her, stops her and sets her in motion, turns her this way and that, as easily and certainly as the child guides the gentle lamb. She walks over the one hundred and sixty miles of her route, without rest and without fatigue; and the passengers, who have slept in safety in their berths, with destruction by water without, and by fire within, defended only by a plank from the one, and by a sheet of copper from the other, land at the appointed time in safety. 13. My reader, you have within you susceptibilities and powers, of which you have little present conception; energies, which are hereafter to operate in producing fullness of enjoyment or horrors of suffering, of which you now can form scarcely a conjecture. You are now on trial. God wishes you to prepare yourself for safe and happy action. He wishes you to look within, to examine the complicated movements of your hearts, to detect what is wrong, to modify what needs change, and to rectify every irregular motion. 14. You go out to try your moral powers upon the stream of active life, and then return to retirement, to improve what is right, and remedy what is wrong. Renewed opportunities of moral practice are given you, that you may go on from strength to strength, until every part of that complicated moral machinery, of which the human heart consists, will work as it ought to work, and is prepared to accomplish the mighty purposes for which your powers are designed. You are on trial, on probation now. You will enter upon active service in another world. Аввотт. QUESTIONS.-How does the Bible consider this life? What is a state of probation? What is a steamboat? Who invented it? Was Robert Fulton an American? What is meant by proving a steamboat? What is the use of doing this? Is there any resemblance between man and a steamboat? If this life is our state of probation, what will a future state of existence be? What difference is there between man's probation before the fall, and man's probation now? ARTICULATION. Kraken, kremlin, crutch, crush'd, prank, praiseworthy. The kraken is probably a fabulous animal. The kremlin is the Russian emperor's palace. With his crutch he crushed the flowers. The prank was not praiseworthy. The props were prop'd by other props. The crafty creatures crawl'd in crowds. The proud prig prates. LESSON LXIII. ARTICULATE distinctly. - Prec-e-dent, not prec' dent: pro-crasti-na-tion, not pro-crasť na-tion: e-ter-nal, not e-ter-n'l: mi-rac-u-lous, not mi-rac' lous: ex-cel-lent, not ex' lent: sus-pects, not s'pec's: in-famous, not in-f'mous. 2. Prec'-e-dent, n. something that | 18. Vails, n. money given to servants. serves for an example. 4. Pro-cras-ti-na'-tion, n. delay. 11. Palm, n. victory. 14. Driv'-el, v. to be foolish. It here means that which may be spent for pleasure. This word is obsolete, that is, it is not now used. [session. 23. Dil'-a-to-ry, a. slow, delaying. 15. Re-ver'-sion, n. right to future pos- 29. Chides, v. reproves, PROCRASTINATION. 1. BE wise today; 't is madness to defer; All pay themselves the compliment to think They one day shall not drivel; and their pride 15. On this reversion takes up ready praise, At least their own: their future selves applaud; + 20. The thing they can't but purpose, they postpone. And scarce in human wisdom to do more. And that through every stage: when young indeed, As duteous sons, our fathers were more wise. Resolves; and re-resolves; then dies the same. YOUNG. QUESTIONS.-What is meant by procrastination? Name some of the evils of procrastination? What is the meaning of lines 10, 11, and 12? What, of all things, are men most apt to defer? -- LESSON LXIV. REMARK.- Sound the r clearly in the following words: are, mark, bard, hard, lard, barb, garb, hear, clear, dear, near, tear, arm, harm, charm, lord, cord, far, care, course, never, merely, conform. BE CAREFUL also to pronounce correctly the following: Oth-ers, not oth-uz: rule, not rool: virtue, not vir-too: rec-ti-tude, not rec-ti-tshude : a-dopt, not ud-opt: mer-cy, not mus-sy: com'-plai-sance, not com-plai'sance: sac-ri-fice, not sa-cri-fis: sec-u-lar, not sec-ky-lar, nor sec-ew-lar: mor-als, not mor-uls: scru-pu-lous, not scru-py-lous. 1. De-void', a. destitute. [ciple. 2. Rec'-ti-tude, n. correctness of prin- 6. Com'-plai-sance, n. (pro. com'-pla- 8. Sec'-u-lar, a. worldly. 9. Tam'-per, v. to meddle with impro- 11. En-tail', v. to fix unalienably upon LOVE OF APPLAUSE. 1. To be insensible to public opinion, or to the estimation in which we are held by others, indicates any thing, rather than a good and generous spirit. It is, indeed, the mark of a low and worthless character; devoid of principle, and therefore devoid of shame. A young man is not far from ruin, when he can say, without blushing, I don't care what others think of me. 2. But to have a proper regard to public opinion, is one thing; to make that opinion our rule of action, is quite another. The one we may cherish consistently with the purest virtue, and the most unbending rectitude; the other we can not adopt, without an utter abandonment of principle and disregard of duty. 3. The young man whose great aim is to please, who makes the opinion and favor of others his rule and motive of action, stands ready to adopt any sentiments, or pursue any course of conduct, however false and criminal, provided only that it be popular. + 4. In every emergency, his first question is, what will my companions, what will the world think and say of me, if I adopt this, or that course of conduct? Duty, the eternal laws of rectitude, are not thought of. Custom, fashion, popular favor: these are the things, that fill his entire vision, and decide every question of opinion and duty. 5. Such a man can never be trusted; for he has no integrity and no independence of mind, to obey the dictates of rectitude. He is at the mercy of every casual impulse and change of popular opinion; and you can no more tell whether he will be right or wrong tomorrow, than you can predict the course of the wind, or what shape the clouds will then assume. 6. And what is the usual consequence of this weak and foolish regard to the opinions of men? What the end of thus acting in compliance with custom in opposition to one's own convictions of duty? It is to lose the esteem and respect of the very men whom you thus attempt to please. Your defect of principle and hollow-heartedness are easily perceived: and though the persons to whom you thus sacrifice your conscience, may affect to commend your complaisance, you may be assured, that, inwardly, they despise you for it. 7. Young men hardly commit a greater mistake, than to think of gaining the esteem of others, by yielding to their wishes contrary to their own sense of duty. Such conduct is always morally wrong, and rarely fails to deprive one, both of self-respect and the respect of others. + 8. It is very common for young men, just commencing business, to imagine that, if they would advance their secular interests, they must not be very scrupulous in binding themselves down to the strict rules of rectitude. They must conform to custom; and if, in buying and selling, they sometimes say things that are not true, and do the things that are not honest; why, their neighbors do the same; and, verily, there is no getting along without it. There is so much competition and rivalry, that, to be strictly honest, and yet succeed in business, is out of the question. 9. Now, if it were indeed so, I would say to a young man; then, quit your business. Better dig, and beg too, than to tamper with conscience, sin against God, and lose your soul. 10. But is it so? Is it necessary, in order to succeed in business, that you should adopt a standard of morals, more lax and pliable, than the one placed before you in the Bible? Perhaps for a time, a rigid adherence to rectitude might bear hard upon you; but how would it be in the end? Possibly, your neighbor, by being less scrupulous than yourself, may invent a more expeditious way of acquiring a fortune. If he is willing to violate the dictates of conscience, to lie and cheat, and trample on the rules of justice and honesty, he may, indeed, get the start of you, and rise suddenly to wealth and distinction. 11. But would you envy him his riches, or be willing to place yourself in his situation? Sudden wealth, especially when obtained by dishonest means, rarely fails of bringing with it sudden ruin. Those who acquire it, are of course beggared in their morals, and are often, very soon, beggared in property. Their riches are corrupted; and while they bring the curse of God on their immediate possessors, they usually entail misery and ruin upon their families. + 12. If it be admitted, then, that strict integrity is not always the shortest way to success, is it not the surest, the happiest, and the best? A young man of thorough integrity may, it is true, find it difficult, in the midst of dishonest competitors and rivals, to start in his business or profession; but how long, ere he will surmount every difficulty, draw around him patrons and friends, and rise in the confidence and support of all who know him. + 13. What, if, in pursuing this course, you should not, at the close of life, have so much money, by a few hundred dollars? Will not a fair character, an approving conscience, and an approving God, be an abundant compensation for this little deficiency of pelf? In 14. O, there is an hour coming, when one whisper of an approving mind, one smile of an approving God, will be accounted of more value than the wealth of a thousand worlds like this. that hour, my young friends, nothing will sustain you but the + consciousness of having been governed in life by worthy and good principles. HAWES. |