ADAM'S DREAM:

A FANTASY.

BY JOHN G. CLAYTON, P. G.

THE world was in its primeval age, fresh in the original beauties of its creation. Our first parents had disobeyed the commands of their Creator, and not only forfeited the beautiful Eden, the earthly type of paradise which had been prepared for their reception by the bounteous Father of the universe, but brought the penalties of sin, and sorrow, and sickness, and of death, upon themselves and their as yet unborn descendants. Still the threatened evil was in perspective only: sin had been indulged in; sorrow had been felt; but sickness had not as yet enervated the frame, and death, a mystery then as now unsolved, hung as a misty cloud at the remote period of existence, rather in the light of something that veiled another and a happier state of being, where the lost Eden should be recovered, than as the grim extinguisher of all earthly joys—the fearful termination of a transient day in an endless night!

Evil then was in anticipation only, while, as its counter

balance, the world in all its original freshness was before the first man and the first woman, in which to choose. Turn whichsoever way they would, were fields green with the untilled luxuriance of spontaneous production. The golden wheat, the silver rye, and the deep-green maize, rustled in the breeze. Rivers of crystal purity meandered through the verdant meadows. The very air was fragrant with the perfume of countless flowers, which Beneficence had planted to beautify the scene. Herds of lowing cattle wandered through the lowlands; flocks of white sheep reposed peacefully beneath the umbrageous trees; bands of agile goats leaped in playful wantonness upon the rocky uplands; while the atmosphere itself was rendered musical by the rich melody of feathered warblers singing the praise of Him who had created all! All, all was loveliness, and beauty, and harmony; and as our common parents gazed upon the enchanting scene, they forgot that "the ground was cursed for their sakes," and that "in sorrow should they eat of it all the days of their life”—and remembered only that they were "monarchs of all they surveyed,” and that the beautiful world before them would to the end of time be peopled by their descendants.

The first week after the expulsion had passed away, and the sorrow in Adam's breast at the results of his disobedience had in a measure abated. He was standing upon a gentle eminence beside his rural dwelling, looking with silent joyfulness over the rich landscape. The sun-fit emblem at once of mortality and of immortality, which runs

its appointed course by day, only to be hidden from the view by night, but still to rise again in renewed splendor -was just appearing from beyond the eastern hills, pencilling with tints of gold the cerulean arch above, and shedding light and beauty upon all which beneath it met the eye. The fruit of the tree of knowledge had wakened his mind to reflection; and as Adam pondered upon his future prospects-how he should live, and finally, dying, pass for ever from the scene the spirit of meditative prophecy awoke within him, and his spirit passed afar down the stream of futurity.

Countless throngs filled the places of the single pair, who, ages before, were the sole tenants of the earth. The single dialect had given place to a multitude of tongues, and the primary occupation of man had been varied by all the results of the sciences and the mechanic arts. Forests had disappeared; mountains were levelled; morasses had been drained; and primitive nature had altered no less than all the rest around him. Man did not alone till the earth for a scanty subsistence. His enterprising skill had taught him to plough the wave; and the white sails of his noble ships shone brightly in the morning sun, and wafted his commerce to the most distant seas. From the orient to the occident-from the rising of the sun even to the going down thereof-all were busy in harmonious communion, exchanging the products of their skill, and vying with each other in the endeavor to elevate the prosperity of the nations into which they were divided. Long rows

of warehouses were filled with countless riches; and manufactories reared their lofty heads, and gave employment to thousands, producers of national wealth. Turn whichsoever way he would, the sunbeams were darkened with the smoke of the steam-engine, and the air resounded with the musical clang of the workman's hammer, or the busy hum of the shuttle and the loom.

Nor was agriculture less altered than its sister arts. The first luxuriance of the soil was gone, the predicted thorns and thistles had come forth; and man tilled the ground in the sweat of his brow, that he might eat bread until he returned to the original dust from which he was taken. Nutricious grains, luscious fruits, and fragrant flowers, no longer came forth in spontaneous abundance; but labor, unremitting labor, was necessary, that man might live. But even here Science had stepped in. The simple implements of primitive husbandry were no longer known, and in their place were all that could lighten toil, and force the ground to bring forth to the utmost of its capability. Artificial nutriments and stimulants enriched the soil; the plough cast its deep furrows far below the surface, and skilful culture doubled the product which unassisted nature could bestow. Flowers brighter and more beautiful than those which erst bloomed in Eden's bowers; fruits larger and more luscious, and in greater variety, than were known to primitive man; cereal grains in richer abundance than the earth brought forth in its years of virgin youngness, were scattered in bold profusion on every side.

Man himself was not less changed than all by which he was surrounded: the simple coat of skins in which he was clothed after he had forfeited Eden, was discarded, and the plants of the earth, the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, nay, the very creeping insect that spins itself a tomb, and the fishes that live beneath the sea, were taxed to attire him in the voluptuous magnificence beseeming the state of him who is the appointed ruler over all: silks of variegated hues, their many colors softening down and melting into one; cloths of silky softness, grateful to the touch; fabrics costly enough to serve for the ransom of a king; feathers floating and undulating in the air, and rich gems reflecting back the rays of light till the eye was dazzled with the splendor! But not to the acquisition of wealth alone was the daring genius of man confined; Wisdom also waited on him with her aid. The stars themselves could not hide their counsels from him he traced their devious way through the heavens; told when they should hide their rays, and when appear again; eccentric comets came and went as he foretold; ocean's trackless waste was made a travelled road, through which his ships were guided with unerring certainty. Railroads shortened distances, and canals were made to take the place of rivSteam, that mighty giant, confined like the genii in the eastern tale, in its metal cylinder, had been subjugated to his will, and performed labors that, without it, had been impossibilities. All things ministered to him, and man was wise and great, and rich and powerful: and he was

ers.