This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1876 edition. Excerpt: ...to listen to gay fairy-tales, those luring pictures of sweet dreamland--come with your hearts, so weary of sad reality--come with your sorrowful eyes, and I will tell you of a kingdom whose wondrous power you could never suspect, whose luxuriant beauty, wrapped in veils of glittering brightness, charms ...
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1876 edition. Excerpt: ...to listen to gay fairy-tales, those luring pictures of sweet dreamland--come with your hearts, so weary of sad reality--come with your sorrowful eyes, and I will tell you of a kingdom whose wondrous power you could never suspect, whose luxuriant beauty, wrapped in veils of glittering brightness, charms the senses and makes the soul to glow with deepest longings and impetuous desires; I will tell you of the water kingdom. Follow me to the ocean, gaze deep, deep down into this great and glorious eye of earth, this ocean, which can smile so entrancingly and murmur so menacingly. Gaze into it when the joy-beams which the last fiery kiss of the setting sun has kindled, yet glow within it, and then wait in timid reverence until night descends like a beautiful dark-lashed eyelid, gently concealing the glittering eye. Nature's true life of delight begins with night, which conceals the highest raptures; the human heart, cradled in the arms of sleep, forgets its sorrowful existence, and all the grief and pain of the bright daylight the aching eyes forget their tears, all God's creatures enjoy soft repose, and in this repose a new and lovely world is opened to them. At midnight a moonbeam glides like a gentle warning over the ocean waters, a sweet zephyr passes like a mysterious greeting over the waves, which then awake, raise their heads, hastily adorn themselves with their glittering crowns of foam, and, strangely intertwining, begin a dance, singing wonderful melodies, full of wild joy and delight. Dull-eyed men call these humid, airy forms ' waves;' but they are charming, alluring women, with glittering eyes and snowy necks. They dive and rise, float hither and thither, cast themselves into the arms of their companions, and melodies which rend...
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