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tirement of a rural village, where he has become editor of a newspaper, devoted to literature and news. Here his wit still sometimes sparkles. Unless he takes care, his star will soon set over a drunkard's grave. We have a tear of sympathy for him!

F. A. B took an irregular course at college and entered the ministry, where he is now successfully laboring in one of the mountain districts of Pennsylvania. A dashing fellow was he.

G. B. C started out with the intention of studying for the ministry, having left the plow-looked back-and returned to it again. He is now a jolly farmer; and perhaps is a more useful member of society than if he had entered some other walk of life.

J. H. C - has been a merchant's clerk in half a dozen small towns, besides being engaged for longer or shorter periods in other kinds of business. His highest ambition now, it seems is to be chiefengineer of the village fire company, and "squirting water" on the houses on training days is his highest pleasure. For this he is well suited, as he was always considered to be something of a squirt. His mind was not disciplined.

V. L. C- -graduated at college with honor, entered the ministry and is now editor of a respectable religious newspaper in the west. He always was a favorite at school among all the boys. His school-mates and the villagers too, doubtless yet remember him in the parts he sustained in the dialogues at exhibition times.

J. M. E, a respectable farmer. H. G. F, farmer and distiller. When his father died he charged his three sons to cease making the poison. They did for a while, but then all three began again more vigorously than the father ever had carried it on. One has since been called to his account; the other two, each, have a distillery. God will visit such, if they take not warning.

H. Ewas a modest, retiring youth; full of sport, a good debater and an accurate scholar. He passed through college in high standing, then studied medicine, but in attempting to practice it, found that he had gotten into the wrong profession. Changing from one thing to another is not often good; though with wisdom in this case, he turned to the law, and is now a prominent member of the legal profession in a southern state. We will yet hear from him.

There were two brothers, J. & W. F. H. One is a carriage manufacturer in his native village; and the other is a physician of high professional standing in one of the finest towns in Penna. He was always noted for keen perception and most accurate and thorough research. Had he received a more liberal education, he certainly would have been a proportionably greater man. Though once inclined to dissipation, he is now reformed.

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F. S. N had a reputation for being "a good, clever fellow,' a poor writer and not much of a speaker. He had mind enough of a certain kind, but seldom saw fit to try its powers. After leaving school he went to college, where he maintained throughout his

course only ordinary standing, and graduated without distinction. The profession of medicine was his choice, and he is now a good practitioner in a populous western city. It is said his course at the university was more to his liking than that at college, and he therefore gave it more attention, and consequently stood higher.

E. B. P held rank in the school as vigorous and impetuous. In all the enterprises of the boy she was active; though poor, he did not despair of some day passing through college. After long struggling he at length graduated in the highest standing of his class. For some years he was principal of an academy in the south. A vacancy occurred in the faculty of his Alma Mater, and he was called to fill it which he did, with honor to himself and the place until duty pointed in a different direction. He is now a minister in one of our large cities, with a wide prospect for usefulness before him.

The most timid and retiring boy in the school was C, C. R—: He never estimated himself at half what his friends and fellows rated him. Correct, awkward, jocular and pleasant, he was always popular. His characteristic talent was good speaking powers. This distinction he maintained throughout his college course and graduated as the best speaker in his class. He is now the principal of a high school in the south. Should he cutlivate the talent he seems to possess, we may yet hear of his eloquence.

In the quiet retreat of a farm-house is our friend S. B. SHe did want to study for the ministry, but as Henry Clay was not elected President, his father kept him on the farm. The wealth he now has would have been worth something to him then, in order to complete his studies. Trifles turn our lives.

His brother D, would not thus be prevented by the narrow predjudice of his father. He did take a full course at collegegraduated with the second honor of his class; and after a regular course in theological study he entered the ministry. Having engaged in teaching for a while he resolved on taking a course in one of the universities of Europe, and he is now accordingly on the continent for tha purpose. Obstinate, eccentric and erratic as he characteristically was, it was hard to tell what he was or would be, with all his high powers of mind.

J. B. S never comprehended the mysteries of Latin grammar, and is now a travelling artist-or according to another account, keeping a large hotel in a western city.

What a mild character was L. A. T? So different from his brothers, whom we also knew. As a fellow student he was marked for little else than correct deportment, kindness of manner and quickness of utterance. After he left school he was in his father's store as salesman awhile, where he grew up very tall. His race on earth was short, having been ended already some years ago. Gone to his last account, he is not yet forgotten. There are tears

for his memory. He was not unprepared to go to his long home. May we die the death of the righteous and our end be like his? This is our tribute, Lewis; would that it were more befitting.

Last on the roll was S. W- Nothing I remember about him so well as his extremely feminine voice. He has since graduated in the study of medicine and practices with his father in his native place. As he has not his own merits thus to stand upon, we do not know his rank in the profession.

I have been here allowed to chronicle for the good of others, these few observations in reference to the boys of our school.

We will not argue that there are no other schools to compare with ours, but this much we do think; our boys average well. All might have done very well, by maintaining a firm christian character. This is worth much in any department. Sir Humphrey Davy considers it worth more than any one thing besides.

The youngest reader of the Guardian will, if spared long enough, come to take a place in the active concerns of this life. How important then, to be well prepared to act that part well! There, all the honors lies. Every one can make a mark, however faint, upon the masses around. The slothful only are drones. Do you belong to a school or live in the humble seclusions of society, let it be your firm determination to become as useful as you possibly can. it be the proud boast of your school or town or home to say, "Then where's the town, go far or near,

That does not find a rival here?"

Let

With this thought then, that those who are now children and youths, will soon be the men and women, conducting the affairs of the world, let the young army prepare to buckle on the armor. If they need great men and women in the next generation—and who supposes they will not be needed-must not those great characters be made out of those who are not great now? This thought should inspire each young heart; and if even they do not become great, "like Cæsar stained with blood," they may at least be great as they are good.

I hope therefore that the "boys of our school" have not yet done all the good that may be committed to them, and that other boys and girls of other schools may join in the great work of the world yet to be done in their generation. Evangelize the worldsave the souls of perishing sinners, and then reap the reward.

THOUGHTS are the aliment upon which the mind feeds. If they are kept pure, and in constant exercise, they impart health and vigor, and are like fertilizing currents running through the soul. There is one view respecting them which should awaken the greatest anxiety to have them under proper control. A simple thought, whether good or evil, will introduce other trains of reflection of a kindred nature.

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THE BIRDS OF THE BIBLE.

NO. XXII.-THE LAPWING.

BY THE EDITOR,

"The crested Lapwynge, wailing shrill arounde,
Solicitous, with no contentment blest."

SOME will have it that the word DUKIPHAH, a name which Moses assigns to a certain unclean bird, and which is translated Lapwing, designates the bird known as hoopoe. We fail to find any reason whatever for such an opinion. Nor do we find anything in the nature and habits of the Lapwing which does not correspond with the supposition that it is the bird intended by the Hebrew lawgiver.

These birds are known in most parts of Europe, as far northward as Iceland. In the winter they are to be seen in different parts of Persia and Egypt. In the north of England they are called pewits or tewits, from their particular cry. They generally go together in flocks; when they are disturbed they utter a hundred different screams, and in flying they make a great noise with their wings.

The Lapwing is about the size of a common pigeon, and is covered with very thick plumes, which are black at the roots, but of different color on the outward parts. The feathers on the body, thighs, and under the wings, are most of them white as snow. The back is of a dark green, glossed with blue shades. "Its beak," says another, "is long, black, thin, and a little hooked; its legs gray and short. On its head is a tuft of feathers of different colors, which it raises or lowers as it pleases.

The Lapwing lives principally on worms. "Sometimes they may be seen in flocks nearly covering the low, marshy grounds, in search of these, which they draw with great dexterity from their holes. When the bird meets with one of those little clusters of pellets, or rolls of earth that are thrown out by the worm's perforations, it first gently removes the mould from the mouth of the hole, then strikes the ground at the side with its foot, and attentively awaits the issue; alarmed by the shock, the reptile emerges from its retreat, and is instantly seized. In the evening they adopt another mode. They run along the grass, and feel with their feet the worms which the dampness of the atmosphere has brought forth.'

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These birds build their nests of dry grass upon the ground near some marsh, or on some island where men seldom resort. The female lays two eggs, which are olive-colored, and spotted with black. The young are hatched in three weeks; they are covered with a thick down, and are able to run almost as soon as they come forth from the shell.

It is said that the parents manifest the fondest affection for their

young, resorting to singular and interesting stratagems to avert approaching danger from them, whether in the shape of men or dogs. "When she perceives enemies approaching, she never waits till they arrive at her nest, but boldly runs to meet them. When she has come as near them as she dares to venture, she then rises with a loud screaming before them, seeming as if she was just flushed from hatching; while she is then probably a hundred yards from the nest. Thus she flies with great clamor and anxiety, whining and screaming round the invaders, striking at them with her wings, and fluttering as if she were wounded. To add to the deceit, she appears still more clamorous as more remote from the nest. If she sees them very near, she then seems to be quite unconcerned, and her cries cease, while her terrors are really augmented. If there be dogs, she flies heavily at a little distance before them, as if maimed; still vociferous and still bold, but never offering to move toward the quarter where her treasure is deposited. The dog pursues, in hope every moment of seizing the parent, and by this means actually loses the young; for the cunning bird, when she has thus drawn him off to a proper dsitance, then puts forth her power, and leaves her astonished pursuer to gaze at the rapidity of her flight."

The success with which the lapwing plays the ruse for the safety of herself and young, has not escaped the notice of the poets: "The lapwinge hath a piteous, mournful cry,

And sings a sorrowful and heavy song.

But she is full of craft and subtilty,

And weepest most being farthest from her young."

Chaucer designates our bird thus:

"The false lapwing, full of treacherie."

This bird is easily tamed; and it is said to become uncommonly familiar and confiding after it is properly domesticated.

A Grecian fable will have it that Tereus, King of Thrace, by way of punishment for a shameful crime, was changed into a lapwing. Thus Virgil, in his sixth Pastoral:

"Changed into a lapwing by the avenging god,

He made the barren waste his lone abode,
And oft on soaring pinions hovered o'er
The lofty place, then his own no more."

We may venture the opinion, that if, at the present day, all who are guilty of the same crime were changed in the same way, there would be no scarcity of lapwings, especially in most of our larger cities.

NO. XXIII. THE IBIS.

"The Ibis, whome in Egypte Israel found,
Fell byrd! that living serpents can digest."

THE IBIS, under that name, does not appear in our translation of the Bible. It is, however, generally agreed upon, that it is three

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