"Tis all a dream-life's beauteous day, At death's transforming touch. LESSON XIX. JACK FROST. This lively picture of a being in whose existence most children fully believe, was written by MISS HANNAH F. GOULD, of Newburyport, whose poetry is distinguished for the simplicity with which it presents familiar truths, and for the unvaried excellence of its morality. This ascribing to an inanimate object the form and faculties of a rational being, constitutes one form of the figure of speech called Personification. Jack Frost looked forth one still clear night, I will not go on like that blustering train- Then he flew to the mountain, and powdered its crest; Of the quivering lake he spread A coat of mail, that it need not fear He went to the windows of those who slept, Most beautiful things; there were flowers and trees; But he did one thing that was hardly fair,— 66 Now, just to set them a thinking, I'll bite this basket of fruit," said he, "This costly pitcher I'll burst in three, LESSON XX. A NURSERY TALE. The following Allegory, or Fable, was taken from the Ballads of T. H. BAYLY, an English poet of great merit. It is suited for a young pupil. Oh! did you not hear in your nursery, Of the two young girls that came to drink The words of the youngest were as sweet But the tongue of the eldest seemed to move At the well a beggar accosted them, (A sprite in a mean disguise ;) The eldest rebuked her with scornful brow, Cried the Fairy," Whenever you speak, sweet girl, But whenever you utter a word, proud maid, And have you not met with those sisters oft LESSON XXI. OUR PILGRIM ANCESTORS. After a highly interesting account of the state of education in Europe, and especially in England, of whose debased condition in this respect the eloquent philanthropist, HORACE MANN, has much to say in his seventh annual report to the Legislature of Massachusetts, the following beautiful tribute is paid to the founders of New England. It was from a condition of society like this, or from one where principles and agencies were at work, tending to produce a condition of society like this, that our ancestors fled. They came here, as to a newly-formed world. In many respects, the colonization of New England was like a new creation of the race. Histo ry can not deny that the founders of that colony had faults. But, on the other hand, history must concede to them the possession of exalted, far-shining, immortal virtues. Not the least among the blessings which they brought, were health and a robustness of constitution, that no luxury had ever enervated, or vicious indulgences ever corrupted. In all that company, there was not a drop of blood which had been tainted by vice, nor an act of life that had been stained by crime. Arriving here at a period when winter had converted the land into one broad desert, the inclemency of the season and the extremity of their toils swept away all the less healthful and vigorous, and left nor man or woman, save those whose hardy and powerful frames, the perils of the ocean, and the wintry rigors of the clime, and the privations of a houseless and provisionless coast, had assailed in vain. In physical energy and hardihood, such were the progenitors of New England. Mighty as were their bodies, their spirits were mightier still. Some of the former did yield to privation, and peril, and disease; but in that whole company, not a heart ever relented. Stanch, undaunted, invincible, they held fast to what they believed to be the dictates of conscience and the oracles of God; and in the great moral epic which celebrates the story of their trials and their triumphs, the word "apostate," is nowhere written. What mighty obstructions and hindrances to human progress did they leave behind them! What dynasties of powerful men, and the more firmly seated dynasties of false opinions! But, in the world to which they came, there were no classes upheld by law of feudal privilege and prerogative. There were no laws of hereditary descent upholding one class in opulence and power, irrespective of merit or vigor; and degrading other classes to perpetual indigence and servility, without demerit or imbecility. Here was no cramped territory, whose resources were insufficient to furnish a healthful competence to all; nor any crowded population, struggling so earnestly to supply their cravings for daily necessities, that all the nobler wants of the soul were silenced by the clamor of the appetites. No predatory barons had conquered the whole land, and monopolized it, and by a course of legislation as iniquitous as the original robbery itself, had predestined its descent in the line of particular families, through all coming time, so that not one in hundreds of all who should be born into the state, could own a rood of ground, which he might till for subsistence while living, or beneath which he could have a right of burial when dead. Surely, never were the circumstances of a nation's birth so propitious to all that is pure in motive, and great in achievement, and redundant in the means of universal happiness. Never before was a land so consecrated to knowledge and virtue. Never were children and children's children so dedicated to God and to humanity, as in those forest solitudes,-in that temple of the wide earth and the o'er-arching heavens, girt round with the terrors of ocean and wilderness, afar from the pomp of cathedral and court, in the presence only of the conscious spirits of the creatures who made, and of the Creator who accepted their vows, we, their descendants, were devoted to the cause of human freedom, to duty, to justice, to charity, to intelligence, to religion, by those holy men. LESSON XXII. THE BLUES. The following playful satire upon the propensity, which some persons have to make themselves and others needlessly unhappy, forms an easy lesson for a young pupil. The author is unknown to the Editor. The speaker must be careful not to smile. Oh! come, on some cold rainy day, When the birds can not show a dry feather: Bring your sighs and your tears, Granny Gray, And let us all be unhappy together. |