'SCHOOL AND HOME ARITHMETIC," AND OTHER EDUCATIONAL works.

The Editor begs to acknowledge the kind permission to use copyright
works of Messrs. Longmar & Co., Messrs. Macmillan, Alfred Tennyson, Esq.,
Martin Tupper, Esq., and other authors and publishers.

THE

EXPLANATORY POETICAL READER

A PSALM OF LIFE.-Longfellow.
"Be up and doing."

TELL me not, in mournful numbers,1
"Life is but an empty dream!"
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!

And the grave is not its goal;2
"Dust thou art, to dust returnest,"3
Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Finds us further than to-day!

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,5

And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still like muffled drums are beating

6

Funeral marches to the grave.

6

1 Numbers, verses. 2 Goal, end, aim. 3 See Genesis iii. 19. "For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” 4 Destined, appointed. 5 Fleeting, passing quickly away. Muffled drums, drums covered with crape to deaden the sound; used at so'diers' funerals.