think there is nothing like "the joys of the table,” if I may be allowed to apply that convivial phrase to his indulgences. He now grows discontented with plain, every-day fare, and sets out on a gastronomical tour, in search of foreign luxuries.

5. He is to be found in myriads among the reeds of the Delaware, banqueting on their seeds; grows cor pulent with good feeding, and soon acquires the un lucky renown of the Ortolan. Wherever he goes, pop pop! pop the rusty firelocks of the country are cracking on every side; he sees his companions falling by thousands around him; he is the reed-bird, the much-sought-for tit-bit of the Pennsylvanian epi

cure.

6. Does he take warning and reform? Not he! He wings his flight still farther south in search of other luxuries. We hear of him gorging himself in the rice swamps; filling himself with rice almost to bursting; he can hardly fly for corpulency. Last stage of his career, we hear of him spitted by dozens, and served up on the table of the gormand, the most vaunted of southern dainties, the rice-bird of the Carolinas.

7. Such is the story of the once musical and admired, but finally sensual and persecuted Bobolink. It contains a moral, worthy the attention of all little birds and little boys, warning them to keep to those refined and intellectual pursuits, which raised him to such a pitch of popularity, during the early part of his career; but to eschew all tendency to that gross and dissipated indulgence, which brought this mistaken little bird to an untimely end.

QUESTIONS.-1. How has farther observation changed the writer' opinion of this little bird? 2. How was the Bobolink regarded in his earlier career, even by the school-boy? 3. What changes come over this bird as the year advances? 4. What is he called, and how regarded, in Pennsylvania? 5. What name does he bear, and how does he live, farther South? 6. What is his fate in both regions? 7. What moral does the story of the Bobolink afford? 8. What is the meaning of the phrase bon vivant, in the 4th paragraph? Ans. A high-liver.

LESSON XXXI.

SPELL AND DEFINE.-1. PHI LOS' O PHER, a wise and learned man. 2. EN TER TAIN' ING, treating at the table. 3. RE MOVES', dishes to be changed while the rest of the course remains. 4. CIV'IL, Well ordered; civilized. 5. OR GAN, instrument, or medium. 6. ADMIN' IS TER ED, managed; carried into practice. 7. PRE SIDE', to rule over; govern 8. AC QUIT', to discharge. 9. A BASH ED, ashamed; confused. 10. CON TEN' TION, disputation; strife. FO MENT ER, one who foments; the exciter. 12. CAL' UM NY, slander. 13. ME' DI UM, means; instrument. 14. SI MIL' I TUDE, likeness; form.

11.

E' SOP, a celebrated writer of Fables, who flourished about 620, B. C.

A DINNER OF TONGUES.

1. Esop was the servant of a philosopher named Xanthus. One day his master being desirous of entertaining some of his friends to dinner, he ordered him to provide the best things he could find in the market. Esop thereupon made a large provision of tongues, which he desired the cook to serve up with different sauces. When dinner came, the first and second courses, the side dishes, and the removes, were all tongues.

2. "Did I not order you," said Xanthus, in a violent passion, "to buy the best victuals which the market afforded?"

3. "And have I not obeyed your órders?" said Æsop. "Is there any thing better than tongues? Is not the tongue the bond of civil society, the key of science, and the organ of truth and réason? It is by means of the tongue cities are built and governments established and administered; with it men instruct, persuade, and preside in assemblies; it is the instru ment with which we acquit ourselves of the chief of all our duties, the praising and adoring of the deity." 4. "Well, then," replied Xanthus, "go to market to-morrow and buy me the worst things you can find. This same company shall dine with me, and I have a

mind to change my entertainment."

5. When Xanthus assembled his friends the next

day, he was astonished to find that Esop had provided nothing but the very same dishes.

6. "Did I not tell you," said Xanthus, "to purchase the worst things for this day's féast? How comes it. then, that you have placed before us the same kind of food, which, only yesterday, you declared to be the very best?"

7. Esop, not at all abashed, replied: "The tongue s the worst thing in the world as well as the best; for t is the instrument of all strife and contention, the fomenter of lawsuits, the source of division and war, the organ of error, of cálumny, of falsehood, and even of profanity."

8. The conduct of Esop, in this affair, my young friends, is quite instructive. For it is certainly true, that the tongue, according to circumstances, may be, and is the best or the worst thing in the world. Rightly used, it is the fittest organ of wisdom; wrongly used, it becomes the foulest medium of folly and wicked

ness.

9. "For," says the Bible, "every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind; but the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be."

QUESTIONS.-1. Who was Esop? 2. What did he do when ordered to prepare a dinner of the best things for the friends of his master? 3. What was his reply when asked, why he prepared a dinner wholly of tongues? 4. What did he do when told to prepare a dinner of the worst things? 5. How did he justify his conduct in again serving up nothing but tongues? 6. What moral lies in this account of the dinner of tongues? 7. How is the tongue described in the epistle of James? See 3d chapter, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th verses.

What word is the antithetic to best, in the first paragraph? What kind of emphasis on these words? Note VII. p. 22. What kind of emphasis on tongues, first par.? Note VI. p. 21. What sound has a in Xanthus p. 13.

LESSON XXXII.

SPELL AND DEFINE.-1. TAL' IS MAN, something magical, or that works wonders. 2. MAGIC, sorcery, witchcraft. 3. IL LU' MINE, to enlighten. 4. DE SPITE', in spite of; notwithstanding. 5. BIL' LOWS, waves; surges. 6. LAIR, couch; lurking place. 7. FRAIL, weak; easily broken. 8. RAVES, drives on furiously. 9. MIS FOR' TUNE, disaster; calamity,

Avoid saying beas for beasts, srink for shrink, it sowner for its woner, billow sleep for billows leap, &c.

NEVER DESPAIR.

WM. O. RICHARDS

1 This motto I give to the young and the old,
More precious by far than a treasure of gold;
"Twill prove to its owner a talisman rare,
More potent than magic,-'tis Never Despair!
2. No, never despair, whatsoe'er be thy lot,
If Fortune's gay sunshine illumine

not;

Mid its gloom, and despite its dark burden of care,
If thou canst not be cheerful, yet, Never Despair!

3. Oh! what if the sailor a coward should be,

When the tempest comes down, in its wrath on the sea;
And the mad billows leap like wild beasts from their lair,
To make him their prey, if he yield to Despair?

4. But see him amid the fierce strife of the waves,
When around his frail vessel the storm demon raves;
How he rouses his soul up to do and to dare!
And while there is life left, will Never Despair!
5. Thou, too, art a sailor, and Time is the sea,
And life the frail vessel that upholdeth thee;
Fierce storms of misfortune will fall to thy share,
But like the bold mariner, Never Despair!

6 Let not the wild tempest thy spirit affright,

the

Shrink not from the storm though it come in its might;
Be watch.ul, be ready, for shipwreck prepare,
Keep an eye on the life-boat, and NEVER DESPAIR.

QUESTIONS.-1. What motto does the author of this piece give to young and old? 2 How does the sailor behave in the midst of a storm? 3. How must we behave in the tempests of life?

Which lines of this poetry rhyme? How many accented and unaccented syllables in each line?

LESSON XXXIII.

SPELL AND DEFINE.-1. BAU' BLE, trifling piece of finery; a gewgaw. 2. HU' MORS, gratifies or indulges. 3. IN VADE', to enter. 4. DE SERT', merit. 5. REP U TA TION, credit; character. 6. AF FECT', to aim at; to make a show of. 7. GEN TRY, high birth; rank above the common people. 8. EX TIN' GUISH, put out, or destroy. 9. UNSAVORY, not savory; disgusting. 10. PRO POR' TION, ratio; relative amount. 11. GEN TIL I TY, dignity of birth; social standing.

ADVICE TO A YOUNG MAN.

BEN JONSON.

1. What would I have you do? I'll tell you, kinsman;
Learn to be wise, and practice how to thrive;
That would I have you dò; and not to spend
Your coin on every bauble that you fancy,
Or every foolish brain that humors you.
2. I would not have you to invade each place,
Nor thrust yourself on all societies,

Till men's affections, or your own desert,
Should worthily invite you to your rank.
He that is so respectless in his courses,
Oft sells his reputation at cheap market.
3. Nor would I you should melt away yourself
In flashing bravery, lest while you affect
To make a blaze of gentry to the world,
A little puff of scorn extinguish it,
And you be left like an unsavory snuff,
Whose property is only to offend.

4. I'd have you sober, and contain yourself;
Not that your sail be bigger than your boat;
But moderate your expenses now, (at first,)
As you may keep the same proportion still.
Nor stand so much on your gentility,
Which is an airy, and mere borrowed thing,

From dead men's dust, and bones; and none of yours,
Except you make or hold it.

QUESTIONS.-1. What would the writer have his kinsman do? 2. What would he not have him invade? 3. What is the consequence of intruding into society without invitation? 4. Why should not one make a display of his gentry to the world? 5. Why should you moderate your expenses now, at the first?

Why the rising inflection on do, first par.? Note I. Rule II. p. 27. Why the falling on you? Why the rising on kinsman? Note I. p. 30. Why the rising on fancy? Rule VII. p. 31.