquancy of seasoning, to obtain for it a place and appreciation. Fortunately for the chances of merit, the chagrin of the sated Abbe, who, on the appearance after dinner of a splendidly dressed hare, could only say to his host, with reproachful tears in his eyes, "From an old friend, I did not expect this!"—is not to be apprehended as an accident of the mental banquet; an abundance of good things rather enhancing the enjoyment of novelties which can offer peculiar claims to attention. The timid aspirant, therefore, who brings the first fruits of a soil rich by nature, and cultivated with the care necessary to develop the productions of genius in their highest perfection, need not fear that his offering will be neglected in the multitude of sweets, or condemned because of satiety; since in the usual proportion of indiscriminate devourers, over-nice epicures, page: viii-ix[View Page viii-ix] and cynics who would find fault with the choicest entertainment, there will always be found enough whose just taste can discern and estimate what is worthy of praise.
The author of this volume does not appear wholly as a stranger. Some of the beautiful tales it contains have been circulated in magazines and journals, and many readers in distant parts of the Union have been charmed by her inventive and descriptive powers, and touched by the simple pathos of her narration. These will rejoice in the recognition of a loved companion and friend, come to occupy a permanent place in their dwelling; while many, unfamiliar as yet with the voice and feature of the new visitant, will find the acquisition a most agreeable one.
MISS CHESEBRO' possesses a finely strung and sensitive nature, susceptible to all influences that expand and invigorate the poetic faculty, and imbued with a deep and intense love of the beautiful. Her early years have been passed in the midst of that fine scenery which has given the name of "the garden of the State" to that portion of Western New York, while she has devoted much time to the study of authors whose works display the most profound knowledge of the human heart. The lessoning received from each of these sources has its effect on what she has written, in which an exquisite perception of natural beauty is combined with a sense of its relation to the moral emotions, and a subjective character of mind remarkable in one so young. Withal, she possesses powers of imagination unsurpassed by any female writer of this country, enabling her to impart vivid interest to the scenes she depicts, with a freedom and grace of style acquired only by acquaintance with the best models.
In this introduction of her volume to the public, there is a temptation to say something of the modest worth, the filial devotion, the generous warmth of heart, and the many amiable qualities of character, which have interested a large circle of friends in her success. But such ground is too sacred for intrusion. It only remains to launch upon the deep the bark she has freighted with a treasure of pure and lovely thoughts, trusting that favoring gales may spring up at once to speed its progress.
E. F. ELLET.
