guises of folly, and points out the true path to greatness. Such are imbued with a living spirit of investigation, such have an unquenchable thirst after knowledge-such feel a strange, almost frantic delight, in the exertion of intellect plunging onward to its goal. Such feel fully repaid for mental labor in the acquisition of mental strength and knowledge which that labor brings as its sure reward. Endowed with such a mind is your true student, who labors in the conviction that truth is as broad as eternity, and cannot be comprehended in all things by created intelligences without, nay, even with an eternity of labor-and who feels content to labor on, comprehending much, and seeing vastly more which he may not hope to compass-but constantly struggling up to a loftier eminence, and gaining a broader prospect of the universe of truth. This is your deep-thinker and deep-worker-your man of abstractions, if you please, who sees much that other men see not; who follows on and on in the track of knowledge, opening new wonders to the world long after other men have cried lo! the end.

There is another class, however, and this is by far the most numerous, who study from no enthusiasm; who prize not the golden pebbles which they dig from the mines of truth for their own unrivaled lustre, but that they will minister to the comfort or respectability of him who wears them. Not that there is any true enjoyment in stringing the beautiful pearls, and polishing the rich gems of thought; but that they will glitter in the sunlight and win the admiration of all beholders by their exceeding brilliancy. They feel an anxiety to get through with a certain course of study, which it seems necessary that they should accomplish after some sort, it matters little how; not going forward in the strength of master-spirits, appropriating and working up all the materials which may present themselves-no matter how little worthy-into keen, well-tempered weapons, which shall do mighty execution in the world's warfare. If they succeed in passing through college without dishonor, and in getting a diploma, they feel satisfied with their efforts, and conclude that this is the end of their labor. Here the weary pilgrim is to lay down his burden, in some cool professional retreat, where the streams of wealth and influence and fame shall bubble up from their fountains around him. He may now rest and refresh his toil-worn spirit with long draughts of their bright, fresh waters.

"Rash fool! for a vision of fanciful bliss,

To barter thy calm life of labor and peace."

Yet such is his dream, and too often he wakes not, till he is rudely shaken from his trance by the world's rough grasp; and the cold realities of every day life and labor rise up, displacing

the pleasing phantoms of his brain. The shock which startles him, unnerves, and unfits him for a season for that manly exertion which the world requires at his hands. But if he has not by indulgence been shorn of his locks of strength, if indolence has only woven her web around the strong man in his sleep, which now, that he sees his true position, that the Philistines are upon him, he snaps asunder like bands of gossamer, he may yet retrieve his error, and rise to the dignity of a true man. may again indue himself with the cast-off mail of knowledge— he may again by strong effort wield those weapons of truth, which once in his hand were potent as the wand of the enchanter.

He

But he must learn not to shrink from the contact of a false and selfish world. It is the part of true valor to meet_boldly, and struggle manfully with danger when unavoidable. It is the part of meanness and cowardice to yield and fall before it, without one generous blow for freedom or defense. It is better to venture something, than to hesitate, if the end be not clearly visible. "Time, faith, energy," will accomplish all that need be done in life. He who applies himself with unwearied energy, and fervid faith, keeping constantly in his mind the object of living, will succeed, though his task be to remove mountains. To such an one, there is indeed "no such word as fail."

And herein, he who is commonly called the self-taught man, has the advantage of the college-pampered scholar. The whole life of the former has been one of trial and experiment-of struggles with difficulties and doubts-anxieties and fears, and often with ghastly want; yet all these have not appalled him. He has broken down all obstacles, baffled his doubts and fears, and set the ban-dogs of famine at defiance. Confidence in the result of his own combinations has urged him on to the end which he so much desired-the full fruition of hope. While the latter has been led in the less rugged path, which the experience of ages has smoothed, and rendered more inviting, by furnishing the warfare with all the aid which the ingenuity of man has been able to devise. Both we will say have grasped an equal amount of knowledge. Yet the one has learned the wisdom to depend mainly upon himself, which gives consistency and force to character; while the other has not unlearned the folly to rely chiefly upon others. The one rushes fearlessly into the world's scramble around him, and loses no ground, but gains rather, for he knows how to elbow his way. While the other, by remaining passive is jostled and well nigh crushed by the crowd, and has scarcely the confidence, or too much dignity, whichever you like,—to thrust his elbows into his neighbor's side, even in selfdefense.

1

The notion that a diploma will be an easy passport to wealth and fame, and that the world is a sort of Paradise, where educated men have nothing to do but to devour delicious fruits, not so much even as to make leaf-aprons, is a mistaken one. Ours, as the old story goes, is an ultra-practical age, calling strenuously for practical men. Learning is sought, not so much for ornament as use. Competition rages in every branch of business; every man's talent is brought into market, and that which is thought most useful by the multitude, commands the readiest sale. The aspirant now must be both learned and ready, understanding all the details of the business upon which he proposes to enter. He must indeed engage fully and become imbued in the steam-spirit of the age; ennobling the most trifling details of business, by the manly earnestness and enthusiasm which he manifests in the pursuit. He must also school himself to habits of keen observation and close study, constantly accumulating knowledge and experience from all sources, and knowing how to put all his acquirements to the most profitable use. Then the student will have condensed within himself a power which may expand at his bidding and master the world. It is he who wills, decides, acts, who must accomplish; nay, he sometimes almost even creates. Action constitutes not only the orator, but in a broader and more elevated sense, the man. All true greatness is the result of habitual, well-directed, and energetic action. One may think sublimely, but unless his action corresponds to his thoughts he cannot win the good opinion of the world. Genius itself, be it ever so brilliant, can effect nothing permanent, without constant well-directed effort. It is a bright, keen instrument, designed for a peculiar use, and in bad or unskillful hands producing more mischief than good.

Then, when the student springs forth upon the world, let him come armed and determined, like one who leaps upon the deck of an enemy's battle-ship. It is no idle holiday sport, the world's work; it is made up of earnest and life-long labor. It is no desultory skirmish; but the main battle rages on hotter and hotter while life lasts. Let him be content then to follow that course which an honest self-respect points out as honorable, and he will not go far wide of the true path of glory. Let him be determined to act, steadily and after some plan, constantly and to some end, and he shall work out for himself a brighter fame than ambition has even anticipated: He shall overcome all obstacles, trample upon the hydra-forms of envy and malice, and plant himself firmly upon the tower of fame, whose summit, rising above the clouds, bathed in eternal sunshine, stretches up to heaven.

EXCERPTS FROM AN UNPUBLISHED POEM.

THE TRIUMPHS OF DECAY.

THE march of Time hath overthrown

The peasant's hut, the regal throne ;
His with'ring touch hath ever spoiled
All things o'er which man's genius toiled.
The forked lightning's scathing course,
Death on the pale and frightful horse-
Scattering in his headlong speed,
Destruction from his flying steed,
And laughing with a wild delight,
As on he rushes to the fight,
Hurling his arrows of the grave,
Steeped in the dark lethean wave;
Plague, Famine, Pestilence, and War,
Snuff keen the slaughter from afar ;
The hurricane and whirlwind's wrath
Press on in the Destroyer's path;
Bleak wintry age, life's autumn day,
Yield to thy sure resistless sway;
Youth's aspirations, manhood's prime,
The pride of earth, all, all are thine.
And woman, like a golden dream

Of Heavenly imagining

Though bright and beautiful her eye

As the deep azure of the sky,

Or dark as jet, its coloring,

Or hue of glossy raven's wing,

And clear and fair the marble brow,

That knows nor care, nor sorrow now;
Though proud she lift her stately head,
And firm in conscious beauty tread ;

Such as Beauty's self might own

To set her proudest seal upon;

The delicate and tender flower,

That soothes man in his wintry hour,
And, like the flow'r that smiles its thanks,
To sun and shower on streamlet's banks,
Cheerful when Nature round her blooms,
Yet sinks not when bleak winter comes:
She too shall find the grave at last,
Shrinking before its piercing blast,
And yield the soul her God had given,
To wing its flight again to Heaven.

PUBLISHED UNDER THE SUPERINTENDENCE OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE DIFFUSION OF

USELESS KNOWLEDGE.

"My mind is troubled like a fountain stirr'd,

And I myself see not the bottom of it."

TROILUS AND CRESIDA.

-“ All speculation is by nature endless, formless, a vortex amid vortices ;— 'Yes, friends, not our logical, mensurative faculty, but our imagination is king over us." SARTOR RESArtus.

THE maxim of Horace,

Scribendi rectè sapere est et principium et fons,

is daily becoming of less repute with the world: its fallacy appears more and more evident, and the ease in composition which a total ignorance of his subject confers upon the author, is often made the theme of remark. To one who has no object in view,