without reproach or bitterness; otherwise it will lose its due end and use, and, instead of reforming the offense, it will exasperate the offender, and lay the reprover justly open to reproof.

9. If a person be passionate, and give you ill language, rather pity him than be moved to anger. You will find that silence, or very gentle words, are the most exquisite revenge for reproaches; they will either cure the distemper in the angry man, and make him sorry for his passion, or they will be a severe reproof and punishment to him. But, at any rate, they will preserve your innocence, give you the deserved reputation of wisdom and moderation, and keep up the serenity and composure of your mind. Passion and anger make a man unfit for every thing that becomes him as a man or as a Christian.

10. Never utter any profane speeches, nor make a jest of any Scripture expressions. When you pronounce the name of God or of Christ, or repeat any passages or words of Holy Scripture, do it with reverence and seriousness, and not lightly, for that is "taking the name of God in vain."

QUESTIONS.-1. To whom should you not give much credit? 2. Why, beware of the flatterer? 3. Why, not commend yourself! 4. In what way should we speak of the absent? 5. How should we behave toward those who are, in any wise, deformed? 6. What is said of the power of good words? 7. What must sometimes be reproved 8. How must you treat a passionate person 9. How should you treat passages of Scripture?

LESSON CVIII.

5.

SPELL AND DEFINE.-1. OR DAIN' ED, appointed. 2. LAV ISI ED, wasted. 3. HAP' LY, perhaps. 4. TRACE, to delineate; draw. RE-TOUCH', to improve by new touches. 6. EF FACE', to erase; blot out. 7. TWIN' ED, closely united. 8. UN CHANG' ING LY, unvaryingly.

Articulate distinctly nts in counts, sk in task, ls in falee, sp and ks in speaks, pt in kept, rm in storm, &c.

MY BIRTH-DAY, OR THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE EARLIER AND THE LATER STAGES OF LIFE.

THOMAS MOORE

1. "My birth-day !"—what a different sound
That word had in my youthful ears!
And how, each time the day comes round,
Less and less white the mark appears!
When first our scanty years are told,
It seems like pastime to grow old;
And, as youth counts the shining links
That Time around him binds so fast,
Pleased with the task, he little thinks

How hard that chain will press at last.

2. Vain was the man and false as vain,

Who said: "Were he ordained to run
His long career of life again,

He would do all that he had done."
(pl.) Ah! 'tis not thus the voice that dwells
In sober birth-days speaks to me;
Far otherwise,-of time it tells
Lavished unwisely, carelessly,
Of counsel mocked-of talents, made
Haply for high and pure designs,
But oft, like Israel's incense laid
Upon unholy, earthly shrines,-
Of nursing many a wrong desire,—
Of wandering after Love too far,
And taking every meteor fire

That crossed my path-way for his star

3. All this it tells, and could I trace
The imperfect picture o'er again,
With power to add, retouch, efface
The lights and shades, the joy and pain,
How little of the past would stay!
How quickly all should melt away,-
All-but that freedom of the mind

Which hath been more than wealth to me:

Those friendships in my boyhood twined,
And kept till now unchangingly.

And that dear home, that saving ark,

Where love's true light at last I've found,
Cheering within when all grows dark,

And comfortless, and storm around.

QUESTIONS.-1. With what difference of feeling does the poet view the earlier and the later periods of life? 2. Who is described by the poet as vain and false? 3. How does the writer represent the voice of his birth-day as speaking? 4. What portion of the picture of his past life would the poet efface, and as gladly retain?

Why is a rhetorical pause made after all, last stanza? See p. 43

LESSON CIX.

6.

SPELL AND DEFINE.-1. CHO' RUS, a singing together; a concert. 2. UN IN TER MIT TING, not ceasing. 3. FAL' TERS, hesitates; fails. 4. RIV EN, rent; torn off. 5. BE WAIL' ETH, bemoans; laments. AS SAIL' ETH, invades; attacks. 7. PET TY, small; trifling. 8. VEXA'TIONS, troubles; annoyances. 9. SIN-PROMPT INGS, temptations to sin. 10. RES' O LUTE, firm; unbending. 11. AN' GUISH, extreme

pain. 12. CLOD, a dull, stupid fellow; a dolt.

1. SI RENS, two maidens celebrated in fable, who occupied an island in the Ocean, where they sat near the sea-shore, and with their melodious voices so charmed those sailing by, as to make them forget home and every thing else dear, and abide with those maidens till they perished from hunger. The name is usually derived from a Greek word (oɛipú, seira), signifying a chain or bond; in allusion to the binding or enchaining influence of their sweet music. Hence the term "world-Sirens" is employed in the following piece, as a strong expression for fascinations of the world.

LABOR.

FRANCES OSGOOD.

1. Pause not to dream of the future before us;
Pause not to weep the wild cares that come o'er us;
Hark how Creation's deep musical chorus,

Unintermitting, goes up into Heaven!
Never the ocean-wave falters in flowing,
Never the little seed stops in its growing,
More and more richly the rose-heart keeps glowing,
Till from its nourishing stem it is riven.

2. "Labor is worship!"--the robin is singing;
"Labor is worship!"-the wild bee is ringing;

Listen! that eloquent whisper upspringing,
Speaks to thy soul from out Nature's heart.
From the dark cloud flows the life-giving shower;
From the rough sod comes the soft-breathing flower;
From the small insect the rich coral bower;

Only man, in the plan, ever shrinks from his part.

8. Labor is life!-'Tis the still water faileth;
Idleness ever despaireth, bewaileth :

Keep the watch wound, for the dark rust assaileth;
Flowers droop and die in the stillness of noon.
Labor is glory!—the flying cloud lightens ;
Only the waving wing changes and brightens;
Idle hearts only the dark future frightens;

Play the sweet keys, wouldst thou keep them in tune.

4. Labor is rest-from the sorrows that greet us;
Rest from all petty vexations that meet us;
Rest from sin-promptings that ever entreat us;
Rest from world-'Sirens that lead us to ill.
Work-and pure slumbers shall wait on thy pillow;
Work-thou shalt ride o'er care's coming billow;
Lie not down wearied 'neath woe's weeping willow:
Work with a stout heart and resolute will.

5. Droop not, though shame, sin, and anguish are round thee; Bravely fling off the cold chain that hath bound thee; Look on yon pure heaven smiling beyond thee;

Rest not content in thy darkness—a clod. Work for some good-be it ever so slowly; Cherish some flower-be it ever so lowly; Labor!-all labor is noble and holy;

Let thy great deeds be thy prayer to thy God.

QUESTIONS.-1. Why should we not pause? 2. What examples of industry do we see in Nature? 3. How are the effects of idleness and industry illustrated in the 3d stanza? 4. In what sense may labor be said to be rest? 5. What exhortation in the last stanza! 6. What is meant by the term "world-Sirens" in the 4th stanza? 7. For what should we labor? 8. What should our great deeds be?

Which lines of this poetry rhyme with each other? What pause after darkness, 5th stanza! When is this pause generally made? See p. 48

And that dear home, that saving ark
Where love's true light at last
Cheering within when all grows
And comfortless, and storm

QUESTIONS.-1. With what difference the earlier and the later periods of lif the poet as vain and false? 3. How voice of his birth-day as speaking?

FOURTH READER.

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SPELL AND DEFINE.

rightens;

Sightens; tillness of noon.

ens;

eep them in tune.

us;

2. UN IN TER MIT TING
4. RIV EN, rent; torr
AS SAIL' ETH, invades
A'TIONS, troubles;
sin. 10. RES' O
pain. 12. CLOD,

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island in the O
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home and ev
they perish
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66

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&
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made a law for the rain;

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and

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her own law; if those principal

and

ements of the world, whereof all things in er world are made, should lose the qualities now they have; if the frame of that heavenly erected over our heads should loosen and dissolve if celestial spheres should forget their wonted

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