No verse was sung, but such as blended
holy ideas with the pleasures of harmony; nor were the sounds of revelry
ever heard within their borders. Still, words adapted to their particular
condition had come into use, and though poetry was neither a common nor a
brilliant property of the mind, among a people thus disciplined in ascetic
practices, it early exhibited its power in quaint versification, that was
always intended, though with a success it is almost pardonable to doubt,
to redound to the glory of the Deity. It was but a natural enlargement of
this pious practice, to adapt some of these spiritual songs to the
purposes of the nursery.
When Ruth Heathcote passed her hand thoughtfully across her brow, it was
with a painful conviction that her dominion over the mind of her child
was sadly weakened, if not lost for ever. But the efforts of maternal love
are not easily repulsed. An idea flashed upon her brain, and she proceeded
to try the efficacy of the experiment it suggested. Nature had endowed her
with a melodious voice, and an ear that taught her to regulate sounds in a
manner that seldom failed to touch the heart.
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