the 5. T 103 close would be before. s as they sprang to seize me, and her like the spring of a fox-trap! r one instant, —had I tripped on a en caught in a fissure of the ice,elling would never have been told. nces over. I thought how long it ed, and then of the search for my body; for oh! how fast man's mind traces out all the dread colors of death's picture, only those, who have been near the grim original, can tell! 12. But I soon came opposite the house, and my hounds I knew their deep voices-roused by the noise, bayed furiously from their kennels. I heard their chains rattle: how I wished they would break them!- then I should have had protectors to match the fiercest denizens of the forest. The wolves, taking the hint conveyed by the dogs, stopped in their mad career, and, after a few moments, turned and fled. I watched them until their forms disappeared over a neighboring hill; then, taking off my skates, I wended my way to the house with feelings which may be better imagined than described. But even yet, I never see a broad sheet of ice by moonlight without thinking of that snuffing breath and those ferocious objects that followed me so closely down that frozen river. LESSON XXII. PURITY OF CHARACTER. HENRY WARD BEECHER. VER the beauty of the plum and apricot there may be OVER seen a bloom and beauty more exquisite than the fruit itself, a soft, delicate flush that overspreads its blushing cheek. Now, if you strike your hand over that, and it is once gone, it is gone forever; for it never grows but once. The flower that hangs in the morning, impearled with dew, arrayed with jewels, once shake it, so that the beads roll off, and you may sprinkle water over it as you please, yet it can never be made again what it was when the dew fell lightly upon it from heaven. 2. On a frosty morning, you may see the panes of glass covered with landscapes, mountains, lakes, and trees, blended in a beautiful, fantastic picture. Now, lay your hand upon the glass, and, by the scratch of your fingers, or by the warmth of the palm, all the delicate tracery will be immediately obliterated. So, in youth, there is a purity of character, which, when once touched and defiled, can never be restored, a fringe more delicate than frostwork, and which, when torn and broken, will never be re-embroidered. 3. A man who has spotted and soiled his garments in youth, though he may seek to make them white again, can never wholly do it, even were he to wash them with his tears. When a young man leaves his father's house, with the blessing of his mother's tears still wet upon his forehead, if he once loses that early purity of character, it is a loss that he can never make whole again. Such is the consequence of crime. Its effects can not be eradicated; they can only be forgiven. LESSON XXIII. AL' LE GO RY is a word of Greek origin. It is made up of two parts, ALL, other; and EGORY, discourse; the literal meaning of the compound being discourse about other things; that is, things other than those expressed by the words, literally interpreted. Allegory is, therefore, the general name for that class of compositions, as Fables, Apologues, Parables, and Myths, in which there is a double meaning, one literal and the other figurative; the literal being designed merely to give a more clear and impressive view of that which is figurative. SHAK' SPEARE, WILLIAM, was born in Stratford on the Avon, England, April, 1564; and died 1616. He is accounted, by all, the greatest dramatic writer of any age. He has been styled the Poet of Nature, the poet who holds up to his readers the mirror of nanners and of life. Ho' MER, the great Grecian poet, flourished about nine hundred years before the Christian era. He is supposed to have been a strolling bard, poor and blind. His chief works are the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey." The Iliad is a poem descriptive of the siege of Troy, in Asia Minor; and the Odyssey describes the wanderings of Ulysses on his return from Troy to his own kingdom in the Island of Ithaca. ADAM Virtue and Miss Genius, MAD With their sister, Reputation, Traveled once through foreign countries, On a tour of observation. 2. Ere they started, Genius hinted That, by some unlucky blunder, While they journeyed through the kingdoms, 3. "And," she said, "it seems but prudent, 4. "As for me, if, from my sisters, I should chance to prove a roamer, 5. Virtue said, "If I am missing, And you deem me worth the trouble, 6. "If, among the high and mighty, 7. "Ah!" said Reputation, sighing, 8. "But, I pray you, guard me closely; If AND LOST FOREVER!" LESSON XXIV. 1 MIL' TON, JOHN, one of the great poets of England, was born in Londou, Dec. 9, 1608, and died Nov. 8, 1675. His life was pure and spiritual. His sympathies and best efforts were freely given to all the noblest interests of humanity. He hated every form of oppression, was the eloquent advocate of the freedom of the press, and the bold champion of human rights. When fifty-six years of age, he became totally blind. He now sat down in poverty, affliction, and obscurity, to work out the immortality which had been the object of his earliest aspirations. His latter years were employed in the compositions of "Paradise Lost" and "Paradise Regained." He 2 HOW' ARD, JOHN, a celebrated English philanthropist, was born 1726, and died 1790, from a malignant fever caught in visiting a sufferer. did much to reform the prisons and hospitals of Europe. 8 3 HAR' VEY, WILLIAM, a celebrated physician, was born in England, 1578, and died 1657. He was the discoverer of the circulation of the blood, of which he published an account in 1628. * MARL' BOROUGH, JOHN CHURCHILL, afterwards the Duke of Marlborough, was the greatest general England ever produced before the Duke of Wellington, and one of the greatest of modern Europe. was born at Ashton, July 5, 1650, and died Aug. 6, 1722. He 5 WELLING TON, ARTHUR WELLESLEY, Duke of Wellington, was born in Ireland, May 1, 1769, and died 1852. He is regarded as the greatest English general. He won the battle of Waterloo against Napoleon 2. What use to stand by Fortune's hill And idly sigh and mope? Its sides are rough, And steep enough, 'Tis true; but if you hope |