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LESSON V.—THANATOPSIS.

THANATOPSIS is a compound Greek word meaning a View of Death; or it may be translated "Reflections on Death."

[The air of pensive contemplation that pervades this piece requires the inflections, in the reading of it, to be slight and gentle, and the tone throughout to be one of tender sadness and Christian resignation.]

1. To him who in the love of nature holds

2.

3.

Communion with her visible forms, she speaks
A various' language; for his gayer' hours'
She has a voice of gladness', and a smile
And eloquence of beauty', and she glides
Into his darker musings with a mild
And healing sympathy, that steals away
Their sharpness' ere he is aware'.
When thoughts
Of the last bitter hour come like a blight
Over thy spirit', and sad images

Of the stern agony', and shroud', and pall',
And breathless darkness', and the narrow house',
Make thee to shudder and grow sick at heart',
Go forth unto the open sky, and list

To Nature's' teaching, while from all around',
Earth and her waters', and the depths of air',
Comes a still voice-

"Yet a few days, and thee,

The all-beholding sun shall see no more

In all his course'; nor yet, in the cold ground,
Where thy pale form was laid with many tears,
Nor in the embrace of ocean, shall exist

Thy image. Earth, that nourish'd thee, shall claim
Thy growth, to be resolved to earth again;
And, lost each human trace, surrendering up
Thine individual being, shalt thou go

To mix forever with the elements',

To be a brother to th' insensible rock

And to the sluggish clod', which the rude swain
Turns with his share', and treads' upon.

The oak

Shall send his roots abroad', and pierce thy mould'.

4. "Yet not to thy eternal resting-place

5.

Shalt thou retire alone, nor could'st thou wish
Couch more magnificent. Thou shalt lie down
With patriarchs of the infant world', with kings',
The powerful of the earth', the wise', the good',
Fair forms', and hoary seers of ages past',
All in one mighty sepulchre'.

"The hills,
Rock-ribbed, and ancient as the sun'; the vales,
Stretching in pensive quietness between';
The venerable woods'; rivers that move

6.

In majesty, and the complaining brooks

That make the meadows green'; and, pour'd round all',
Old ocean's gray and melancholy waste

Are but the solemn decorations all

Of the great tomb of man.

The golden sun',
The planets', all the infinite host of heaven',
Are shining on the sad abodes of death,
Through the still lapse of ages.

All that tread
The globe are but a handful to the tribes
That slumber in its bosom. Take the wings
Of morning', and the Barcan desert pierce',
Or lose thyself in the continuous woods
Where rolls the Oregon', and hears no sound
Save his own dashings'-yet the dead are there';
And millions in those solitudes, since first

The flight of years began', have laid them down
In their last sleep': the dead reign there alone.
7. So shalt thou' rest; and what if thou shalt fall
Unnoticed by the living', and no friend

Take note of thy departure'? All that breathe
Will share thy destiny. The gay will laugh
When thou art gone'; the solemn brood of care
Plod on'; and each one, as before', will chase
His favorite phantom'; yet all these shall leave
Their mirth and their employments, and shall come
And make their bed with thee. As the long train
Of ages glides away', the sons of men',

The youth in life's green spring', and he who goes
In the full strength of years', matron and maid',
The bow'd with age', the infant in the smiles
And beauty of its innocent age cut off',
Shall, one by one', be gather'd to thy side',
By those who, in their turn', shall follow them'.
8. So live that when thy summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan that moves

To the pale realms of shade', where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death',

Thou go not like the quarry-slave at night,

Scourged' to his dungeon'; but, sustain'd and soothed

By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave

Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch

About him', and lies down to pleasant dreams'.-BRYANT.

LESSON VI.-THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH.

1. UNDER a spreading chestnut-tree
The village smithy stands,

The smith, a mighty man is he,
With large and sinewy hands;

LONGFELLOW.

And the muscles of his brawny arms
Are strong as iron bands.

2. His hair is crisp, and black, and long;
His face is like the tan;

His brow is wet with honest sweat;

He earns whate'er he can,

And looks the whole world in the face,
For he owes not any man.

3. Week in, week out, from morn till night, You can hear his bellows blow;

You can hear him swing his heavy sledge
With measur'd beat and slow,
Like a sexton ringing the village bell,
When the evening sun is low.

4. And children coming home from school Look in at the open door;

They love to see the flaming forge,
And hear the bellows roar,

And catch the burning sparks that fly
Like chaff from a threshing-floor.

5. He goes, on Sunday, to the church,
And sits among his boys;

He hears the parson pray and preach,
He hears his daughter's voice,
Singing in the village choir,

And it makes his heart rejoice.

6. It sounds to him like her mother's voice, Singing in Paradise!

He needs must think of her once more,
How in the grave she lies;

And with his hard, rough hand he wipes
A tear out of his eyes.

7. Toiling, rejoicing, sorrowing,

Onward through life he goes;

Each morning sees some task begun,
Each evening sees it close,
Something attempted, something done,
Has earn'd a night's repose.

8. Thanks, thanks to thee, my worthy friend, For the lesson thou hast taught!

Thus, at the flaming forge of life,
Our fortunes must be wrought;
Thus, on its sounding anvil, shaped
Each burning deed and thought.

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1. "WELCOME to the hills and dales of Glenwild," said Mr. Maynard, as he met for the first time, after a short vacation, the Volunteer Philosophy Class, composed of Masters George, John, and Frank, and Misses Ida and Ella. "Welcome to the

pleasant shade of the spreading oak, to the lawn, the grove, the meadow, 'The River;' but especially to the LIBRARY and recitation-room, endeared by the memories of the past, and where we hope to talk over the remaining topics of philosophy. But tell me first how you have spent the vacation."

2. After a short pause, John, who was the eldest of the class, replied that he had passed the brief month about his father's mill, where he had felt the advantage of the scientific knowledge he had gained, and his need of more.

3. George had contrived a new arrangement of levers to remove stumps of trees from his father's farm, and had also

made a whippletree in such a way that a weak horse could plow with a strong and able one without having to pull more than one third as much as the other.

4. Frank had passed his vacation in the city, but not unmindful of the lessons he had learned at Glenwild. His philosophical experiments had been principally confined to rowing and sailing; and the best possible rig for his boat was the subject to which his thoughts had been chiefly directed.

5. Ida and Ella had accompanied Mr. Maynard and his family in their vacation tour to Niagara, the Lakes, the White Mountains, and the sea-side. They had seen many practical illustrations of those laws of philosophy which they had already learned; and while they were not less delighted and enraptured with the sublime and picturesque objects of their visit than the most poetical tourists, they still had many questions to ask about rainbows, clouds, waves, and winds-phenomena which Mr. M. promised to explain more fully on their return to Glenwild.

6. Mr. Maynard told them that he well remembered his promise, and that the remaining departments of Natural Philosophy related to water, winds, clouds, rainbows, thunder and lightning, and other similar phenomena. It would not, however, be possible to give them all the instruction they would need on so many and important subjects in the time devoted to philosophy; but he had made arrangements to explain many things about them in a course of lessons on Physical Geography.

7. "We have to study matter," remarked Mr. Maynard, "in its three forms or conditions. All material substances are either solids, liquids, or gases. Many substances-perhaps all—may exist in all three of these forms, under proper conditions of temperature and pressure; as steam, which may be condensed into water or frozen into ice. Even metals may be melted, and then converted into vapor.

8. "There are two conditions or aspects in which all these forms of matter should be considered, viz., in a state of rest and in motion; the former of which is treated under the head of statics, and the latter under that of dynamics. The Lessons on Philosophy in the Fourth Reader were on the statics and dynamics of solids; and our present course will treat of the corresponding laws of liquids and gases."

.9. "I would like to ask," said Frank, "if the allotment of the empire of the world, in ancient mythology, to the three brothers, Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto, had any reference to

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