2.

3.

(=)

Through all its realms the kindling ether runs,
And the mass starts into a million suns.

Earths, round each sun, in quick explosions burst,
And second planets issue from the first;
Bend, as they journey, with projectile force,
In bright ellipses their reluctant course.
Orbs wheel in orbs; round centers-centers roll,
And form, self-balanced, one revolving whole.
(2) Onward they move amid their bright abode,
Space without bounds,—the bosom of their God.

Roll on, ye stars! exult in youthful prime,—
Mark with bright curves the printless steps of Time;
Near and more near your beamy cars approach,
And lessening orbs on lessening orbs encroach;
Flowers of the sky! ye, too, to age must yield,
Frail as your silken sisters of the field!

Star after star from heaven's high arch shall rush,
Suns sink on suns, and systems-systems crush :
Headlong, extinct, to one dark center fall,
And death, and night, and chaos, mingle all!
Till o'er the wreck, emerging from the storm,
Immortal nature lifts her changeful form,
Mounts from her funeral pyre on wings of flame,
And soars and shines, another and the same.

DARWIN.

LESSON XXVI.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.-EX CEL' SI OR is a Latin term which signifies mo lofty, HIGHER. It is adopted as the motto of the State of New York.

THE EDUCATIONAL POLICY OF NEW YORK.

HORACE MANN.

1. VAST as are the interests of the Empire State, with a population approaching to that of the whole United Colonies, at the time they acheived their independence, and a valuation, probably exceeding that of the whole country during the Rev

olutionary struggle, with a soil fertile in vegetable, and stored with mineral productions, with a splendid system of internal improvements, yielding its millions of direct revenue to the State, yet, indirectly, a hundred fold more valuable to the citizens from the means which it furnishes for universal competence and comfort,—with an extent of territory, almost equal to that of England,―occupying a central and commanding position, by which it is open to the ocean on one side, and connected on all others with immense regions, filled with industrious and populous communities, so that a great part of the commerce of this western world, passes through its gates, and pays its tribute, yet in the midst of these vast and varied interests, its true interest-THE EDUCATION OF ITS PEOPLE, transcends them all.

2. For, to what purpose is there a combination of all these constituents of greatness, which make it truly an Empire State-of what avail is its territorial extent, measured, as it is, by degrees of latitude and longitude upon the earth's surface;-why are its great thoroughfares and cities piled and heaped high with accumulated riches;-to what end does. every inflowing tide pour wealth upon its shores;-if, amidst all these elements of worldly power, the mind of man have not an over-mastering power, if the intellect and morals do not rise above them, and predominate, and establish a supremacy over them, and convert them from gratifications of appetite, passions, and pride, into instruments of mental and spiritual well-being?

3. To devote worldly and material resources to intellectual and moral improvement; to change corporeal riches into mental treasures, is to transmute the dull, cold, perishable things of earth and time into celestial and immortal capacities-as, by the mysterious processes of nature, the dark mold of the valley is turned into flowers and fruits. "EXCELSIOR" is the beautiful motto which that great State has chosen. Let her wisely fulfill that noble idea, by striving, through the means of an enlarged and thorough education of her people, to rise higher and HIGHER in the endless scale of GOOD.

LESSON XXVII.

NOTE. The following beautiful poem is considered one of the gems of the English language. Its symbolical meaning will be at once perceived. Under the disguise of an Alpine traveler, it represents the incentives, the struggles, and the fate of genius. It depicts with vivid power, the youthful and ardent aspirant in his progress up the dangerous and dizzy hights of fame, leaving behind him all the honors and riches of the world, and intent only on the object of his pursuit far onward and upward.

EXCELSIOR, OR THE YOUTHFUL ASPIRANT.

H. W. LONGFELLOW.

1. (%) THE shades of night were falling fast,
As through an Alpine village passed
A youth who bore, 'mid snow and ice,
A banner with the strange device,
EXCELSIOR!

2.

3.

4.

5.

His brow was sad; his eyes beneath
Flashed like a falchion from its sheath,
And like a silver clarion rung

The accents of that unknown tongue,
EXCELSIOR!

In happy homes he saw the light
Of household fires gleam warm and bright;
Above, the spectral glaciers shone,

And from his lips escaped a groan,

EXCELSIOR!

"Try not the Pass!" the old man said,
"Dark lowers the tempest overhead;
The roaring torrent is deep and wide;"
And loud that clarion voice replied,
EXCELSIOR!

"Beware the pine-tree's withered branch!
Beware the awful avalanche !"

This was the peasant's last good-night;
A voice replied, far up the hight,

EXCELSIOR!

6.

7.

8.

At break of day, as heavenward
The pious monks of St. Bernard
Uttered the oft-repeated prayer,

A voice cried through the startled air,
EXCELSIOR!

A traveler, by the faithful hound,
Half buried in the snow was found,
Still grasping in his hand of ice
That banner with the strange device,
EXCELSIOR!

There in the twilight cold and gray,
Lifeless, but beautiful, he lay,

And from the sky serene and far,
A voice fell, like a falling star,
EXCELSIOR!

ASPIRATIONS OF THE HEAVEN-BORN SPIRIT.

MRS. HEMANS

1. WHEN the young Eagle with exulting eye,
Has learned to dare the splendor of the sky,
And leave the Alps beneath him in his course,
To bathe his crest in morn's empyreal source,
Will his free wing, from that majestic hight,
Descend to follow some wild meteor's light,
Which, far below, with evanescent fire,
Shines to elude, and dazzles to expire?

2. No; still through clouds he wings his upward way, And proudly claims his heritage of day!

And shall the spirit, on whose ardent gaze

The day-spring from on high hath poured its blaze,
Turn from that pure effulgence, to the beam

Of earth-born light, that sheds a treacherous gleam,
Luring the wanderer, from the star of faith,
To the deep valley of the shades of death?
What bright exchange, what treasure shall be given,
For the high birth-right of its hope in Heaven?

LESSON XXVIII.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.-After the framing of the CONSTITUTION of the United States by the convention of delegates, it required the separate action of the respective States to ratify it. The following is an extract from a speech delivered in the Convention of Virginia, June 6, 1788, on the expediency of its adoption.

THE UNION OF THE STATES.

EDMUND RANDOLPH.

1. I HAVE labored for the continuance of the union--the rock of our salvation. I believe that as sure as there is a God in Heaven, our safety, our political happiness, and existence, depend on the "UNION OF THE STATES;" and that, without this union, the people of this and other States, will undergo the unspeakable calamities which discord, faction, turbulence, war, and bloodshed, have produced in other countries. The American spirit ought to be mixed with American pridepride to see the union magnificently triumph.

2. Let it not be recorded of Americans, that, after having performed the most gallant exploits, after having overcome the most astonishing difficulties, and after having gained the admiration of the world by their incomparable valor and policy, they lost their acquired reputation,-their national consequence and happiness, by their own indiscretion.

3. Let no future historian inform posterity that they wanted wisdom and virtue to concur in any regular, efficient government. Should any writer, doomed to so disagreeable a task, feel the indignation of an honest historian, he would reprehend and recriminate our folly with equal severity and justice.

4. Catch the present moment; seize it with avidity and eagerness; for it may be lost, never to be regained. If the union be now lost, I fear it will remain so forever. When I maturely weigh the advantages of the union, and the dreadful consequences of its dissolution; when I see safety on my right, and destruction on my left; when I behold respectability and happiness acquired by the one, but annihilated by the other, I can not hesitate to decide in favor of the UNION.