5. When I am old, I'd rather bend Thus sadly o'er each buried friend. Than see them lose the earnest truth That marks the friendship of our youth: 'Twill be so sad to have them cold Or strange to me, when I am old!

-

6. When I am old, -oh! how it seems
Like the wild lunacy1 of dreams
To picture in prophetic rhyme

That dim, far-distant, shadowy time,-
So distant that it seems o'er-bold

7. When I am old? Perhaps ere then
I shall be missed from haunts of men;
Perhaps my dwelling will be found
Beneath the green and quiet mound;
My name by stranger hands enrolled
Among the dead, ere I am old.

8. Ere I am old?

That time is now;

For youth sits lightly on my brow;
My limbs are firm, and strong, and free;
Life hath a thousand charms for me,

Charms that will long their influence hold
Within my heart, ere I am old.

9. Ere I am old, oh! let me give
My life to learning how to live:
Then shall I meet, with willing heart,
An early summons to depart,

Or find my lengthened days consoled
By God's sweet peace, when I am old.

LESSON XXXIX.

1 FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN, was born in Boston, Mass., Jan. 6, 1706; and died in Philadelphia, April 17, 1790. His name has long been a household word in America. He was her moralist, statesman, and philosopher. His discovery of the identity of lightning with electricity has obtained for him a lasting and world-renowned reputation.

1.

A RETROSPECTIVE REVIEW.

THOMAS HOOD.

WHEN I was a tiny boy,

My days and nights were full of joy,
My mates were blithe and kind !

No wonder that I sometimes sigh,
And dash the tear-drop from my eye,
To cast a look behind!

2. A hoop was an eternal round
Of pleasure. In those days I found
A top a joyous thing;

But now those past delights I drop;
My head, alas! is all my top,

And careful thoughts the string!

3. My kite, how fast and far it flew !
While I, a sort of Franklin,' drew
My pleasure from the sky!

'Twas papered o'er with studious themes,
The tasks I wrote,—my present dreams
Will never soar so high!

4. My joys are wingless all, and dead ;
My dumps are made of more than lead;
My flights soon find a fall;

My fears prevail; my fancies droop;
Joy never cometh with a hoop,
And seldom with a call!

5. My football's laid upon the shelf;
I am a shuttlecock myself,

The world knocks to and fro;
My archery is all unlearned,
And grief against myself has turned
My arrows and my bow!

6. No more in noontide sun I bask;
My authorship's an endless task;
My head's ne'er out of school;
My heart is pained with scorn and slight;
I have too many foes to fight,

And friends grow strangely cool!

7. No skies so blue or so serene

As then; no leaves look half so green
As clothed the play-ground tree:

All things I loved are altered so;
Nor does it ease my heart to know
That change resides in me!

8. O for the garb that marked the boy, The trousers made of corduroy,

Well inked with black and red;

The crownless hat, ne'er deemed an ill,-
It only let the sunshine still

Repose upon my head!

9. O for the lessons learned by heart! Ay, though the very birch's smart Should mark those hours again,

I'd "kiss the rod," and be resigned
Beneath the stroke, and even find
Some sugar in the cane!

10. When that I was a tiny boy,-
My days and nights were full of joy,
My mates were blithe and kind!
No wonder that I sometimes sigh,
And dash the tear-drop from my eye,
To cast a look behind!

LESSON XL.

1TOP-GAL LANT, situated above the top-mast, and below the royal-mast, being the third of the kind in order from the deck.

2 CROSS-TREE, a piece of timber, supported by the trestle-trees at the upper end of the lower masts, to sustain the frame of the top, and on the topmasts to extend the top-gallant shrouds.

3 KA NACK' A, a native of the Sandwich Islands.
'LEE' WARD, that part toward which the wind blows.

RAT' LINES, Small lines traversing the shrouds of a ship, making the steps of a ladder for ascending to the mast-head.

MAIN' YARD, the yard on which the mainsail is extended, supported by the mainmast.

'BACK-STAYS, long ropes or stays extending from the top-mast heads to both sides of a ship, to assist the shrouds in supporting the masts. STAR' BOARD, being or lying on the right side.

*LOG' GER HEAD, a piece of round timber, in a whale-boat, over which the line is passed, to make it run more slowly.

TAKING A WHALE,

R. STARBUCK.

ARLY one morning, while we were cruising off the

EARLY

coast of Peru for sperm-whales, I was dozing on the main-top-gallant1 cross-trees.2 Suddenly something seemed to ring through my brain. I awoke to discover

that it was the wild voice of Zadik, the captain's harpooner, a tall, swarthy, straight-haired youth, half Kanacka, half English. He was very tender-hearted, but an excellent whaleman, whose power of vision was truly remarkable. He stood on the other side of me, shrieking with all the force of his lungs, "There blows! - there blows! - there there there blows!"

2. "Where away?

glancing aloft.

?" thundered old Captain Boom,

"On the weather-bow, four miles off, heading to leeward!"4

This answer sent an electric thrill through every vein : the old ship lurched as if she felt it too. Up came old Boom, with spy-glass slung over his shoulder, mounting two ratlines5 at a time. When on the cross-trees, he just gave one squint with his tescope; then his voice rang through the ship like the notes of a trumpet:

3. “Back the mainyard! — clear away the boats!" It would have done you good to see the men jump to falls and braces. The ship came up slowly, and Boom went speedily down by means of a back-stay.7

Zadik, following him, sprang like a deer into the starboard boat.

"Lower away!" ordered the captain. Buzz-z-z! buzz! buzz-z-z! sounded the falls; and splash went the four boats almost simultaneously into the water.

4. The merry lads bundled into them, and away they flew, the captain's taking the lead.

"Snap your oars! Make the fire fly! Long and strong's the word! Bend your backs, every one of ye!".

exclaimed the old captain.

In a similar manner the other officers encouraged their crews, until they had proceeded about four miles, when orders were given to stop pulling.