and a lifeless body swung revolving in the wind. Just at that moment a horseman came into sight, galloping down hill, his steed covered with foam. He carried a packet in his right hand, which he waved rapidly to the crowd. He was the express rider with the reprieve. But he had come too late. A comparatively innocent man had died an ignominious death, because a watch had been five minutes too slow, making its bearer arrive behind time.

6. It is continually so in life. The best laid plans, the most important affairs, the fortunes of individuals, the weal of nations, honor, happiness, life itself, are daily sacrificed because somebody is "behind time." There are men who always fail in whatever they undertake, simply because they are "behind time." There are others who put off reformation year by year, till death seizes them, and they perish unrepentant, because forever "behind time." Five minutes in a crisis is worth years. It is but a little period, yet it has often saved a fortune or redeemed a people. If there is one virtue that should be cultivated more than another by him who would succeed in life, it is punctuality; if there is one error that should be avoided it is being behind time.

1 CŎL'UMN. A body of troops in deep 4 ÄS'SETS. Property or effects. files, with narrow front.

2 RE-EN-FORCE'MENTS. Supplies of additional troops.

3 RE-SËRVE'. A select body of troops 6 kept in the rear of an army in action, to give support when re- 7 quired.

5 MA-TUR'ING. Ripening; coming to
a perfected state. Bills or notes
mature when they become due.
IN-SŎL'VENT. One who cannot pay

his debts.

RE-PRIEVE'. A suspension of a sentence of death.

XLVIII. ~ EVIL INFLUENCE OF SCEPTICISM.

CAMPBELL.

1. O, LIVES there, Heaven! beneath thy dread expanse,
One hopeless, dark idolater of Chance,
Content to feed, with pleasures unrefined,
The lukewarm passions of a lowly mind;
Who, mouldering earthward, reft' of every trust,
In joyless union wedded to the dust,
Could all his parting energy dismiss,

And call this barren world sufficient bliss?

2. There live, alas! of heaven-directed mien,

2

Of cultured soul, and sapient eye serene,
Who hail thee, Man! the pilgrim of a day,
Spouse of the worm, and brother of the clay!
Frail as the leaf in Autumn's yellow bower,
Dust in the wind, or dew upon the flower!
A friendless slave, a child without a sire,
Whose mortal life, and momentary fire,
Lights to the grave his chance-created form,
As ocean-wrecks illuminate the storm;
And, when the gun's tremendous flash is o'er,
To night and silence sink for evermore!

3. Are these the pompous tidings ye proclaim,
Lights of the world, and demigods of Fame ?
Is this your triumph, this your proud applause,
Children of Truth, and champions of her cause?
For this hath Science searched, on weary wing,
By shore and sea, each mute and living thing?
Launched with Iberia's' pilot from the steep,
To worlds unknown, and isles beyond the deep?
Or round the cope her living chariot driven,

5

And wheeled in triumph through the signs of heaven? O, star-eyed Science, hast thou wandered there,

To waft us home the message of despair?
Then bind the palm, thy sage's brow to suit,
Of blasted leaf, and death-distilling fruit!

:

4. Ah me! the laurelled wreath that Murder rears,
Blood-nursed, and watered by the widow's tears,
Seems not so foul, so tainted, and so dread,
As waves the night-shade round the sceptic head.
What is the bigot's torch, the tyrant's chain?
I smile on death, if heaven-ward Hope remain!
But, if the warring winds of Nature's strife
Be all the faithless charter of my life,
If Chance awaked, inexorable power!
This frail and feverish being of an hour,
Doomed o'er the world's precarious scene to sweep,
Swift as the tempest travels on the deep,
To know Delight but by her parting smile,
And toil, and wish, and weep, a little while;
Then melt, ye elements, that formed in vain
This troubled pulse, and visionary brain!
Fade, ye wild flowers, memorials of my doom!
And sink, ye stars, that light me to the tomb!

5. Truth, ever lovely, since the world began,
The foe of tyrants, and the friend of man,
How can thy words from balmy slumber start
Reposing Virtue, pillowed on the heart!
Yet, if thy voice the note of thunder rolled,
And that were true which Nature never told,
Let Wisdom smile not on her conquered field;
No rapture dawns, no treasure is revealed!
O, let her read, nor loudly, nor elate,
The doom that bars us from a better fate!

1 REFT

But, sad as angels for the good man's sin,
Weep to record, and blush to give it in!

Bereft; deprived.

2 SA'PI-ENT. Wise.

8 DEM'I-GŎD. A deified hero.

5 COPE. The concave of the sky; an arch or vault over head.

6 NIGHT'SHĀDE. A noxious plant.

4 I-BE'RI-A'Ş PILOT. Columbus. Ibe-7 VISION-A-Rỵ. Prone to see or caparia is an ancient name of Spain.

ble of seeing visions; imaginative.

[The Saco (sâ'cō) has its springs in New Hampshire, near the Notch of the White Mountains, and reaches the Atlantic after a winding course through the State of Maine. It receives the waters of many lakes and streams, passes over numerous falls, and is throughout remarkable for its clearness and beauty.]

1. FORTH from New Hampshire's granite steeps

Fair Saco rolls in chainless pride,

Rejoicing as it laughs and leaps

Down the gray mountain's rugged side:
The stern, rent crags, and tall, dark pines,
Watch that young pilgrim passing by,
While close above them frowns or shines,

The black, torn cloud, or deep-blue sky.

2. Soon, gathering strength, it swiftly takes
Through Bartlett's vales its tuneful way,
Or hides in Conway's fragrant brakes,
Retreating from the glare of day;
Now, full of vigorous life, it springs

From the strong mountain's circling arms,
And roams, in wide and lucid rings,

Among green Fryeburg's woods and farms.

3. Here, with low voice, it comes and calls
For tribute from some hermit lake;
And here it wildly foams and falls,
Bidding the forest echoes wake:

Now sweeping on, it runs its race,

By mound and mill, in playful glee;
Now welcomes with its pure embrace
The vestal' waves of Ossipee.

4. At last, with loud and solemn roar,
Spurning each rocky ledge and bar,
It sinks where, on the sounding shore,
The broad Atlantic heaves afar.
There, on old Ocean's faithful breast,
Its wealth of waves it proudly flings;
And there its weary waters rest,

Clear as they left their crystal springs.

5. Sweet stream! it were a fate divine,

Till this world's tasks and toils were done,
To go, like those bright floods of thine,
Refreshing all, enslaved by none;
To pass through scenes of calm and strife,
Singing like thee, with holy mirth,
And close in peace a varied life,
Unsullied by one stain of earth.

1 VES/TAL. Pure; stainless.

KNOWLEDGE and Wisdom, far from being one, Have ofttimes no connection. Knowledge dwells In heads replete with thoughts of other men; Wisdom, in minds attentive to their own.

Knowledge a rude, unprofitable mass,

The mere materials with which Wisdom builds,
Till smoothed, and squared, and fitted to its place-
Does but encumber whom it seems to enrich !
Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much,
Wisdom is humble that he knows no more.