Shouldst thou succeed, the copyists, who now
Derive their living from their manuscripts,

Will persecute thee, — make it out (who knows?)
That thou hast dealt in magic.

Let them murmur!

John.
Think, Master Rupert, of the good locked up

Know'st thou

In this invention. Look upon this book:
It is the book of books, the Bible.
How long it takes a writer to complete

copy such as this?

A

Rup.

A year, perhaps.

John. As long as that! Now, by this plan of mine,

After the types are set, ten thousand copies

Might be struck off, and by a single man,

Within less time than now is given to make

Το any mechanician, what I say

Is but the sober truth. Ay, Master Rupert,

The day will come when this same book, which now
Few men are rich enough to own, will be

So multiplied and cheap, that every peasant
Can own it, if he chooses.

Rup.

John, go home;

Tell thy good wife to put thee straight to bed,
And send for a physician. I shall hear

Of a brain-fever next.

John.

The day will come.

I may not live to see it; after years

Of

penury and struggle, I may fall Into the grave unnoticed: but the spark

Kindled by me shall grow to be a light
Unto the nations; and religion, freedom,
Science, and education, all shall date

An epoch from the day when here, in Mentz,
1, poor John Gutenberg, the small mechanic,
Produced my movable types, but could not win,
From rich or learned, words of cheer or help.
Rup. 'Tis for posterity thou art laboring, then!
Now listen to a word of common sense:
Posterity will nothing do for thee.

Posterity will put upon thy back

No coat to shield thee from the winter's cold.

Posterity will give no single meal,

Though thou wert starving. Why shouldst thou then,

John,

Labor for such an ingrate as this same

Vain, unrequiting herd,—posterity?

John. The noble giver finds his solace in
The act of giving,— in the consciousness
He has conferred upon his fellow-men
A certain blessing. Should requital come,
"Twill be, like all good things, acceptable:
But not for that, not even for gratitude,
Did he confer his boon; and so he quails not,
Should disappointment and ingratitude
Pursue him to the grave.

Rup. John, thou art a riddle.

Where, then, is thy reward for all thy pains?

John. My friend, the little good that we can do,

In our short sojourn here, will not alone
Shed comfort on this transitory life,

But be (such is my faith) a joy hereafter.

1.

WH

LESSON LXXIII.

THE THREE VOICES.

ANON.

HAT saith the Past to thee? WEEP!
Truth is departed ;

Beauty hath died like the dream of a sleep;
Love is faint-hearted;

Trifles of sense, the profoundly unreal,
Scare from our spirits God's holy ideal:
So, as a funeral bell, slowly and deep,
So tolls the Past to thee! Weep!

2. How speaks the Present hour? ACT!
Walk upward glancing;

So shall thy footsteps in glory be traced,
Slow, but advancing.

Scorn not the smallness of daily endeavor,
Let the great meaning ennoble it ever;
Droop not o'er efforts expended in vain ;
Work, as believing that labor is gain.

3. What doth the Future say? HOPE!
Turn the face sunward;

Look where the light fringes the far-rising slope;
Day cometh onward.

Watch! though so long be the daylight delaying,
Let the first sunbeam arise on thee praying;

Fear not, for greater is God by thy side
Than armies of Error against thee allied.

SING

LESSON LXXIV.

ACTION OF CLIMATE UPON MAN.

PROF. ARNOLD GUYOT.

INCE man is made to acquire the full possession and mastery of his faculties by toil, and by the exercise of all his energies, no climate could so well minister to his progress in this work as the climate of the temperate regions. Excessive heat enfeebles man; it invites to repose and inaction. In the tropical regions, the power of life in nature is carried to its highest degree: thus, with the tropical man, the life of the body overmasters that of the soul; the physical instincts of our nature eclipse those of the higher faculties; passion predominates over intellect and reason, the passive faculties over the active faculties.

2. Nature, too rich, too prodigal of her gifts, does not compel man to wrest from her his daily bread by his daily toil. A regular climate, and the absence of a dormant season, render forethought of little use to him. Nothing invites him to that struggle of intelligence against Nature, which raises the powers of man to their highest pitch. Thus he never dreams of resisting physical Nature; he is conquered by her; he submits to the yoke, and becomes again the animal man, in proportion as he abandons himself to external influences, forgetful of his high moral destination.

3. In the temperate climates, all is activity and movement. The alternations of heat and cold, the changes of the seasons, a fresher and more bracing air, incite man to a constant struggle, to forethought, and to the vigorous employment of all his faculties. A more economical Nature yields nothing, except to the sweat of his brow: every gift on her part is a recompense for effort on his.

:

4. Nature here, even while challenging man to the conflict, gives him the hope of victory; and, if she does not show herself prodigal, she grants to his active and intelligent labor more than his necessities require while she calls out his energy, she thus gives him ease and leisure, which permit him to cultivate all the lofty faculties of his higher nature. Here physical Nature is not a tyrant, but a useful helper; the active faculties, the understanding and the reason, rule over the instincts and the passive faculties; the soul, over the body; man, over Nature.

5. In the frozen regions, man also contends with Nature, but it is with a niggardly and severe Nature; it is a desperate struggle, -a a struggle for life. With difficulty, by force of toil, he succeeds in providing for himself a misera- ́ ble support, which saves him from dying of hunger and hardship, during the long and tedious winters of that climate. High culture, therefore, is not possible under such unfavorable conditions.

6. The man of the tropical regions is the son of a wealthy house. In the midst of the abundance which surrounds him, labor too often seems to him useless; to abandon himself to his inclinations is more easy and agreeable. A slave of his passions, an unfaithful servant, he leaves uncultivated and unused the faculties with which God has endowed him. The man of the polar regions is the beggar overwhelmed with suffering, who, too happy if he can but gain his daily bread, has no leisure to think of any thing more exalted.

7. The man of the temperate regions, finally, is the man born in ease, in the golden mean, which is the most favored of all conditions. Invited to labor by every thing around him, he soon finds, in the exercise of all his faculties, at once progress and well-being. Thus, if the tropical re