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the benefit. If folly and self-indulgence are her prevailing characteristics, posterity are in danger of inheriting the like

ness.

8. This influence is most visible and operative in a republic. The intelligence and virtue of its every citizen, have a heightened relative value. Its safety may be interwoven with the destiny of those, whose birthplace is in obscurity. The springs of its vitality are liable to be touched, or the chords of its harmony to be troubled, by the rudest hands.

9. Of what unspeakable importance, then, is her education, who gives lessons before any other instructor; who preoccupies the unwritten page of being; who produces impressions, which only death can obliterate; and mingles with the cradle-dream, what shall be read in eternity! Well may statesmen and philosophers debate how she may best be educated, who is to educate all mankind!

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[Let the pupil scan the following piece, and tell the kind and form of verse to which it belongs. See Construction of Verse, p. 212 and 213. He may also point out the cases of transition and the questions and answers, and tell how they should be read.]

1. Stand up-erect! Thou hast the form,

And likeness of thy God! - who more?
A soul as dauntless mid the storm

Of daily life, a heart as warm

And pure, as breast e'er wore.

2. What then? - Thou art as true a man
As moves the human mass among ;

As much a part of the great plan,
That with creation's dawn began,
As any of the throng.

3. Who is thine enemy? the high

In station, or in wealth the chief?
The great, who coldly pass thee by,
With proud step and averted eye?
Nay! nurse not such belief.

4. If true unto thyself thou wast,

What were the proud one's scorn to thee?

A feather, which thou mightest cast
Aside, as idly as the blast

The light leaf from the tree.

5. No uncurbed passions, low desires,

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Absence of noble self-respect,

Death, in the breast's consuming fires,
To that high nature which aspires

Forever, till thus checked;

6. These are thine enemies

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thy worst ;

They chain thee to thy lowly lot:

Thy labor and thy life accursed.

O stand erect! and from them burst!
And longer suffer not!

7. Thou art thyself thine enemy!

The great! what better they than thou?
As theirs, is not thy will as free?
Has God with equal favors thee
Neglected to endow?

8. True, wealth thou hast not - 'tis but dust!

Nor place uncertain as the wind!

But that thou hast, which, with the crust
And water, may despise the lust

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9. With this, and passions under ban,

True faith, and holy trust in God,
Thou art the peer of any man.
Look up, then, that thy little span
Of life may be well trod!

LESSON IV.

LOOK ALOFT.—J. LAWRENCE.

[The pupil may scan this piece also, and tell the kind and form of verse to which it belongs. See page 216.]

1. In the tempest of life, when the wave and the gale Are around and above, if thy footing should fail, If thine eye should grow dim, and thy caution depart, "Look aloft," and be firm, and be fearless of heart.

2. If the friend, who embraced in prosperity's glow, With a smile for each joy and a tear for each woe, Should betray thee when sorrows like clouds are arrayed, "Look aloft" to the friendship which never shall fade.

3. Should the visions which hope spreads in light to thine eye, Like the tints of the rainbow, but brighten to fly, Then turn, and through tears of repentant regret, "Look aloft" to the Sun that is never to set.

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The wife of thy bosom, in sorrow depart,

Look aloft" from the darkness and dust of the tomb, To that soil where "affection is ever in bloom."

5. And Oh! when death comes in his terrors, to cast
His fears on the future, his pall on the past,

In that moment of darkness, with hope in thy heart,
And a smile in thine eye, "Look aloft," and depart!

LESSON V.

VALUABLE HINTS FOR STUDENTS.—TODD.

[Didactic. See Rule 2, p. 163.]

1. The human mind is the brightest display of the power and skill of the Infinite mind with which we are acquainted. It is created and placed in this world to be educated for a higher state of existence. Here its faculties begin to unfold, and those mighty energies which are to bear it forward to unending ages, begin to discover themselves. The object of training such a mind should be, to enable the soul to fulfill her duties well here, and to stand on high vantage-ground, when she leaves this cradle of her being for an eternal existence beyond the grave.

2. Most students need encouragement to sustain, instruction to aid, and directions to guide them. Few, probably, ever accomplish any thing like as much as they expected or ought; and it is thought one reason is, that they waste a vast amount of time in acquiring that experience which they need.

3. The reader will please bear in mind, that the only object here contemplated is, to throw out such hints and cautions, and to give such specific directions, as will aid him to become all that the fond hopes of his friends anticipate, and all that his own heart ought to desire. Doubtless, multitudes are now in the process of education, who will never reach any tolerable standard of excellence. Probably some never could; but in most cases, they might. The exceptions are few. In most cases, young men do feel a desire, more or less strong, of fitting themselves for respectability and usefulness.

4. You may converse with any man, however distinguished for attainments, or habits of application, or power of using what he knows, and he will sigh over the remembrance of the past, and tell you, that there have been many fragments of time which he has wasted, and many opportunities

which he has lost forever. If he had only seized upon the fleeting advantages, and gathered up the fragments of time, he might have pushed his researches out into new fields, and, like the immortal Bacon,* have amassed vast stores of knowledge.

5. The mighty minds which have gone before us, have left treasures for our inheritance; and the choicest gold is to be had for the digging. Hence, all that you ever have, must be the result of labor hard, untiring labor. You have friends to cheer you on; you have books and teachers to aid you, and multitudes of helps. But, after all, disciplining and educating your mind, must be your own work. No one can do this but yourself; and nothing in this world is of any worth, which has not labor and toil as its price.

6. The first and great object of education is to discipline the mind. Make it the first object to be able to fix and hold your attention upon your studies. He who can do this, has mastered many and great difficulties; and he who cannot do it, will in vain look for success in any department of study. To effect any purpose in study, the mind must be concentrated. Patience, too, is a virtue, kindred to attention; and without it, the mind cannot be said to be disciplined. Patient labor and investigation are not only essential to success in study, but are an unfailing guarantee to success.

7. In addition to attention and patient perseverance, the student should learn to think and act for himself. True originality consists in doing things well, and doing them in our own way. A mind, half-educated, is generally imitating others; and no man was ever great by imitation. Let it therefore be remembered, that we cannot copy greatness or goodness by any effort. Each must be acquired, if ever attained, by our own patience and diligence.

Ba'con, (Francis,) lord high chancellor of England, born in 1561, and died in 1626. He was one of the greatest and most universal geniuses, that any age or country has produced.

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