SAUL'S LAST DAY. BY DR. R. M. BIRD. THAT day the spirit of the monarch fled, And, marvelling, watched their gloomy leader's mood. Retained a ghastly and a craven hue. Shall the harp ring his flagging spirits on? The son of Jesse leads the hostile band.† * But the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. 1 Samuel, c. xvi. v 14. +"David and his men passed on in the rearward with Achish." (1 Then sound the clarion, wake the timbrel shrill Strike then the cymbal and the rolling drum !— His captains spoke; the warrior raised his eye,— "Know ye the weapon that ye bear in hand?" Ye gaze on it, and then survey the foe; Ye know 'twill smite, but that is all ye know. He told me not that I was lost to fame ! As rocks that topple from some mountain hoar, Sam. xxix. 2.) The jealousy of the Philistine lords, however, caused Achish to send David back into the land of the Philistines; and he did not appear in this battle. * The Lord is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy. 1 Samuel, ch. xxviii. v. 16. † Ch. xxviii. v. 19. The Lord shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines. 1 Samuel, xxviii, 16-20, So from Gilboa's reverend slope they fly, By furious arms opposing spears are thrust, And man and steed together bite the dust.— Hark! hark! a shriek ! 'twas loud, and wild, and shrill, “Back, back, great king! Gilboa's caves shall show Where are my sons?"--"These corses !"-" Said I not- Haste, slave-strike, strike :* the victor shall not say *Ch. xxxi. v. 4. The chief of Israel was a living prey : Strike the sharp weapon through my mangled breast, "O fly, great chief! a happier day" "Away, He said the weapon made its furious way- THE TRUE AMERICAN STATESMAN. BY NICHOLAS BIDDLE. FOR the high and holy duty of serving his country, he begins by deep and solitary studies of its constitution and laws, and all its great interests. These studies are extended over the whole circumference of knowledge-all the depths and shoals of the human passions are sounded to acquire the mastery over them. The solid structure is then strengthened and embellished by familiarity with ancient and modern languages-with history, which supplies the treasures of old experience-with eloquence, which gives them attraction—and with the whole of that wide miscellaneous literature, which spreads over them all a perpetual freshness and variety. These acquirements are sometimes reproached by the ignorant as being pedantry. They would be pedantic if they intruded into public affairs inappropriately, but in subordination to the settled habits of the individual, they add grace to the strength of his general character, as the foliage ornaments the fruit that ripens beneath it. They are again denounced as weakening the force of native talent, and contrasted disparagingly with what are called rough and strong minded men. But roughness is no necessary attendant on strength; the true steel is not weakened by the highest polishjust as the scymetar of Damascus, more flexible in the hands of its master, inflicts a keener wound than the coarsest blade. So far from impairing the native strength |