will prepare us for action and observation? With what is experience conversant? What does the present enable us to guess at? Form sentences in which the following words will be used in the same sense as that in which they are employed in this lesson:

Prating, pedants, coxcombs, circumspection, observation, emulate, endeavor, conform, compliance, magnanimity.

OF all the elements of success none is more vital than

self-reliance, a determination to be one's own helper, and not to look to others for support. It is the secret of all individual growth and vigor, the master-key that unlocks all difficulties in every profession or calling. "Help yourself, and Heaven will help you," should be the motto of every man who would make himself useful in the world. He who begins with crutches will generally end with crutches. Help from within always strengthens, but help from without invariably enfeebles. It is said that a lobster, when left high and dry among the rocks, has not instinct and energy enough to work his way back to the sea, but waits for the sea to come to him. If it does not come, he remains where he is,

and dies, although the slightest effort would enable him to reach the waves. The world is full of human lobsters,

men stranded on the rocks of business, who, instead of putting forth their own energy, are waiting for some grand billow of good fortune to set them afloat.

There are many young men, who, instead of carrying their own burdens, are always dreaming of some Hercules, in the shape of a rich uncle, or some other benevolent relative, coming to give them a "lift.” In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, pecuniary help to a beginner is not a blessing, but a calamity. Under the appearance of aiding, it weakens its victims, and keeps them in perpetual slavery and degradation.

Lord Thurlow refused a lucrative office to Lord Eldon, when poor, saying it was a favor to Eldon to withhold it. "What he meant," says Eldon, "was, that he had learned that I was by nature very indolent, and that it was only want that could make me very industrious.”

Nothing, indeed, can be more unwise than the anxiety of parents to accumulate property for the support of their children after their own death. Read the history of the rich and the poor in all ages and countries, and you will find almost invariably that the "lucky ones," as they are called, began life at the foot of the ladder; while the "unfortunates," who flit like scarecrows along life's path, attribute the very first decline in their fortunes to having been propped up by others. It is a proverb, that rich young men, who begin their fortunes. where their fathers left off, too often leave off where their fathers began.

The world, though rough, is, after all, the best schoolmaster; for it makes a man his own teacher, and gives him that practical training which no schools nor colleges can ever impart. It cannot be too often repeated,

that not helps, but obstacles, and not facilities, but difficulties, make men. Beethoven said of Rossini, that he had the stuff in him to have made a great musician, if he had only been well flogged when a boy, but that he had been spoiled by the ease with which he composed. While it is true that all men cannot become Raphaels or Shakespeares, it is equally true that each mind may contain some germ, the development of which may exert an important influence over the whole world. Was not Kepler the son of a publican? Was not he an obscure man, who, by the invention of printing, revolutionized the whole intellectual aspect of society?

There are some men, who, instead of making the best use of the means within their reach, are always speaking of what they might do "under happier circumstances." Under happier circumstances! - as if the very seal of greatness were not precisely the regal superiority to circumstances which makes them aids and ministers of success; as if it were not the masterful will that concentrates twenty years of untiring but unappreciated labor on a great invention. Indeed, the "circumstances" on which so many faint-hearted men dwell, should be regarded as the very tools with which one is to work, the stepping-stones by which one is to mount. Let every young man have faith in himself, and take an earnest hold of life, scorning all props and buttresses, all crutches and life-preservers. Instead of wielding the rusted sword of valorous forefathers, let him forge his own weapons; and, mindful of the Providence over him, let him fight his own battles with his own good lance.

COMPOSITION.

Write out the different examples cited in this lesson, of persons who showed great self-reliance. In a separate paragraph, give the substance of what is said in eighth paragraph of lesson. Give two instances, say

the Presidents of the United States, who by self-reliance became distinguished men. Show that self-reliance is more likely to succeed in America than elsewhere.

BY

Whence the fleets of iron have fled,

Where the blades of the grave-grass quiver,
Asleep are the ranks of the dead;-
Under the sod and the dew,

Waiting the judgment day;

Under the one, the Blue;

Under the other, the Gray.

These, in the robings of glory,
Those, in the gloom of defeat,-
All, with the battle-blood gory,
In the dusk of eternity meet; -
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment day;-
Under the laurel, the Blue;

Under the willow, the Gray.

From the silence of sorrowful hours,
The desolate mourners go,

Lovingly laden with flowers,

Alike for the friend and the foe;