The faint old man shall lean his silver head To feel thee; thou shalt kiss the child asleep, And softly part his curtains to allow Go-but the circle of eternal change, Which is the life of nature, shall restore, With sounds and scents from all thy mighty range, Ex. XIX.-THE WORLD OF BEAUTY AROUND US. HORACE MANN. A HIGHER and holier world than the world of Ideas, or the world of Beauty, lies around us; and we find ourselves endued with susceptibilities which affiliate us to all its purity and its perfectness. The laws of nature are sublime, but there is a moral sublimity before which the highest intelligences must kneel and adore. The laws by which the winds blow, and the tides of the ocean, like a vast clepsydra, measure, with inimitable exactness, the hours of ever-flowing time; the laws by which the planets roll, and the sun vivifies and paints; the laws which preside over the subtle combinations of chemistry, and the amazing velocities of electricity; the laws of germination and production in the vegetable and animal worlds;-all these, radiant with eternal beauty as they are, and exalted above all the objects of sense, still wane and pale before the Moral Glories that apparel the universe in their celestial light. The heart can put on charms which no beauty of known things, nor imagination of the unknown, can aspire to emulate. Virtue shines in native colors, purer and brighter than pearl, or diamond, or prism, can reflect. Arabian gardens in their bloom can exhale no such sweetness as charity diffuses. Beneficence is godlike, and he who does most good to his fellow-man is the Master of Masters, and has learned the Art of Arts. Enrich and embellish the universe as you will, it is only a fit temple for the heart that loves truth with a supreme love. Inanimate vastness excites wonder; knowledge kindles admiration; but love enraptures the soul. Scientific truth is marvelous, but moral truth is divine; and whoever breathes its air, and walks by its light, has found the lost paradise. For him a new heaven and a new earth have already been created. His home is the sanctuary of God, the Holy of Holies. Ex. XX.-THE VULTURE. ANON. I'VE been among the mighty Alps, and wandered through their vales, And heard the honest mountaineers relate their dismal tales, As round the cotter's blazing hearth, when their daily work was o'er, They spake of those who disappeared, and ne'er were heard of more. And there, I, from a shepherd, heard a narrative of fear, "It is among those barren cliffs the ravenous vulture dwells, high, cry, When, from my children on the green, I heard a fearful "I hurried out to learn the cause, but, overwhelmed with fright, The children never ceased to shriek, and, from my frenzied sight, I missed the youngest of my babes, the darling of my care, But something caught my searching eyes, slow sailing through the air. "Oh! what an awful spectacle to meet a father's eye,- "My infant stretched his little hands imploringly to me, Until, upon the azure sky, a lessening spot he seemed. "The vulture flapped his sail-like wings, though heavily he flew, A mote upon the sun's bright face, he seemed unto my view; But once I thought I saw him stoop, as if he would alight,— 'Twas only a delusive thought, for all had vanished quite. "All search was vain, and years had passed,—that child was ne'er forgot, When once a daring hunter climbed unto a lofty spot, "I clambered up that rugged cliff,-I could not stay away,I knew they were my infant's bones, thus hastening to decay; A tattered garment yet remained, though torn to many a shred; The crimson cap he wore that morn, was still upon his head.” That dreary spot is pointed out to travelers passing by, Who often stand, and musing, gaze, nor go without a sigh; And as I journeyed the next morn along my sunny way, The precipice was shown to me whereon the infant lay. Ex. XXI.-THE PIONEER. BRAINARD. FAR away from the hill-side, the lake and the hamlet, He is No bloodhound has roused up the deer with his bay. He has left the green valley, for paths where the bison And stronger the arm of the fearless endurer, That trusts naught but Heaven, in his way through the wood. Light be the heart of the poor lonely wanderer, And there shall the dew shed its sweetness and luster, Ex. XXII.-THE BACHELORS' SALE. ANON 1 DREAMED a dream in the midst of my slumbers, I am sure I never saw any poetry sweeter. It seemed that a law had been recently made, And in order to make them all willing to marry, And declared, that to save their hearts' blood from spilling, But the rulers determined their scheme to pursue, So they set all the bachelors up at vendue; And called out aloud as he held up a man, The bachelors were all sold off in a trice, And forty old maids, some younger, some older, Each carried an old bachelor home on her shoulder. Ex. XXIII.-HIS CAPTORS TO ANDRE. Look on us, Briton! readest thou Aught base or craven here? On these swart lips and toil-worn brows, J. W. MILLER. Look, man of courts, for know'st thou not Go to! we would not wrong the truth That broad, pale forehead's lift of pride |