Calder Abbey I had never heard of; but the impression it made upon
me I can never forget; partly, perhaps, that it was the first ruin
upon which I ever gazed. One row of the pillars of the great aisle
remains standing. The answering row is gone. Two tall arches of the
body of the main building remain also, and different pieces of the
walls. It is of sandstone; the clusters of columns in the aisle look
as if they were almost held together by the ivy and honeysuckles
that wave around their mouldering capitals with every motion of the
wind. In every crevice, the harebell, the foxglove, and innumerable
other flowers peep forth, and swing in the wind. On the tops of the
arches and walls large flowering shrubs are growing; on the highest
is a small tree, and within the walls are oak trees more than a
century old. The abbey was built seven hundred years ago; and the
ruins that are now standing look as if they might stand many
centuries longer. The owner of the place has made all smooth and
nice around it, so that you may imagine the floor of the church to
look like green velvet. It seems as if the ivy and the flowers were
caressing and supporting the abbey in its beautiful old age.

As I walked under the arches and upon the soft green turf, that so
many years ago had been a cold rough stone pavement, trodden by
beings like myself; and felt the flowers and vines hanging from the
mouldering capitals touch my face; and saw, in the place where was
once a confessional, an oak tree that had taken centuries to grow,
and whose top branches mingled with the smiling crest of flowers
that crowned the tops of the highest arches,--the thought of the
littleness and the greatness of man, and the everlasting beauty of
the works of the Creator, almost overwhelmed me; and I felt that,
after all, I was not in a decaying, ruined temple, but in an
everlasting church, that would grow green and more beautiful and