There was no delay. In a few mine among the mould of his forefathers, spot of rest. One by one the people were left by the new-made grave the pastor and myself. As yet pause I looked around me, ove 10. Each tombstone and grave, in boyhood, arose in my memu their long-forgotten inscription been erected. The whole cha ple and unostentatious; but could see that there had been of the living. There was a not without much of native thing even of native grace than the name and age of in general, some short to ant and soothing to the p to commemorate them on taken from that Book, 11. There is a soft a country church-yard. fered to go on over th affecting in the conten vered to the be there! and by the fireside, Oh, death why, cruel monster, ripening hand of time, but opening was his parents' hope, a brother's pride? Be silent, pride, 'tis right, 'tis God directs; Who gave, and took but what he gave; to Him Above the world of sin, and pain, and death, to that AMERICAN ATHENEUM ing a word, with his solemn and pitiful eyes fixed upon the prostrate and contrite man. His sin had been great, and tears, that till now had, on this day at least, been compressed within his heart by the presence of so many of his friends, now poured down upon the sod as if they would have found their way to the very body of his father. Neither of us offered to lift him up, for we felt awed by the rueful passion of his love, his remorse and his penitence; and nature, we felt, ought to have her way. "Fear not, my son," at length said the old man, in a gentle voice," fear not, my son, but that you are already forgiven. Dost thou not feel pardon within thy contrite spirit?" He rose up from his knees with a faint smile, while the minister, with his white head yet uncovered, held his hands over him as in benediction; and that beautiful and loving child, who had been standing in a fit of weeping terrour at his father's agony, now came up to him, and kissed his cheek; holding in his little hand a few faded primroses, which he had unconsciously gathered together as they lay on the turf of his grandfather's grave.- WILSON. १ LESSON XXVIII. On the Death of a Brother. 1. I had a brother once, but now have none! He loved me with a childish fondness; and oft To me, as I returned after a short absence Me seek another home, he said farewell;' The grave conceals him. On this side the grave 3. But he'll not be there! and by the fireside, Altar; but no! where he was early taught To pray, his knees shall bend no more! at church, Oh, death why, cruel monster, By the ripening hand of time, but opening Who was his parents' hope, a brother's pride? 4. Be silent, pride, 'tis right, 'tis God directs; Then cease, my soul, to murmur, cease to mourn, Who gave, and took but what he gave; to Him In redeeming grace, prepared to soar Above the world of sin, and pain, and death, to that Where friends shall meet, and friendship cease no more! AMERICAN ATHENEUM LESSON XXIX. Grandeur and Moral Interest of American Antiquities. 1. You will expect me to say something of the lonely records of the former races that inhabited this country. That there has, formerly, been a much more numerous population than exists here at present, I am fully impressed, from the result of my own personal observations. From the highest points of the Ohio, to where I am now writing, and far up the upper Mississippi and Missouri, the more the country is explored and peopled, and the more its surface is penetrated, not only are there more mounds brought to view, but more incontestable marks of a numerous population. 2. Wells, artificially walled, different structures of convenience or defence, have been found in such numbers, as no longer to excite curiosity. Ornaments of silver and of copper, pottery, of which I have seen numberless specimens on all these waters; not to mention the mounds themselves, and the still more tangible evidence of human bodies found in a state of preservation, and of sepulchres full of bones; are unquestionable demonstrations, that this country was once possessed of a numerous population. The mounds themselves, though of earth, are not those rude and shapeless heaps, that they have been commonly represented to be. I have seen, for instance, in different parts of the Atlantick country, the breastworks and other defences of earth, that were thrown up by our people during the war of the revolution. None of those monuments date back more than fifty years. These mounds must date back to remote depths in the olden time. * 3. From the ages of the trees on them, and from other data, we can trace them back six hundred years, leaving it entirely to the imagination to descend farther into the depths of time beyond. And yet, after the rains, the washing, and the crumbling of so many ages, many of them are still twenty-five feet high. All of them are, incomparably, more conspicuous monuments than the works which I just noticed. Some of them are spread over an extent of acres. I have seen, great and small, I should suppose, a hundred. Though diverse, in position and form, they all have a uniform character. 4. They are, for the most part, in rich soils, and in conspicuous situations. Those on the Ohio are covered with very |