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 The Cradle of Civilization/ 
 
 Kespeclfuny inscribed to Ignatius Dunnellv, aiitlior of 
 "Atlamis, the Antediluvian World." 
 
 By JOHN HARRISON *\V0OI)S. 
 
 Jiy light of reason and research revealed, 
 As, one by one, Time's archives are unsealed, 
 Nor myth nor fable seems that Age of Gold 
 Of which the unfinished page of Plato told. 
 When lived a pre-historic, primal race, 
 An earthly palradise their dwelling-place, 
 Till overwhelmed by swift and dreadful doom, 
 Their requiem unsung, un-epitaphed their tomb! 
 
 In vain hath Wisdom tried from age to age 
 To solve the riddles of the Sacred Page 
 Concerning how and when the world began, 
 And eke the origin and rise of Man ; 
 In vain hath sought some hallowed spot of earth 
 Where Adam first abode "in native worth," 
 Where peace and plenty ruled the blissful hours, 
 And Nature gave, unasked, her choicest fruits and 
 flowers. 
 
 How many a Solon of a later day. 
 
 Like him of Grecian fame, with whom, they say, 
 
 The old Egyptian priest long converse held, 
 
 Disclosing deeds and mysteries of Eld, — 
 
 Hath found himself untutored as a child 
 
 With petty toys and fairy tales beguiled. 
 
 In presence of the wonders now made known 
 
 Hy fossil, ruin, mound and hieroglyphic stone ! 
 
 The world is older than the wise have taught. 
 With proofs of which the centuries are fraught ; 
 'i'he rocks themselves a revelation make. 
 Whose marvellous import no one can mistake; 
 IC'er siftce a day in night of ages lost. 
 Mankind's frail bark the Sea of Life hath tossed, 
 And, all along the shores ot every clime. 
 Hath strewn with mouldering wrecks the shifting 
 sands of Time. 
 
 Repair to Mexico and Yucatan, 
 And view the ruined towers of Culhuacan, 
 The pyramid that crowns Cholula's height. 
 And kindred proofs of ancient skill and might ; 
 Or scale the Andes where Peru displays 
 Her Cyclopean works of other days, 
 Roads, temples, tombs and palaces sublime 
 Whose builders were forgot long ere Pizarro's time; 
 
 With these mysterious relics of the Past, 
 So widely strewn, so wonderful and vast. 
 Compare the Old World ruins that are found 
 From Britain's isle to India's farthest bound, 
 Along the Mediterranean's classic shore. 
 Through Egypt, and Assyria's realm of yore, — 
 Then trace, among the oldest of them all. 
 Similitude of form, design, inscription, wall. 
 
 Why should we doubt, or fail to understand 
 
 The common origin of those who planned 
 
 And reared such mighty structures far and wide, 
 
 P)isjoined by broad domains and ocean's tide. 
 
 Whose language, customs, and religion seem, 
 
 To him who cons the fascinating theme. 
 
 Derived from some enlightened parent race, 
 
 For which historic pens find neither name nor place ? 
 
 t^y 
 
 What other source may mortals hope to know. 
 From whence the streams of human progress flow. 
 Than where on Ocean's breast, 'neath Heaven's 
 
 smile, 
 ( )f old was cradled Plato's "sacred isle;" — 
 The " Gardens of the Go^ds " of Greece and Rome, 
 "Elysium," the dead's reputed home. 
 The "Asgard" of the Scandinavian, 
 The "Eden" of the Bible and of primal man .' 
 
 Mefhinks I see the veil removed at last. 
 From these pictorial emblems of the Past, 
 While thoughtful brain and facile pen unite 
 To bring the pre-historic world to light; 
 Its tints renewed, the faded canvas gleams 
 With unremembered deeds, events and themes ; 
 No longer myths, Poseidon rules the main, 
 And Atlas his terrestrial burden bears again ; 
 
 From the oblivion of ten thousand years. 
 
 Behold ! a mighty Island-Realm appears, 
 
 Where man by slow, progressive steps had gained 
 
 The acme of a culture long retained. 
 
 And spread abroad, through climes unknown before, 
 
 By wanderers from their ancestral shore. 
 
 Who, far and wide, on sea and land unfurled 
 
 The flag of this Britannia of the ancient world ! 
 
 To this fair region and celestial clime 
 Tradition points through all recorded time; 
 The paths by which the races first emerge 
 From ancient gloom, to focus here converge; 
 In East and West alike the nations claim 
 This mother-country whence their founders came. 
 And hence derive a rich and varied store 
 ( )f legendary song and mythologic lore. 
 
 Mere was the 'orious lancl that Homer sung, 
 From whence i ng line of gods and heroes sprung ; 
 The germ of Ej^ypt's ancient art and power, 
 Whose splendor burst at once to perfect flower ; 
 Here was the "Aztlan" of the Aztec race 
 Whose fathers found a new abiding-place, 
 The "Deluged World" whence many an ark hath 
 
 sailed. 
 The "lost Atlantis" by surviving Noahs bewailed ! 
 
 What tongue or pen may e'er portray aright 
 
 The terrors of that " single day and night 
 
 Of rain " and flood, when woke the fires that sleep 
 
 Below " the fountains of the vasty deep ; " 
 
 When quaking Earth with angry Heaven combined 
 
 To wreak fell retribution on mankind, 
 
 And doomed Atlantis sunk beneath the wave. 
 
 With multitudes untold, to find an ocean grave .' 
 
 Full many a sail doth swell, and keel doth glide. 
 
 Where leagues on leagues of foaming billows hide 
 
 Unfathomed secrets of the dark abysm. 
 
 The scene of that tremendous cataclysm , 
 
 The Azores yet surmount that mighty Sea 
 
 Whose very name reveals their anct.stry. 
 
 And Teneriffe uplifts his monument. 
 
 The sad memorial of a vanished continent : 
 
 Let Science, then, her skilful hand extend. 
 
 Their idle navies let the nations lend, 
 
 And wealth contribute from its hoarded gold. 
 
 That future generations may behold 
 
 The buried treasures of that ancient realm. 
 
 Whose power the Elements did over-wUelm, 
 
 And where a parent-race devised and wrought 
 
 The basis of all modern wisdom, faith and thought '. 
 
 * Copyright by the author, i8 
 

 Lot 69 
 

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