sphere he moved, with what ease, ability, and grace, we all know; and history will record,—he crushed no heart beneath the rude grasp of proscription; he left no heritage of widows' cries or orphans' tears.

12. He disrobed himself with dignity of the vestures of office, not to retire to the shades of Quincy; but, in the maturity of his intellect, in the vigor of his thought, to leap into this arena, and to continue, as he had begun, a disciple, an ardent devotee at the temple of his country's freedom. How, in this department, he ministered to his country's wants, we all know, and have witnessed. How often we have crowded into that aisle, and clustered around that now vacant desk, to listen to the counsels of wisdom, as they fell from the lips of the venerable Sage, we can all remember, for it was but of yesterday. But what a change! How wondrous! how sudden! 'Tis like a vision of the night. That form which we beheld but a few days since, is now cold in death!

13. But the last Sabbath, and in this Hall, he worshiped with others. Now his spirit mingles with the noble army of martyrs, and the just made perfect, in the eternal adoration of the living God. With him "this is the end of earth." He sleeps the sleep that knows no waking. He is gone,—and forever! The sun that ushers in the morn of that next holy day, while it gilds the lofty dome of the Capitol, shall rest, with soft and mellow light, upon the consecrated spot, beneath whose turf forever lies the PATRIOT FATHER and the PATRIOT SAGE!

LESSON CXXV.

WHAT IS LIFE?

JOHN CLARK.

1. AND what is Life? An hour-glass on the run,

A mist retreating from the morning sun,

A busy, bustling, still repeated dream.

Its length? A minute's pause, a moment's thought. And Happiness? A bubble on the stream,

That in the act of seizing shrinks to naught.

2. And what is Hope? The puffing gale of morn, That robs each flow'ret of its gem, and dies; A cobweb, hiding disappointment's thorn,

Which stings more keenly through the thin disguise.
3. And what is Death? Is still the cause unfound?
That dark mysterious name of horrid sound?
A long and lingering sleep the weary crave.
And Peace? Where can its happiness abound?
Nowhere at all, save Heaven and the grave.

4. Then what is Life? when stripped of its disguise,
A thing to be desired it can not be;
Since every thing that meets our gazing eyes,
Gives proof sufficient of its vanity.

"Tis but a trial all must undergo,

To teach unthankful mortals how to prize That happiness vain man's denied to know, Until he's called to claim it in the skies.

LESSON CXXVI.

FAREWELL OF THE SOUL TO THE BODY.

MRS. SIGOURNEY.

1. COMPANION dear! the hour draws nigh,

The sentence speeds,-to die, to die!

So long in mystic union held,

So close with strong embrace compelled,
How canst thou bear the dread decree,
That strikes thy clasping nerves from me?
-To Him who on this mortal shore,
The same encircling vestment wore,
To Him I look, to Him I bend,

To Him thy shuddering frame commend.

2. If I have ever caused thee pain,

The throbbing breast, the burning brain,-
With cares and vigils turned thee pale,
And scorned thee when thy strength did fail,— ·

Forgive! Forgive!—thy task doth cease,
Friend! Lover! let us part in peace.

3. If thou didst sometimes check my force,
Or, trifling, stay mine upward course,
Or lure from Heaven my wavering trust,
Or bow my drooping wing to dust,—
I blame thee not, the strife is done,
I knew thou wast the weaker one,
The vase of earth, the trembling clod
Constrained to hold the breath of God.

4. Well hast thou in my service wrought,—
Thy brow hath mirrored forth my thought;
To wear my smile thy lip hath glowed;
Thy tear, to speak my sorrows, flowed;
Thine ear hath borne me rich supplies
Of sweetly varied melodies;

Thy hands my prompted deeds have done;
Thy feet
upon my errands run,-

Yes, thou hast marked my bidding well,
Faithful and true! Farewell, farewell!

5. Go to thy rest. A quiet bed

6.

Meek mother Earth with flowers shall spread,
Where I no more thy sleep may break

With fevered dream, nor rudely wake
Thy wearied eye.

O, quit thy hold!

For thou art faint, and chill, and cold;
And long thy gasp and groan of pain,

Have bound me pitying in thy chain;
Though angels urge me hence to soar,
Where I shall share thine ills no more.

7. Yet we shall meet. To soothe thy pain
Remember, we shall meet again.
Quell with this hope the victor's sting,
And keep it as a signet-ring;

When the dire worm shall pierce thy breast,
And naught but ashes mark thy rest,—
When stars shall fall, and skies 'grow dark,
And proud suns quench thy glow-worm spark,
Keep thou that hope, to light thy gloom,
Till the last trumpet rends the tomb.

8. Then shalt thou glorious rise, and fair,
Nor spot, nor stain, nor wrinkle bear,
And I with hovering wing elate,
The bursting of thy bonds shall wait,
And breathe the welcome of the sky,-
"No more to part, no more to die,
Co-heir of Immortality."

LESSON CXXVII.

EXPLANATORY NOTES.-1. MARATHON was a village ten miles from Athens, celebrated for the decisive victory which Ten Thousand Athenians, under Miltiades, gained over Three hundred thousand Persians, 490 years before Christ.

2. TAYGETUS is a mountain of LACONIA, the province of Greece, in which Sparta is located. It anciently abounded with various kinds of beasts, and furnished a beautiful green marble.

EXAMPLES OF AMERICAN PATRIOTISM.

EVERETT.

1. THE national character, in some of its most important elements, must be formed, elevated, and strengthened, from the materials which history presents. Are we to be ever ringing the changes upon Marathon' and Thermopyla; and going back to find in obscure texts of Greek and Latin the great exemplars of patriotic virtue? I rejoice that we can find them nearer home,—in our own country,-on our own soil;-that strains of the noblest sentiment, that ever swelled in the breast of man, are breathing to us out of every page of our country's history, in the native eloquence of our mother tongue;-that the colonial and the provincial councils of America, exhibit to us models of the spirit and character which gave Greece and

Here

Rome their name and their praise among the nations. we ought to go for our instruction; the lesson is plain, it is clear, it is applicable.

2. When we go to ancient history, we are bewildered with the difference of manners and institutions. We are willing to pay our tribute of applause to the memory of Leonidas-who fell nobly for his country, in the face of the foe. But when we trace him to his home, we are confounded at the reflection, that the same Spartan heroism, to which he sacrificed himself at Thermopyla, would have led him to tear his only child, if it happened to be a sickly babe,-the very object, for which all that is kind and good in man, rises up to plead,—from the bosom of its mother, and carry it out to be eaten by the wolves of Taygetus. We feel a glow of admiration at the heroism displayed at Marathon by the ten thousand champions of invaded Greece; but we can not forget that the tenth part of the number were slaves, unchained from the work-shops and door-posts of their masters, to go and fight the battles of freedom.

3. I do not mean that these examples are to destroy the interest, with which we read the history of ancient times; they possibly increase that interest, by the singular contrast they exhibit. But they do warn us, if .we need the warning, to seek our great practical lessons of patriotism at home,—out of the exploits and sacrifices, of which our own country is the theater,—out of the characters of our own fathers. Them we know, the high-souled, natural, unaffected, the citizen heroes.

4. We know what happy firesides they left for the cheerless camp. We know with what pacific habits they dared the perils of the field. There is no mystery, no romance, no madness, under the name of chivalry, about them. It is all resolute, manly resistance,-for conscience and liberty's sake,--not merely of an overwhelming power, but of all the force of longrooted habits, and the native love of order and peace.

1. OUR national existence has been quite long enough, and its events sufficiently various, to prove the value and perma