makes him work for half the money a bartender gets, and board him around the naberhood, where they give him rhy coffee, sweetened with molasses, tew drink, and kodfish bawls three times a day for vittles. And with all this abuse, I never heard ov a distrikt skoolmaster swearing anything louder than condemn it. Don't talk to me about the pashunce ov anshunt Job. Job had pretty plenty ov biles all over him, no doubt, but they were all ov one breed. Every young one in the distrikt skool iz a bile ov a dif ferent breed, and each one needs a different kind ov poultis to get a good head on them. A distrikt skoolmaster, who duz a square job, and takes his codfish bawls reverently, iz a better man to-day, tew hav lieing around loose, than Solomon would be, arrayed in all ov hiz glory. Solomon wuz better at writing proverbs and managing a large family than he would be tew navigate a distrikt skoolhous. Enny man who haz kept a distrikt skool for ten years, and boarded around the naberhood, ought to be made a mager gineral and have a penshun for the rest ov his nat'ral days, and a hoss and waggin tew du his going around in. But as a general consequence, a distrikt skoolmaster hain't got any more warm friends than an old blind ox haz. He iz just about az welkum az a tax-gatherer iz. He iz respekted a good deal az a man to whom we owe a debt ov 50 dollars to, and don't want tew pay. He goes through life on a back road, az poor az a wood sled, and finally iz missed; but what ever bekums ov hiz remains I kan't tell. Fortunately he iz not often a sensitive man; if he waz h、 couldn't enny more keep a distrikt skool than he could file a krosscut saw. Why iz it that these men and women, who pashuntly and with crazed brain teach our remorseless brats the tejus meaning ov the alphabet, who take the fust welding heat on thir destiny, who hav tu lay the stepping stones and enkurrage them to mount upwards, who have done more hard work and mean jobs than enny klass on the footstool, who have prayed over the reprobats, strengthened the timid, restrained the outragious, and flattered the imbecile; who have lived on kodfish and vile coffee, and hain't been heard to swear, —why is it that they are treated like a vagrant fiddler, danced to for a night, paid oph in the morning, and eagerly forgotten? I had rather burn a coal-pit, or keep the flys out ov a butcher's shop in the month ov August, than meddle with the skool bizzness. SHIBBOLETH.-E. H. J. CLEVELAND. "Then said they unto him: 'Say now Shibboleth;' and he said 'Sibboleth,' Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan: and there fell at that time, of the Ephraimites, forty and two thousand." Judges, xii. 6. Down to the stream they flying go; Right on the border stand the foe, Stand the foe, and this threat they make: Or, to make it a little surer still, When the sun goes down behind the hill; Close the shutters, and bar the door; And at half past four on the following day, But at twelve o'clock it begins, I'm sure, And at twelve o'clock at night it ends; Slaves there have been, from the first man's fali This is the pass-word, speak it plain; And the good man answers back again: I know that the Lord made bond and free They look from below, and propound this text: And that in Adam we sinned all; Say that in him we all are dead, Else you'll oblige us to take your head. A moment they wait to hear the word, Another cry in the stifled air, By the rolling stream, and another threat Sibboleth say, and your head shall fall Say that our sins we must all forsake, We must have our pleasures, and perchance And we, who are somewhat older grown,- But "Be ye holy," he calmly saith; A sudden cry, and a sudden gleam Of a glancing sword by the crimson stream, And quick dispatch him with all their might, Glad welcome give to the next who stands But this it is not enough to say, We must have it said in a particular way. Without the spirit is on him sent; To the small word can't, have a due regard, The meaning of both is the same, 'tis true, "Tis a very important word, my friend, You will please to perceive you are near your end. Forty-two thousand fell that day, * Of the Ephraimites, in the narrow way Forty-two thousand more will fall, For when they accept the "unanimous call,” By the theological river. For still to the crossing do they hie, And still the "Shibboleth" eager try, But stop in the narrow pass to die, And go not over the river. DEATH OF THE OLD YEAR.-ALFRED TENNYSON, Full knee-deep lies the winter snow, And the winter winds are wearily sighing: Toll ye the church bell, sad and slow, And tread softly and speak low, For the old year lies a-dying. He lieth still; he doth not move; |