approves. Common prudence demands this. A library, or a bookseller's shop, is like a market, stocked not only with good articles of food, but also with such as are unwholesome and poisonous. In such a market-place, no rational being would content himself with whatever came under his hand first, and reedily devour it; but he would, on the contrary, be very cautious in his purchases, in order not to buy a useless or dangerous article.

5. Among the other maladies to which human nature is subject, there is one which may be termed a reading mania. Excess in reading is injurious in many respects.

Among other writings which are not suited for the perusal of the young, those should be named which are calculated to distract their thoughts from serious occupations, and to awaken in their hearts an excessive tenderness of feeling. Even supposing the contents of such works are in themselves of an edifying nature, they are very apt to give rise to a passion for reading; and then the taste, once corrupted and accustomed to a false beauty and sweetness of style, feels disgust for wholesome nourishment, and seeks for food in silly and dangerous novels and romances.

6. Whoever labors under an inordinate desire of reading and who, accordingly, reads without distinction every boob which he can procure, will unavoidably come, sooner or later upon bad and dangerous books. The hurried and superficia manner in which he reads is also hurtful to the mental powers. They are thereby overloaded with food, and like the body under similar circumstances, become languid and unhealthy. "Not many things, but much :" such was a maxim of the ancients on this subject.

7. Read not many books, but read one book well. It matters not how much or how little is read, but what is read hould be so with a constant application of the mind. It is far better and far more profitable for the reader to study one book, so as to comprehend it thoroughly, and to see and feel the spirit and tendency of the writer, than to peruse a great number of books in such a manner as to touch only the surface.

8. This inordinate desire of reading being one of the prin cipal distempers of the present age, the teacher should accus tom his pupils to read all books slowly and with reflection, so as to be able to follow the whole train of thought, and to retain in their memory, at least the more important points and divisions of the subject. In order to do this, he should strongly dvise them not to content themselves with one perusal of a Dook.

9. In perusing a work for the first time, the reader is too little acquainted with the author's turn of thought, and his peculiarities of character or style. He is as a traveller pass ing through a foreign country for the first time. The multitude and variety of new impressions he receives are apt to form only a dim and confused mass in the mind. This, however, is not the case at a second or third perusal of the same book.

10. He has already contracted an acquaintance with the author; he knows his spirit, and his manner of expressing himself; many things, which were at first dark and unintelligible, are now plain; many, which before escaped his notice altogether, now start up before him; what was clear at first becomes now more so, and is more deeply impressed upon the memory. When there is question of works of more than ordinary importance, the trouble of a third, or even more frequent perusal, is always amply repaid.

168. MAN'S DESTINY.

STAPF.

1. MAN's destiny is immeasurably exalted. His last end .God. To rise nearer and nearer to God, not as an isolated being, but hand in hand with his fellow-men, in the bonds of brotherly love, and in the position in which Providence has placed him; such is his business here on earth. Hence the great command tells him, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy

whole mind, and thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets." Matt. xxii. 37, &c.

2. The great duty of parents and educators is, then, to train up their young, and yet weak fellow-creatures, to this their noble end. No natural faculty dare be destroyed. Al should be developed, but developed in such a manner as to render them directly conducive to the one end in view, which is to raise man to God.

3. At all events, none should be hinderances of obstacles to this end. Did a man speak not merely with the tongues of men, but also with those of angels, did he know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and had not charity, he were nothing. And, again, what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul! 1 Cor. xiii. 1, &c.; Matt. xvi. 26.

4. Man fell, and now, in his present state of corruption, groaning, as he does at his birth, under the load of original sin, he can find salvation nowhere but in and through his Divine Redeemer, Jesus Christ. In separation from him, there is no salvation. The name of Jesus is the only name in which mortal man can be rescued from perdition. Acts iv. 12.

5. Accordingly, the work of true education is to conduct youth to Jesus Christ. He has a right to them. He paid for them with his blood. He has made them the temples of the Holy Spirit by baptism. He intrusts them for a short time to parents and teachers, and when he asks them back, he expects to find them well prepared for the fulfilment of his all-wise and loving intentions.

6. Hence emanates the great truth, which cannot be too often repeated, that education should be thoroughly religious and Christian in its external forms, as in its inward spirit. If it is ever to restore to life, and to adorn with fresh blossoms and with wholesome fruits, the withered tree of fallen humanity, it must itself be animated in all its branches by the living and life-giving breath of Christianity. Accordingly, active charity, flowing from a lively faith, or the filial love of God, has been, on every occasion, during the course of this treatise,

held up as the point most worthy of notice, as being the arcanum, or great secret in education.

7. The end of education is to insure man's happiness for time and for eternity. This, however, it cannot do without religion For without religion there is not such a thing as true love of self, or of one's neighbor; and without this love no real happiness is attainable, even on this earth, either by individuals in particular, or by society in general.

8. Well, then, may the following words of an author, lately deceased, be repeated here in conclusion: "We should merit respect by our virtue; and to our virtue we should impart worth and duration by religion. Amid all the vicissitudes of life, let it be the guiding-star in our firmament. The shades of night may lower over us, rocks may surround us, still in its blessed light we will be ever able to steer on our course in safety!" Happy the world, if both educators and educated reduced this advice to practice!

169. BINGEN ON THE RHINE.

HON. MRS. NORTON.

CAROLINE ELIZABETH SARAH NORTON, a grand-daughter of the famous Richard Brinsley Sheridan, is only second to Mrs. Hemans among the female poets of our age. She has been called "the Byron of female poets,' and although her poetry may not have all the wild passion that breathes in Byron's, it is characterized by a depth and intensity of feeling that raise it far above what is usually written by females.

I.

A SOLDIER of the Legion lay dying in Algiers,

There was lack of woman's nursing, there was dearth o woman's tears;

But a comrade stood beside him, while his life-blood ebb'd away,

And bent, with pitying glances, to hear what he might say. The dying soldier falter'd, as he took that comrade's hand, And he said, "I never more shall see my own, my native

Take a message, and a token, to some distant friends of mine For I was born at Bingenat Bingen on the Rhine.

II.

Tell my brothers and companions, when they meet and crowd around

To hear my mournful story in the pleasant vineyard ground, That we fought the battle bravely, and when the day was

done,

Full many a corse lay ghastly pale, beneath the setting sun. And midst the dead and dying, were some grown old in wars, The death-wound on their gallant breasts, the last of many

scars;

But some were young-and suddenly beheld life's morn de

cline;

And one had come from Bingen-fair Bingen on the Rhine!

III.

"Tell my mother that her other sons shall comfort her old

age,

And I was aye a truant bird, that thought his home a cage: my father was a soldier, and even as a child

For

My heart leap'd forth to hear him tell of struggles fierce and

wild;

And when he died, and left us to divide his scanty hoard,

I let them take whate'er they would, but kept my father's

sword,

Aud with boyish love I hung it where the bright light usec

to shine,

On the cottage-wall at Bingen-calm Bingen on the Khine!

IV.

"Tell my sister not to weep for me, and sob with drooping

head,

When the troops are marching home again, with glad and gallant tread;