Let it also be told of the great American jurist, whose fame is as pure, and will be as enduring as that of England's renowned Chancellor, that it was his request, also, that the remains of his mother should be laid close to his own at Mount Auburn, that their dust might mingle in the grave, whose hearts had been so tenderly united on earth, and whose spirits should be as one in heaven.

Happy mother, who enjoyed the faithful obedience and abiding love of such a son! Happy son, who enjoyed the discipline, and received the blessing of such a mother! Like the good and the great of every age, he kept his mother's law, and it led him to honor. She, by her fidelity through the quiet years of his domestic education, helped to weave the crown of his mature and public life; and he, by his manly virtues, twined a perennial wreath to adorn her memory.*

LESSON XXXI.

1. THE UNRULY CATTLE.

The horse of a pious man living in Massachusetts, happening to stray into the road, a neighbor of the man who owned the horse, put him into the pound. Meeting the owner soon after, he told him what he had done; "and if I catch him in the road again," said he, "I'll

*Let the whole lesson be examined in regard to pause, inflection, and emphasis.

do it again." "Neighbor," replied the other, "not long since, I looked out of my window in the night, and saw your cattle in my meadow, and I drove them out, and shut them in your yard; and I'll do it again.” Struck with the reply, the man liberated the horse from the pound, and paid the charges himself. "A soft answer turneth away wrath."

2. ABOU BEN ADHEM.-Leigh Hunt.

Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase !)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight of his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An angel writing in a book of gold.

Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And, to the presence in the room, he said:

What writest thou?" The vision raised its head,
And, with a look full of all sweet accord,

Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord!"
"And is mine one?" asked Abou.-"Nay, not so,"
Replied the angel. Abou spake more low,
But cheerly still; and said,-" I pray thee, then,
Write me as one that loves his fellow-men."
The angel wrote and vanished. The next night
It came again, with a great wakening light,

And showed the names whom love of God had blessed;
And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest!

3. THE GREAT DISTINCTION OF A NATION.-W. E. Channing. B. 1780, d. 1842.

The great distinction of a nation-the only one worth possessing, and which brings after it all other

blessings is the prevalence of pure principle among the citizens. I wish to belong to a State, in the character and institutions of which I may find a spring of improvement, which I can speak of with an honest pride; in whose records I may meet great and honored names, and, which is fast making the world its debtor by its discoveries of truth, and by an example of virtuous freedom. O, save me from a country which worships wealth, and cares not for true glory; in which intrigue bears rule; in which patriotism borrows its zeal from the prospect of office; in which hungry sycophants throng with supplications all the departments of State; in which public men bear the brand of private vice, and the seat of government is a noisome sink of private licentiousness and public corruption.

Tell me not of the honor of belonging to a free country. I ask, does our liberty bear generous fruits? Does it exalt us in manly spirit, in public virtue, above countries trodden under foot by despotism? Tell me not of the extent of our country. I care not how large it is, if it multiply degenerate men. Speak not of our prosperity. Better be one of a poor people, plain in manners, reverencing God, and respecting themselves, than belong to a rich country, which knows no higher good than riches. Earnestly do I desire for this country that, instead of copying Europe with an undiscerning servility, it may have a character of its own, corresponding to the freedom and equality of our institutions. One Europe is enough. One Paris is enough. How much to be desired is it, that, separated, as we are, from the Eastern continent by an ocean, we should be still

more widely separated by simplicity of manners, by domestic purity, by inward piety, by reverence for human nature, by moral independence, by withstanding the subjection to fashion, and that debilitating sensuality, which characterize the most civilized portions of the Old World! Of this country, I may say, with peculiar emphasis, that its happiness is bound up in its virtue !

4. BREVITY IN AN ORATOR DESIRABLE.

The mayor of a town in Burgundy, hearing that the prince was to pass that way, and thinking himself to be a great orator, determined to display his abilities on this occasion. When the prince approached, the burghers were put under arms; whilst the mayor, at the head of the corporation, pulling out a long piece of parchment, began to harangue, as follows: "Of all the towns that have the honor of being within the compass of your most serene highness's government, the very least would be overjoyed to make you sensible that none has so great a zeal for your service, or affection for your person, as ours. We very well know that the certain way of pleasing the greatest warrior of the present age is to receive him with the thunderings of numerous artillery; but for us, alas! it is impossible to fire one cannon, for eighteen reasons. The first is, that there never was any such thing as a cannon in this place since it was built. The second "Hold, hold," said the prince, "I am so well satisfied with your first reason, that I shall excuse all the rest."

5. WITTY RETORT.

Judge Rice, who presided in a county court, was fond of indulging himself occasionally in a joke at the expense of Counsellor Brooks, a practising attorney in the same court, with whom he was very intimate, and for whom he had a high regard. On a certain occasion, when pleading a cause at the bar, Mr. Brooks observed that he would conclude his remarks on the following day, unless the court would consent to set late enough for him to finish them that evening. "Sit, sir," said the judge, "not set: hens set." "I stand corrected, sir," said the counsellor, bowing. Not long after, while giving an opinion, the judge remarked that, under such circumstances, an action would not lay. "Lie, may it please your honor," said the counsellor, 66 not lay hens lay."

6. JOHN PHILPOT CURRAN.

"I was," says Curran, "a little ragged apprentice to every kind of idleness and mischief-all day studying whatever was eccentric in those older, and half the night practising it, for the amusement of those who were younger than myself. Heaven only knows where it would have ended. But, as my mother said, I was born to be a great man.

"One morning I was playing at marbles in the village ball-alley, with a light heart and a lighter pocket ; when suddenly appeared a stranger of a very venerable and very cheerful aspect. His intrusion was not the least restraint upon our merry little assemblage; on