abounding spread out the populous city, already teeming with life and activity. The busy morning hum rises on the still air, and reaches the watching place of the solitary astronomer. 21 The thousands below him, unconscious of his intense anxiety, buoyants ? with life, joyously pursue their rounds of business, their cycleser Quelis of amusement. No one can witness an eclipse of the sun, even at the present day, when its most minute phenomenabt are predicted with rigorous exactitude, without an involuntary feeling of dismay. What, then, must have been the effect upon the human mind in those ages of the world, when the cause was unknown, and the terrific exhibition unlooked for ? 10. The sun slowly climbs the heaven, round and bright and full-orbed. The lone tenant of the mountain top almost begins to wayer in the sternness of his faith as the morning hours roll away. But the time of his triumph, long delayed, at length begins to dawn; a pale and sickly hue creeps over the face of nature. The sun has reached his highest point, but his splendor is dimmed, his light is feeble. At last it comes! Blackness is eating away his round disc ;I onward with slow but steady pace the dark veil moves, blacker than a thousand nights; the gloom deepens; the ghastly hue of death covers the universe; the last ray is gone, and horror reigns! 11. A wail of terror fills the murky air, the clangor of brazen trumpets resounds, an agony of despair dashes the stricken millions to the ground; while that lone man, erect on his rocky suinmit, with arms outstretched to heaven, pours forth the grateful gushings of his heart to God, who had crowned his efforts with triumphant victory Search the rec'ords of our race, and point me, if you can, to a scene more grand, more beautiful. It is to me the proudest victory that genius ever won. It was the conquering of nature, of ignorance, of superstition, of terror, all at a single blow, and that blow struck by a single arm. 12. And now do you demand the name of this wonderful man? Alas! what a lessoner of the instability of earthly fame are we taught in this simple recital! He who had raised himself immeasurably above his race, who must have been regarded by his fellows as little less than a god, who had inscribed his fame on the very heavens, and had written it in the sun, with a “pen of iron, and the point of a diamond,"El even this one has perished from the earth; name, age, country, are all swept into oblivion. But his proud ichievement Stånds. The monumente reared to his honor stands, and although the touch of time has effaced the lettering of his name, it is powerless, and cannot destroy the fruits of his victory. 0. M. MITCHELL. LXXVIII. - SELECT PASSAGES IN VERSE. 1. A PRAYER. — Thomson. 2. PROVIDENCE INSCRUTABLE. — Addison. The ways of Heaven are dark and intricate: 3 ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE ATTAINABLE BY ALL. — Wordsworth. The primal duties shine aloft, like stars; 4. KNOWLEDGE AND Wisdom. — Cowper. 5 ADDRESS TO Duty.160 — Worrlsworth. Stern Langirer! yặt thou dost wear The Godhead's most benignant grace; Nor know we anything so fair As is the smile upon thy face; Flowers laugh before thee on their beds, And Fragrance in thy footing treads; Thou dost preserve the stars from wrong ; And the most ancient heavens, through thee, are fresh and strong 6. DEATH OF THE YOUNG AND Fair. - Anonymous. She died in beauty, like a rose 162 hlown from its parent stem; She died in beauty, like a pearl dropped from some diadem; She died in beauty, like a lay along a moonlit lake ; She died in beauty, like the song of birds amid the brake ; She died in beauty, like the snow on flowers dissolved away ; She died in beauty, like a star lost on the brow of day; She lives in glory, like Night's gems set round the silver moon; She lives in glory, like the sun amid the blue of June. 7. CONSCIENTIOUS DISCHARGE OF Duty. - Bryant. Yět nerve thy spirit to the proof, And blench not at thy chosen lot; The sage may frown - yet faint thou not, The foul and hissing bolt of scorn ; The victory of endūrance born. The eternal years of God are hers; And dies ainong her worshippers. 8. HOPE AMID Gloom. — Whittier. The night is mother of the day, the winter of the spring, And ever upon old decay the greenest mosses cling: Behind the cloud the starlight lurks, thro’showers the sunbeams fall For God, who lovet i all his works, has left his hope with all 9. Night. - Southcy. Hlow beautiful is night! A dewy freshness fills the silent air ; Breaks the serene of heaven; In full-orbed glory yonder moon divine Beneath her steady ray The desert-circle spreads How beautiful is night! 10. LOVE DUE TO THE CREATOR. – G. Griffin. O answer, all ye winds of even, That watch in yonder darkening heaven; As when His āngels first arrayed thee, Why man should love the Mind that made thee. There 's not a flower that decks the vale, There's not a beam that lights the mountain, There's not a wind that stirs the fountain, There is not a leaf around us lying, True love to us, and love undying ! LXXIX. — ADVANCE. 24 1. God băde the Sun with golden step sublime Advance ! Advance ! Advance! Advance! 2. The river at its bubbling fountain cries, Advance! Advance ! The earth is full of life, the swelling seeds Advance! Advance! 3. To man's most wondrous hand the same voice cried, Advance ! Advance ! Advance! Advance ! 4. Unto the soul of man the same voice spoke, Advance! Advance ! Advance! Advance ! 5. All heard, and some obeyed the great command, Advance! Advance! Advance! Advance! 6. Knowledge came down, and waved her steady torch, Advance! Advance ! Advance! D. F. N'CARTHY. |