LESSON XVII. ALL THINGS ARE OF GOD.-MOORE. 1. Thou art, O God, the life and light Are but reflections caught from thee. 2. When day, with farewell beam, delays Through golden vistas into heaven, — 3. When night, with wings of starry gloom, 4. When youthful spring around us breathes, And every flower the summer wreathes, 5. "Let there be light!" and listening earth, Obedient to the voice of God. S 13 W. H Burleigh. LESSON XVIII. FOREST HYMN.-BRYANT. [See Rule 6, p. 180.] 1. The groves were God's first temples. 2. Ere man learned To hew the shaft, and lay the Architrave,* ere he framed The lofty vault, to gather and roll back thrice happy, if it find Father, thy hand Hath reared these venerable columns; thou Didst weave this verdant roof. Thou didst look down All these fair ranks of trees. They, in thy sun, The boast of our vain race to change the form * Arch ́i-trave, the lower division of an entablature which rests immediately on the column, The solitude. Thou art in the soft winds Comes, scarcely felt; the barky trunks, the ground, The fresh, moist ground, are all instinct with thee. 3. My heart is awed within me, when I think Of the great miracle that still goes on In silence round me, the perpetual work Of thy creation, finished, yet renewed Forever. Written on thy works, I read Lo! all grow old and die, but see, again, How on the faltering footsteps of decay Youth presses ever gay and beautiful youth, In all its beautiful forms. Oh, there is not lost 4. Then let me often to these solitudes The swift, dark whirlwind that uproots the woods 2 LESSON XIX. THE INDIAN AND BRITISH OFFICER. — ANON. [Colloquial and Narrative.—See Rule under Personation, p. 202.] 1. "There," said the Indian, "are your countrymen ; there is the enemy who wait, to give us battle. Remember that I have saved thy life; that I have taught thee to construct a canoe; to arm thyself with a bow and arrows; to surprise the beaver in the forest; to wield the tomahawk; and to scalp the enemy. What wast thou when I first took thee to my hut? Thy hands were those of an infant; they were fit neither to procure thee sustenance nor safety. Thou wast ignorant of every thing; and thou owest every thing to me. Wilt thou then go over to thy nation, and take up the hatchet against us?" 66 2. The officer replied, "I would rather lose my own life, than take away that of my deliverer." The Indian, then bending down his head, and covering his face with both his hands, stood some time silent; then, looking earnestly at his prisoner, he said, in a voice that was at once softened by tenderness and grief, "Hast thou a father?" — “ My father," said the young man, 66 was alive when I left my country."—"Alas!" said the Indian, "how wretched must he be!" He paused a moment, and then added, “Dost thou know that I have been a father? I am a father no more. I saw my son fall in battle; he fought at my side; I saw him expire; but he died like a man! He was covered with wounds when he fell dead at my feet; but I have revenged him!" 3. He pronounced these words with the utmost vehemence; his body shook with a universal tremor; and he was almost stifled with sighs that he would not suffer to escape him. There was a keen restlessness in his eye; but no tear would flow to his relief. At length he became calm by degrees, and turning toward the east where the sun was then rising, "Dost thou see," said he to the young officer, "the beauty of that sky which sparkles with prevailing day? and hast thou pleasure in the sight?"-"Yes," replied the young officer, "I have pleasure in the beauty of so fine a sky."- "I have none!" said the Indian, and his tears then found their way. "Yes," 4. A few minutes after, he showed the young man a tree in full bloom. "Dost thou see that beautiful tree?" said he; "and dost thou look upon it with pleasure?” replied the officer, "I do look with pleasure upon that beautiful tree.". "I have pleasure in looking upon it no more," said the Indian hastily; and immediately added, "Go, return to thy countrymen, that thy father may still have pleasure when he sees the sun rise in the morning, and the trees blossom in the spring." LESSON XX. SELECT PARAGRAPHS. 1. USEFULNESS. — FRELINGHUYSEN. Resolve to do something useful, honorable, dutiful, and do it heartily. Repel the thought that you can, and therefore you may, live above work and without it. Among the most pitiable objects in society, is the man whose mind has been trained by the discipline of education; who has learned how to think, and the value of his immortal powers; who with all these noble faculties, cultivated and prepared for an honorable activity, ignobly sits down to do nothing; with no influence over the public mind; with no interest in the concerns of his country, or even his neighborhood; who is con |