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which here at, every turn, astonished our sénses, and filled us with awe and delight.'

3. Indeed, from all that we can gather from the journal before us, and the accounts of other travelers who passed .hrough these regions, in the memorable enterprise of Astoria, we are inclined to think that Snake River must be one of the most remarkable for varied and striking scenery, of all the rivers of this continent. From its head waters in the Rocky Mountains, to its junction with the Columbia, its windings are upwards of six hundred miles, through every variety of landscape.

4. Rising in a volcanic region, amidst extinguished craters, and mountains, awful with the traces of ancient fires, it makes its way through great plains of lava and sandy deserts, penetrates vast sierras or mountainous chains, broken into romantic and often frightful precipices, and crowned with eternal snows; and at other times, careers through green and smiling meadows, and wide landscapes of Italian grace and beauty. Wildness and sublimity, however, appear to be its prevailing characteristics.

1. Of all the sights, that nature offers to the eye and mind of man, mountains have always stirred my strongest feelings. I have seen the ocean when it was turned up from the bottom by tempests, and noon was like night with the conflict of the billows, and the storm that tore and scattered them in mist and foam across the sky.

2. I have seen the desert rise around me; calmly in the midst of thousands paralyzed by fear, and uttering cries of horror, I have contemplated the sandy pillars coming like the advance of some gigantic city of conflagration, flying across the wilderness, every column glowing with intense fire, and every blast charged with death; the sky vaulted with gloom-the earth a furnace. But with me, the mountainin tempest or in calm-the throne of the thunderer, or when the evening sun paints its dells and declivities with colors, dipped in heaven-has been the source of the most absorbing sensations.

3. There stands magnitude, giving the instant impression of a power above man; grandeur that defies decay; antiquity that tells of ages unnumbered; beauty that the touch of time makes only more beautiful: use exhaustless for the

service of man; strength imperishable as the globe; the monument of eternity-the truest earthly emblem of that ever-living, unchangeable, irresistible Majesty-by whoin, and for whom, all things were made!-CROLY.

QUESTIONS.-1. Where is Snake River? 2. How did its scenery ap pear where the travelers reached it? 3. What did Capt. Bonneville say of it? 4. How is it described in the third and fourth verses ?-5. What does Croly say of the ocean? 6. Of the desert? 7. Of the mountain? 8. What is meant by 'the throne of the thunderer ?'

What Rule for the rising inflection at senses, near the end of second verse? What Rule for its prevalence in the third and fourth verses ?How is grandeur, antiquity, beauty, &c. parsed, last verse? What Rule for emphasizing me, second verse, second part? Why do by and for, last sentence, become emphatic? (Les. VIII. Remark 2.)

LESSON LVI.

SPELL AND DEFINE-1. Perils, dangers. 2. Termination, an ending. 3. Impervious, safe from entrance; impenetrable. 4. Precedes', goes be fore. 5. Bodes, threatens. 6. Tempt, to try. 7. Requisition, the act of demanding. 8. Immolate, to kill, as a victim offered in sacrifice. 9. Execution, performance.

Trial of the Faith of Abraham.-W. B. COLLYER.

His

1. It is impossible to pass through Ca' na an, without turning aside to the land of Moriah, and contemplating the sacred mountain, on which a patriarch's faith triumphed over a father's feelings. According to the promise of God, Isaac was born when Abraham was a hundred years old. He had seen his son preserved from the perils of infancy. mother had gazed with unspeakable pleasure upon her child— the son of her vows, who was now fast pressing toward manhood. The parents of this amiable youth were looking forward to a peaceful dismission from the toils of life, and to the happy termination of a tranquil old age.

2. Abraham " planted a grove in Be er' she ba," and rested under its shadow. This quiet retreat, alas, is not impervious to sorrow! This delightful serenity resembles the stillness of the air, which usually precedes a tempest-it bodes approaching trial. "And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Take now thy son, thine only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering, upon one of the mountains which I shall

tell thee of." What a command was this! To stain his hand with the blood of a lamb which he had fed, would be a task to a feeling mind; but the requisition is for a "Son."

3. To select one from a numerous family, would be a cruel effort. Let the mother look round upon her children, when they are assembled before her like a flock, and say which she could spare from among them! But the demand is, "take thine only son"-in whom the life of both parents is bound up. To part with an only child for a season, opens the fountain of a mother's tears, and adds to the gray hair of his father. To lose him by death, is to cause them to go bitterly in the anguish of their soul all their days. What was it, then, to offer an only son as a sacrifice, and to be himself the priest who should plunge the knife into his bosom?

4. But he obeys-obeys without a murmur! He rises early in the morning to immolate his child, and to offer, on the altar of God, all that he held most dear in this world. On the third day, the destined mountain marks its elevation along the line of the horizon, and meets the eye of the afflicted parent. The servants are not permitted to witness the awful scene, the solemnity of which they might disturb by lamentations-or the execution of which they might prevent by force-or, wanting their master's faith, might draw from it inferences unfavorable to religion.

5. At this moment, to awaken in his bosom extreme torture, "Isaac spake unto Abraham, his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my són. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide him self a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together."

6. But we will no longer attempt to scent the violet, and to paint the rainbow. We must draw a vail over the scene; for who can enter into a father's anguish, as he raised his hand against his child? and who shall be bold enough to attempt a description of his rapture, when Heaven, which had put his faith to so severe a trial, commanded him to forbear, and indeed provided itself a victim?

QUESTIONS. 1. Where did Abraham reside at this time? 2. What was he commanded to do? 3. Why was this peculiarly trying? 4. What is said of their journey? 5. What conversation occurred between the fa ther and son? 6. Did he finally sacrifice his son?

Point out the examples of rhetorical pause, fourth verse. Are the twe questions direct or indirect, last verse? Why a rising inflection at son. fifth verse? Why are the capitals used in the fifth verse?

LESSON LVII.

SPELL AND DEFINE-1. Deduct', to take out. 2. Trib'une, an officer or magistrate chosen by the Roman people to defend their liberties. 3. Retrieved, recovered from an unprosperous state. 4. Mu'tual, each acting in turn to the other. 5. Substantial, of solid character; real. 6. Efficacious, having power equal to the accomplishment of its object. 7. Pu'nic, pertaining to the Carthaginians; faithless.

How may the remarks of two or more individuals generally be personated? (See Les. X. 2.)

The Study of History; or a Solid and Superficial Education contrasted.-RUHNKEN.

Teacher. I HEAR that you have made great progress in history, and that you have at home a very able instructress in it.

Pupil. Yes, that is the case; our governess knows all his tory; and I have profited much from her instruction.

T. But what have you learned? Tell me.

P. All history.

T. But what is all history?

P. [Hesitating.] All history? Why it is-it is-what is in books.

T. Well, I have here many books on history, as Herodotus, Livy, Tacitus, and others; I suppose you know these authors.

P. No, I do not; but I know the facts related in history.

T. I dare say you dò; I see, however, that, out of your knowledge of all history, we must deduct a knowledge of the authors who have written it. But perhaps that governess of yours, has informed you who Homer, Hesiod, Plato, and other poets and philosophers were.

P. I don't think she has; for, if she had, I should have remembered it.

T. Well, we must then make one farther deduction from your knowledge of all history; and that is, the history of the poets and philosophers.

P. Why, I said just now that I did not learn those things; I learned matters of fact and events.

T. But those things, as you call them, were mèn : however,

I now understand yoù; the knowledge you acquired was a knowledge of things, but not of mén; as, for instance, you learned that the city of Rome was built, but you did not learn any thing of the men that built it.

P. True, true. [As if repeating by rote.] Rome was built by Romulus and Remus, twin brothers, the sons of Rhea Sylvia and Mars; they were exposed, while infants, by King Amulius, and afterward a shepherd brought them up and educated them'

T. Enoùgh, enoùgh, my good little friend; you have shown me now what you understand by the history of men and things. But, pray, tell me what other men and things you were instructed in; for instance, tell me who and what Bylla was.

P. He was a tyrant of Rome.

T. Was the term tyrant the name of an officer?

P. Indeed, I do not know; but Sylla is certainly called, in history, a tyrant.

T. But did you not learn that he was dictátor? and what the authority and duties of that officer wére? and the authority of the consuls, tribunes of the people, and other magistrates among the Rómans?

P. No, I did not; for those things are hard, and are not so entertaining as great exploits, and would have taken up too much time.

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T. As to that, you will, perhaps, be better able to judge hereafter. Well, then, from your knowledge of all history, we must strike off all knowledge of the offices of the Roman magistrates.

P. Ah! but we took more pleasure in reading about wars and exploits.

T. Well, did you ever hear of Carthage, and the wars carried on against her?

P. Oh, yes; there were three Carthaginian wars.

T. Tell me, then, which party was victorious.

P. The Romans.

T. But were they victorious at the beginning?

P. Oh, no; [as if repeating by rote.] 'they were beaten in four battles by Hannibal; at Ticinum, Trebia, the Thras ymene lake, and Cannæ.'

T. Did your governess tell you the causes of these defeats of the Romans?

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