3. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt-offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.

4. Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off.

5. And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

6. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt-offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand and a knife: and they went both of them together.

7. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?

8. And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt-offering: so they went both of them together.

9. And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order; and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

10. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

11. And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, Here am I.

12. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the

lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me.

13. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son.

tempt, to try one's character. | burnt-offering, an animal cleave, to split. burned on God's altar, a sacrifice.

altar, something built on which to offer a gift to God. provide, to make ready.

withhold, to keep back.
in the stead of, in place of.

THERE was once a farmer who had a large field

of corn; he plowed it, and planted the corn, and harrowed it and weeded it with great care; and on this field he depended for the support of his family.

2. But after he had worked so hard he saw the corn begin to wither and droop for want of rain, and he thought he should lose his crop. He felt very sad, and went out every day to look at his corn and see if there was any hope of rain.

3. One day, as he stood there looking at the sky, and almost in despair, two little rain-drops up in the

clouds over his head saw him, and one said to the other, "Look at that poor farmer; I feel sorry for him; he has taken such pains with his field of corn, and now it is all drying up. I wish I could do him some good."

4. "Yes," said the other, "but you are only a little rain-drop; what can you do? You can not wet even one hillock."

5. "Well," said the first, "to be sure, I can not do much; but I can cheer the farmer a little, at any rate, and I am resolved to do my best. I'll try; I'll go to the field to show my good-will, if I can do no more; so here I go.”

6. And down went the rain-drop, and came pat on the farmer's nose, and then fell on one stalk of corn. "Dear me," said the farmer, putting his finger to his nose, "what's that? A rain-drop! Where did that come from? I do believe we shall have a shower!"

7. The first rain-drop had no sooner started for the field than the second said, “Well, if you go, I believe I will go too; so here I come; " and down dropped the rain-drop on another stalk.

8. By this time a great many rain-drops had come together to hear what their companions were talking about; and when they heard them, and saw them going to cheer the farmer and water the corn, one of them said,

9. "If you are going on such a good errand, I'll go too;" and down he came. "And I," said another; "and I," "and I," "and I," and so on, till

a whole shower of them came; and the corn was all watered, and it grew and ripened, all because the first little rain-drop determined to do what it could.

I,

THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and Government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, order and declare,

2. That all persons held as slaves within said designated States and parts of States, ARE, AND HENCEFORWARD SHALL BE, FREE; and that the Executive Government of the United States, including the mili

tary and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.

3. And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defense; and I recommend to them, that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages.

4. And I further declare and make known that such persons, of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States, to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in sa service.

5. And upon this, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God.

LESSON LX.

laugh fer-tile

twelve

notch

stat-ure con-struct

pres-i-dent
dis-fig-ure

pri-va-tion

wil-der-ness ter-ri-to-ry

mer-i-to-ri-ous

THE YOUTH OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

From the Eulogy of Hon. Charles Sumner.

A

BRAHAM LINCOLN was born in a part of the country which, at the period of the Declaration of Independence, was a savage wilderness. Strange but happy providence, that a voice from that savage wilderness, now fertile in men, was inspired to uphold the pledges and promises of the Declaration!