Summer on the Lakes, in 1843

state; still, nearer

lake and its shores, almost always new and agreeable persons on board, pretty children playing about, ladies singing, (and if not very well, there is room to keep out of th

where we were to pas

noble outlook on the lake. A little narrow path wound along the edge of the lake below. I liked this walk much. Above me this high wall of rich earth, garlanded on its crest with trees, the long ripple

ntly rose over the lake, or the great boats coming in. Approaching the Milwaukie pier, they made a bend, and seemed t

y their noble motion, such an idea of the power and fullness of life, that they were worthy to carry despatches from king to king. It must be very pleasant for those who have an active share in carrying on the affairs of this grea

ets of oak and wild roses. A few steps will take you into the thickets, and certainly I never saw so many wild roses, or of so beautiful a red. Of such a color were the first red ones the world ever saw, when, says the legend, Ve

xcept that it came to memory at the time, th

f all Raphael's) 'seen at any distance have the air of an ornamental design.' It also t

only.' Adonis is not beautiful, except in his expression of eager youth. The Queen of Beauty does not choose Apollo. Venus herself is very beautiful; especially the body is lovely as can be; and the soft, imploring look, gives a conjugal delicacy to the face which purifies the whole picture. This Venus is not as fresh, as moving and breathing as Shakspeare's, yet lovelier to the mind if not to the sense. 'T is difficult to look at this picture without indignation, because it is, in one respect, so true. Why

e frightened hounds, apprehended the rash huntsman's danger,

a waterfall to be seen from one ravine, we heard tones from a band of music, and saw a gay troop sho

locks that ever afforded study for a painter. They were the

he met having such dissimilar histories and topics. And several persons I saw evidently transplanted from the most refined circles to be met in this country. There ar

dresses, all travel-soiled and worn. The night they pass in rude shantees, in a particular quarter of the town, then walk off into the country

y eyes, to the Rock River region. It alternates rich fields, proper for grain, with oak openings, as they are called; bold, various and beautiful

kage, with a regular coachman, whose chief care was not to tire his horses, and who had no taste for entering fields in pursuit of wi

es, and on the bank of the loveliest little stream, called the Bark river, which flowed in r

The hospitality of that house I may well call princely; it was the boundless hospitality of the heart, which, if it has no Aladdin's la

no less near the Rock River, the fiend, who has ever liberty to tempt the happy in this wor

Indian villages. Our host said that, one day, as he was lying there beneath the bank, he saw a tall Indian standing at gaze on the knoll. He lay a long time, curious to see how long the figure would m

uch moments! I scarcely see how they can fo

would not, said Mr.----, give it him, for I thought if he got really drunk, there was an end to his services as a guide. But he persisted, and at last tried to take it from me. I was not armed; he was, and twice as strong as I. But I knew an Indian could not resist the look of a white man, and I fi

hite man soon learns to feel for the Indian on whom he encroaches, the aversion of the injurer for him he

man feelings th

contained for the exile the bones of his dead, the ashes of his hopes,-he observed, "They cannot be prevented from straggling

other was the beauty. I had been lying a long time at watch, when at last I heard them come crackling along. I lifted my head cautiously, as they burst through the trees. The first was a magnificent fellow; but then I saw coming one,

aw them, lived a contented woman, the only one I heard of out there. She was English, and said she had seen so much suffering in her own country that the hardships of this seemed as nothing to her. But the others-even our sweet and gentle hostess-found th

kind of loveliness; wide, graceful woods, and then these fine sheets of water, with fine

upon his wallet. Our minds, familiar with such figures, people with them the New England woods, wherever the sunlight falls down a longer than usual cart-track, wherever a cleared spot has lain still enough for the trees to look friendly, with their exposed sides cultivated by the light, and the grass to look velvet warm,

at beneath

ed her pal

sigheth

the wood in

rides with

ce so bold

stopped and

t thou?" he

e well; be

hand, and l

have waited

not her c

r head upon

was not her

had been s

stars looke

moon appea

dimmed the d

e thicket st

n, seizing

n, wait thou

im vanish

om sleep in d

not her own

n dream Gunh

a fancied i

ut fancied f

f day makes d

worthy of

altar burns

ss thou can

dragon's

eed thou shou

that lone m

tears profa

dust her hear

N ENC

e were very small, being for temporary use, and we crowded the occupants much, among whom were several sick, on the damp ground, or with only a ragged mat between them and it. But they showed all the gentle courtesy which marks them towards the stranger, who stands in any need; though it was obvious that the visit, which inconvenienced them, could only have been c

the rain dashed and the thunder reverberated; his air was French-Roman, that is, more romanesque than Roman. The Indian ponies, much excited, kept careering through the wood, around the encampment, and n

either from homesickness, or need of relief, were extremely destitute. The women had been there to see if they could barter their head bands with which they club their hair behind into a form not unli

and I like the effect of the paint on them; it reminds of the gay fantasies of nature. With them in Milwaukie, was a chief, the finest Indian figure I saw, more than six feet in height, erect, and of a sullen, but grand gait and gesture. He wore a deep red blanket, whic

interest. Here were minds, it seemed, to "comprehend the trusts," of their new life; a

st be a part of the scene that he encounters at first. He has escaped from the heartlessness of courts, to encounter the vulgarity of a mob; he has secured solitude,

the spot,) he will not finally be disappointed of the promised treasure; the mob will resolve itself into men, yet crude, but of good d

he wild road led through wide beautiful woods, to the wilder and more beautiful shores of the finest lake we saw. On its waters, glittering in the morning sun, a few Indians were paddling to and fro in their light canoes. On one of those fair knolls I have so often men

had turned their gay smiles grave. It seemed that hope and joy had given place to resolution. How much, too, was there in them, worthless in this place, which would have been so valuable elsewhere. Refined graces, c

cil, the guitar; but where the wash-tub and the axe are so constantly

an uneasy wooden chair, (they had not been able to induce any one to bring them an easy chair from the town,) looked as neat and elegant as if he had been dressed by the valet of a duke. He was of northern blood, with clear full blue eyes, calm features, a tempering of the soldier, scholar, and man of the world, in his aspect; whether that various intercourses had given himself that thorough-bred look never seen in Americans, or that

rse they had left, behind, we could not but see that the young wife sometimes must need a sister, the husb

affectionate courage shone in their eyes, and, if so, become true lords of the soil, and informing geniuses to those around; then, perhaps, they will feel that they have not paid too dea

ld be fitted for freedom and an independence by his own resources wherever the changeful wave of our mighty stream may take him. But the star of Europe brought a different horoscope, and to mix destinies breaks the thread of both. The Arabian horse w

d removed together, and formed a natural community, ready to help and enliven one another. They were farmers at home, in western New York, and both men and women knew how to work. Yet even here

rast with the life around me. Very strange was this vision of an exalted and sensitive existence, which seemed to invade the next sphere, i

Leben des Menschen und über das hereinragen einer Geis

inward life of man, and the projection of a world of

corns, I never saw mentioned till some year or two since, in any English publication. Then a playful, but not sarcastic account of it, in the Dublin Magazi

always on the side of reverence, marvel, and mysticism. He was known to me only through two or three little

this biography at the request of many who have been interested by slight references to it. The book, a thick and heavy volume, written with true German patience, some would say clumsiness, has not, probably, and may not be translated into other languages. As to my own

f willing or careless imposture, spoils the whole loaf. Beside, allowing the possibility of some clear glimpses into a higher state of being, what do we want of it now? All around us lies what we neither understand nor use. Our capacities, our instincts for this our present sphere are but half develope

, that we need only look on the miracle of every day, to sate ourselves with thought and admiration every da

aise his eyes from the ground? No-but the poet who sees that field in its relations with the universe, and looks oftener to the sky tha

o what the French sage calls the "aromal state." From the hope thus gl

ctricity. Poetic observation was pure, there was no quackery in its free course, as there is so often in this wilful tampering with the hidden springs of life, for it is tampering unless done in a patient spirit and with severe truth; yet it may be, by the rude or gree

auses, and the presence, sometimes the communion, of unseen powers. It needs not that I should ask the clairvoyant whether "a spirit-world projects into ours." As to the specific evidence, I would not tarnish my mind by hasty reception. The mind is not, I know, a highway, but a temple,

ch gives the credit of practical wisdom. He wrote to his child, "I have lived too long, and seen too much to be incredulous." Noble the thought, no less so its frank expre

e our knowledge within certain boundaries, has given us a short span of time for a certain probation, for which our faculties are adapted. By wild speculation and intemperate curiosity we vi

pretend to settle the origin and nature of sin, the final destiny of souls, and the whole plan of the causal spirit with reg

t, "that the trees grow not up into heaven," but, to me it seems, the more vigorously they aspire the

ing which made the Roman emperor address his soul in a strain of such touching softness, vanishing from the thought, as the column of smoke from the eye, I know of no inquiry which the

ith us all. No leaps, no starts will avail us, by patient crystallization alone the equal temper of wisdom is attainable. Sit at home and the spirit-world will look in at your window with moonlit eyes; run out to find it, and rainbow and golden cup will have vanished and left you the beggarly child you were. The better part of wisdom is a sublime prudence, a pure and patient truth that will receive nothing it is not sure it can permanently lay to heart. Of our study there should be in proportion two-thirds of rejection to one of acceptance. And, amid the manifold infa

t is madder never to abandon oneself, than often to be infatuated; better to be wounded, a captive, and a slave, than always to walk in armor. As to magnetism, that is only a matter of fancy. You sometimes need ju

very fact is impure, but every fact contains in it the juices of li

n get a commanding view of the landscape. I see great disadvantages as well as advantages in this dignified position. I had rather walk myse

, even the fancies or fantasies, of nature. I dare to trust to the interpreti

f no consequence, if it be the on

ke me, it w

g heights the

uth can

ife's most

ought will

love shall

d me. If they sometimes subdue, they must finally upbea

f my time: if I seek the How, I shall find it,

e steadily bent to make it so, by com

metimes entertain guests who cannot pay with gold coin, with "fair rose nobl

ou are very faulty in censuring and wishing to limit others by your own standard. You, Self-Poise, fill a priestly office. Could but a larger intelligence of the vocations of others, and a tender sympathy with their individual natures be added, had you more of love, or more of apprehensive genius, (for either would give you the needed expansion and delicacy) you would command my entire

is more than eighteen hundred feet above the level of the sea, lies in romantic

ty, most of whom support themselves by wood-cutti

ubject in youth to attacks upon the nerves, which one would not expect in so healthy a class. In a town situated near to, and like Prevorst, the children were often attacked with a kind of St. Vitus's dance

s of this region very susceptible

r birthplace made natural, brought up in the most simple manner. In the keen mountain air and long winter cold, she was not softened by tenderness either as to dress or bedding, but grew up lively and blooming; and while her brothers and sisters, under the same circu

, for the advantages of instruction, to her g

ress. But, as it appears that her grandfather, also, had seen a ghost, and there were evidently legends in existence about the rooms in which the little Frederika saw ghosts, and spot

nce for these imposing visiters; sometimes it is "a room in the Castle of

r companions. The only trouble she had was the extreme irritability of the optic nerve, which, though without inflammation of the eyes, som

trouble and watching beside sick beds, her feelings were too much excited, so th

so active, and she was distinguished from other girls of her circle only by the more intellectual nature, which displaye

nd it can be proved that she had never an attachment, nor w

. The match was desirable on account of the excellence of the man

hat, if such there were, they were not occasioned by another attachment, she sank into a dejection, inexplicable to her family; passed whole days in

luence upon her life. She followed the dear remains, with others, to the church-yard. Her heart till then so heavy, was suddenly relieved and calmed, as she stood beside the grave. She remained there long, enjoying her new

e following verses. The deceased had often appeared to h

ot worth translating into verse, though, in

once so d

now cl

tha

ven in marria

ite immers

gure above th

d I have excha

n up to thee m

d praised as the

d upon

blessi

wings of

hencef

ot path

me the pea

ou, angel, now; m

s of Würtemberg and Baden. Its position is low, gloomy, shut in by hills; opposite

e in one part of Calabria, only by wrapping himself in an oil-cloth mantle, thus, as it were, isolating himself. That great sense of sidereal and imponderable influences, which afterward manifested itself so clearly in the Seherin,

here, as consort and housekeeper to a laboring man, the calls on her care and attention were incessant. Sh

itted. But longer it was not possible to conceal the inward verity by an outward actio

her father, and two physicians were considering what should be done for her in a severe sickness. She called out

violence, and was succeeded by attacks of convulsion and spasm. This was the beginning of that stat

resorted to, as usual in cases of extreme suffering where the nurses know not what else to do, and,

tions were brought into connexion with hers, and were probably in the end just as injurious to her as the loss of blood. At last she beca

twice, apparently from an instinct that she should injure her, and afterwards, int

y. We see persons led, by an uneasy impulse, towards the persons and the topics where they are sure they can irritate and annoy. This is constantly observable

of such persons in common society. It is an expression of the power that a vulgar and self-willed nature will attain o

ed sad and thoughtful. When they stopped, she was in the attitude of prayer. One of her intimates, observing this, began to laugh. This affected her so much, that she became cold and rigid like a corpse. For som

rom her neighborhood substances that were hurtful to her, her grandmother; thus

e second sight, numerous and variou

connection with theories and exp

th my finger, touch her on the forehead between the eyebrows, she says each time

that thou mayst be

ld of bustle and folly, hold

m thee thy true feeling,

tifle the light that spr

cross of Jesus; go f

h's ark, so wilt thou, also, find a resti

ve years in this state, and was reduced to such weakness,

c states and directions, and told her he should not, but should treat

c sleep, and gave orders about herself; to which,

illness; that I advised to pay no attention to her magnetic situation, and the orders she gave in it; in her spasms, to forbear the laying of hands upon her; to deny her the support of

butically affected, and bled constantly; she lost all her teeth. Strengthening remedies affected her like being drawn up from her bed by force; she sank into a fear of all men, and a deadly

night-sweats. Every evening, about seven o'clock, she fell into magnetic sleep. She then spread out her arms, and found herself, from that moment, in a clairvoyant state; but only when she brought them back upon her breast, did she begin to speak. (Kerner mentions that he

bject when in her sleep-waking state. She was left to lie unheeded. I pursued a homoeopathic treatment of her case. But the medicines constantly produced effects opposite to what I expected. She now suffered less from spasm and somnambulism, but with increasing marks of weakness and decay. All seemed as if the end of her sufferings drew near. It was too late for the means I wished to use. Affected so variously and powerfully by magnetic means in the first years of h

awing in this book, which she wished to have made for her use; it was so, and she derived benefit from it. She had indicated such a machine in the early stages of her disease, but at that time no one attended

h her affected the physi

ournal of her sickness, but the mental phenomena of such an almost disembodied life. Such may cast light on the period when also our Psyche ma

but only, by use of parallel facts here and there, show that the phenomena of this case recall many in which there is nothing marvellous, but which are manifestly grou

, even when she seemed to be; or rather, let us say, she was at all times more awake than others are; for it is strange t

ger condition, principally from their eyes and the ends of the fingers. The atmosphere and nerve communications of others, said she, bring me the life which

on in the limbs, trembling, &c. They were weakened also in the eyes and pit of the stomach. From those related to her by blood, she could draw more benefit than from others, and, when very weak,

their beauty near the sick, and suffer peculia

of some persons affected her as a pabulum vitae, while, if le

al nourishment of the same sort; she could not remain w

rom spasms like those of the Seherin, also found relief from having the

ls, plants, animals, and men. Imponderable existences, such as the various colors of the ray, showed distinct influences upon her. The electric flu

serted of late among ourselves,

etailed under their sev

h impressed even those who saw her for a very short

ed at the moment of dissolution, betwixt life and death; and who is better ab

often out of the body; saw herself double. She would say, "I seem out of myself, hover above my body, and think of it as something apart from myself. But it is not a pleasant feeling, because I still s

telligence; soul, the ideal of this individual man; a

e first awakes from sleep. Blake, the painter, whose life was almost as much a series of trances as that of our Seherin

from her body, and to have

hose branches now imparted to those of her sex in their schools. The Bible and hymn-book were, especially in the long years of her sickness, her only reading: her moral character was thr

ow great is

ast given fa

in the distress

rkness of

o far l

r peace in s

to me the migh

and came et

my earth

, O

s my bod

most mind a l

knows in th

t? no! but a

while in the magnetic trance, she made

r, he

ayer and s

I impl

thy chil

y anguish

my heart, and s

thee I call

om me, the sick o

I leave

ess and pain

spring'

rough the m

I leave

plicity in an unrhymed translation; but they wi

es before she came under my care." Not without deep significance was Apollo distinguished as being at once the God of poesy, of prophecy, and the medical art.

ot write, but who, in the magneti

nightly dreams for a par

hem, we thought she would express her feelings that night in the magnetic sleep, but she only said "they can affect my body, but not my spiri

leep-waking s

world dec

el ill i

r ears it

ieve it, y

nsw

seemest tru

view it a

ur assura

sight can m

to see her. If we refused them access to the sick room, they

me to her both good and bad men. She felt the evil in men clearly, but would not censure; lifted up a stone to cast at no sinner,

y a love, an earnestness, an insight, such as scarce lies within the capacity of any man, but also what no mortal could bestow upon her, another heaven, other means of nourishment, other air th

ifth, no mode of treatment could have effected this. But by care she was aided to a greater harmony and clearness of the inward life; sh

little, her features of an oriental cast, her eye had the penetrating look of a seer's eye, which

es thus of her i

n some one place,-this was a token that some strange apparition fettered it,-then would she resume the conversation. When I first saw her, she was in a situation which showed that her bodily life could not long endure, and that recovery to the common natural state was quite impossible. Without visible derangement of the func

expressive of the relation between the physic

ordinary development of brain in any way; yet the excitement of her temperament from climate, scenery, the influence of traditions which ev

ties for better life, find themselves left forlorn, helpless, seeking aid from beings still ignorant and prejudiced, perhaps much below themselves in natural powers. Having forfeited their chance of direct access

on the way admired by the Italian poets,

, and which cast light on the state of the soul after its separation from the body. Her gentle patience with them, her steady reference to a higher

er father's death, and connexion with him in the last moments, these are probably pure facts. Those who have sufficient strength of a

se, that, in all deep states of being, we crave one simple and primitive in its stead. Most persons make one more or less clear from looks, tones, and symbols:-this woman, in the

and the mathematical feeling she had of her existence, in correspondent sections of the two, are also valuable as mental

ive in such; all who observe themselves have the same sense of exactness and harmony in the revolutions of their destiny. But few att

nsequent accesses of wisdom, as being bound to a star. When she was engaged by a sense of these larger revolutions, she seemed to those near her on the earth, to be sick; when she was, in fact, lower, but b

mode of expression with it, in the same way as song differs from speech. Verses of this sort do not necessarily demand the high faculties that constitute the poet,-the creative powers. Many verses, good on

or the sighs or aspirations of a lonely heart. She uses the shortest words,

er impressions from minerals and plants. Her imp

those around her. We may also mention, in reference to witchcraft, that Dr. K. asserts that, in certain moods of mind, she had no

gnetic effect, therefore the Sibyls had g

s at Delphi, previous to uttering her oracles, shook a laurel tree, and then seated herself on a tripod covere

s were given her, one after the other, by the person who raised them, and who gives a certificate as to the accur

used in her machine, (as a kind of vapor

r impressions of the precious stones, corresponded with many superstitions of the ancients, which

ts, poison, and evil spirits, thus expressing the natural influence of what is so enduring, bright, and pure. Townshend, speaking of the effect of

e sick. But if they have this fine sense, also, for the qualities of animal and mineral substances, there is no reason why t

he lady moon. The left is most impressible. Query: Is this the reason why the left hand ha

estined self, how often unknown to himself, almost always obscured or perverted by his present ignorance or mistake. She had also the

ng may, at mid-moon of night, read the future; of the magic globe, on whose pure surface Britomart see

s, right wondr

gh the wyde world s

to show in p

was in the wo

west earth and

o the looker

d wrought, or f

ered was, ne

cret from the

und and holl

itselfe, and seeme

ueene, B

nsitory a mirror. Perhaps it is some vague expectation of such wonders, that makes us so fond of blowing them in childish years. But, perhaps, it is rather as a prelu

loating belief of nations, always no doubt shadowing forth in its imperfect fashion the poetic fac

rudiments may there be discerned: but only in man has it perfected that immense galvanic battery that can be loaded from above, below, and around;-that engine, not only

state of existence, to destroy his fitness for this. It did not mean to destroy his sympathies with the mineral, vegetable, and animal realms, of whose components he is in great part composed; which were the preface to his bei

e greatest sorrow to see brain merged in body, to see a man more hands or feet than head, so that we feel he might, with propriety, be on all fours again, or even crawl like the serpent; it is also sad to see the brain, too much e

han the destroyer, of the animal life. But, in cases like this, where the animal life is prematurely broken up, and the brain prematurely exercised, we may as well

character as the pictures by the old masters, of a deep and simple piety. She stands before as, this piety, in a full, high-necked robe, a simple, hausfrauish cap, a cl

in her journal shortly before her death, is affecting, and shows her deep sense of their reality. She must have felt that she

l, my f

fare

you for

for your

fare

ow shall I

so sadd

me you al

een discip

ll! fa

you my d

ill yo

ave been m

Pilgr

ewe

not gri

woes fin

ll, de

second

ll! Fa

her body that would take place after her death. The brain was fou

njoy. She thought much of her children, and often fancied she had saw the one who had died, grow

ne,) and descriptions of her earthly state as an imprisonment. The story of her life, though stained like others, by partialities, and prejudices, which were not justly distinguished from what was altogether true and fair, i

ttering his affectionate and reverent feeling towards his patient, the peasant girl,-"the sick one, the poor one." But we like to see

the debt

heart

es, since

t depths

in light

now dwell

faith sh

de upon

ou in mut

ts blest a

death's d

to heave

grave i

by thee

wort golde

hn's though

of sacre

thou meet

from the

s for e

the woes

my soul

their temp

bear thei

rom decoctions of this herb, an

I have taken liberties with the original for the sake of condensation, and clearness.

emarks, I had forgot

that is felt in any picture by Swedenborg, or Dante, of permanent relations. The mind of the forester's daughter was exalted and

, too, receives this life as one link in a long chain; and thinks that immedi

other being, whether their form in the state before or after this, I know not; behind a woman a man, equipped for fight, a

s as men whose brain is a glass table, incapable of receiving the electric spark, and who wil

ester's daughter of Prevorst. She lived but nine-and-twenty years, yet, in that time, had travers

y hither by signs and wonders, as a commissioned agent of Providence, who, indeed, has arranged every detail of his life with a minuteness far beyond the promised care of the sparrow. He pro

es, the Swiss. Who knows how much of old legendary lore, of modern wonder, they have already planted amid the Wisconsin forests? Soon, soon their tales of the origin of things, and the Prov

this world might, no doubt, already be found in these W

cks, and then burnt that more entertaining than edifying volume. No wonder, though, they study it there. Could one but have the gift of reading the dreams d

f being shut up in my little bedroom at the Milwaukie boarding house, this

te. But, being only rich in curiosity, I was obliged to walk the streets and pick up what I could in casual intercourse. When I left the street, indeed, and

rt of the shore, as the only image of inaction-only object of a pensive character to be seen. Near this I sat, to dream my dreams and watc

ch was also a boarding school, we we

themselves; the relation seemed very pleasant between them. The only superiority-that of superior knowled

tage in wisdom, knowledge, or enterprise, they must stand back, and let those who are oldest in character "go ahead," however few years they may count. There are no banks of e

e Indians, was learning French and the piano, came wild, tawny figures, offering for sale their basket

w in any other who had walked so long life's tangled path. Like a child, she was everywhere at home, and like a child, received and bestowed entertainment from all places, all persons. I thanked her for making

to exchange for the much celebrated