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4. The moment Wolf entered the house, his crest fell, his tail drooped to the ground, or curled between his legs, he sneaked about with a gallows air, casting many a sidelong glance at Dame Van Winkle, and at the least flourish of a broomstick or ladle, would fly to the door with yelping precipitation.

5. Times grew worse and worse with Rip Van Winkle as years of matrimony rolled on; a tart temper never mellows with age, and a sharp tongue is the only edge tool that grows keener by constant use. For a long while he used to console himself, when driven from home, by frequenting a kind of perpetual club of the sages, philosophers, and other idle personages of the village, that held its sessions on a bench before a small inn, designated by a rubicund portrait of his majesty George the Third. Here they used to sit in the shade, of a long lazy summer's day, talk listlessly over village gossip, or tell endless sleepy stories about nothing.

6. But it would have been worth any statesman's money to have heard the profound discussions that sometimes took place, when by chance an old newspaper fell into their hands, from some passing traveller. How solemnly they would listen to the contents, as drawled out by Derrick Van Bummel, the schoolmaster, a dapper learned little man, who was not to be daunted by the most gigantic word in the dictionary; and how sagely they would deliberate upon public events some months after they had taken place.

7. The opinions of this junto were completely controlled by Nicholas Vedder, a patriarch of the village, and landlord of the inn, at the door of which he took his seat from morning till night, just moving sufficiently to avoid the sun, and keep in the shade of a large tree; so that the neighbours could tell the hour by his movements as accurately as by a sun dial. It is true, he was rarely heard to speak, but smoked his pipe incessantly. His adherents, however, (for every great man has his adherents,) perfectly understood him, and knew how to gather his opinions.

8. When any thing that was read or related displeased him, he was observed to smoke his pipe vehemently, and send forth short, frequent, and angry puffs; but when pleased, he would inhale the smoke slowly and tranquilly, and emit it in light and placid clouds, and sometimes taking the pipe from his mouth, and letting the fragrant vapour

curl about his nose, would gravely nod his head in token of perfect approbation.

9. From even this strong hold the unlucky Rip was at length routed by his termagant wife, who would suddenly break in upon the tranquillity of the assemblage, and call the members all to nought; nor was that august personage, Nicholas Vedder himself, sacred from the daring tongue of this terrible virago, who charged him outright with encouraging her husband in habits of idleness.

10. Poor Rip was at last reduced almost to despair; and his only alternative to escape from the labour of the farm and the clamour of his wife, was to take gun in hand, and stroll away into the woods. Here he would sometimes seat himself at the foot of a tree, and share the contents of his wallet with Wolf, with whom he sympathized as a fellow sufferer in persecution. "Poor Wolf,” he would say, "thy mistress leads thee a dog's life of it; but never mind, my lad, while I live thou shalt never want a friend to stand by thee!" Wolf would wag his tail, look wistfully in his master's face, and if dogs can feel pity, I verily believe he reciprocated the sentiment with all his heart. W. IRVING.

LESSON XXV.

The Planetary System.

1. Fair star of Eve, thy lucid ray
Directs my thoughts to realms on high;
Great is the theme though weak the lay,
For my heart whispers God is nigh.

2. The Sun, vicegerent of his power,
Shall rend the veil of parting night,
Salute the spheres, at early hour,
And pour a flood of life and light.

3. Seven circling planets I behold,
Their different orbits all describe;
Copernicus these wonders told,
And bade the laws of truth revive.

4. Mercury and Venus first appear,
Nearest the dazzling source of day;
Three months compose his hasty year,
In seven she treads the heavenly way.

5. Next, Earth completes her yearly course;
The Moon as satellite attends;
Attraction is the hidden force,
On which creation's law depends.

6. Then Mars is seen of fiery hue;
Jupiter's orb we next descry;
His atmospheric belts we view,
And four bright moons attract the eye.

7. Mars, soon his revolution makes,

In twice twelve months the sun surrounds;
Jupiter, greater limits takes,

And twelve long years declare his bounds.

8. With ring of light, see Saturn slow,
Pursue his path in endless space;

By seven pale moons his course we know,
And thirty years that round shall trace.

9. The Georgium Sidus next appears,
By his amazing distance known;
The lapse of more than eighty years,
In his account makes one alone.

10. Six moons are his, by Herschel shown,
Herschel, of modern times the boast;
Discovery here is all his own,
Another planetary host!

11. And lo! by astronomic scan,

Three stranger planets track the skies,
Part of that high majestic plan,
Whence those successive worlds arise.

12. Next Mars, Piazza's orb is seen,

Four years six months, complete his round;
Science shall renovated beam,

And gild Palermo's favoured ground.

13. Daughters of telescopic ray,
Pallas and Juno, smaller spheres,
Are seen near Jove's imperial way,
Tracing the heavens in destined years.

14. Comets and fixed stars I see,

- With native lustre ever shine;

How great! how good! how dreadful! He
In whom life, light, and truth combine.

15. Oh! may I better know his will,
And more implicitly obey;

Be God my friend, my father still,
From finite-to eternal day.

MANGNALL.

LESSON XXVI.

Social Worship agreeable to the impulses of our nature.

1. Sentiments of admiration, love, and joy, swell the bosom with emotions which seek for fellowship and communication. The flame, indeed, may be kindled by silent musing; but when kindled it must infallibly spread. The devout heart, penetrated with large and affecting views of the immensity of the works of God, the harmony of his laws, and the extent of his beneficence, bursts into loud and vocal expressions of praise and adoration; and from a full and overflowing sensibility, seeks to expand itself to the utmost limits of creation.

2. The mind is forcibly carried out of itself, and embracing the whole circle of animated existence, calls on all above, around, below, to help to bear the burden of its gratitude. Joy is too brilliant a thing to be confined within our own bosoms; it burnishes all nature, and with its vivid colouring, gives a kind of fictitious life to objects without sense or motion.

3. There cannot be a more striking proof of the social tendency of these feelings, than the strong propensity we have to suppose auditors when there are none. When men are wanting, we address the animal creation; and rather than have none to partake of our feelings, we find sentiment in the music of birds, the hum of insects, and the

low of kine: nay, we call on rocks and streams and forests to witness and share our emotions.

4. Hence the royal shepherd, sojourning in caves and solitary wastes, calls on the hills to rejoice, and the floods to clap their hands; and the lonely poet, wandering in the deep recesses of uncultivated nature, finds a temple in every solemn grove, and swells his chorus of praise with the winds that bow the lofty cedars.

5. And can he, who, not satisfied with the wide range of animated existence, calls for the sympathy of the inanimate creation, refuse to worship with his fellow men? Can he who bids "Nature attend," forget to "join every living soul" in the universal hymn? Shall we suppose companions in the stillness of deserts, and shall we overlook them amongst friends and townsmen? It cannot be! Social worship, for the devout heart, is not more a duty than it is a real want. MRS. BARBAUld.

LESSON XXVII.

Maternal Affection.

1. Woman's charms are certainly many and powerful. The expanding rose, just bursting into beauty, has an irresistible bewitchingness; the blooming bride, led triumphantly to the hymenial altar, awakens admiration and interest, and the blush of her cheek fills with delight; but the charm of maternity is more sublime than all these.

2. Heaven has imprinted in the mother's face something beyond this world, something which claims kindred with the skies, the angelic smile, the tender look, the waking, watchful eye, which keeps its fond vigil over her slumbering babe.

3. These are objects which neither the pencil nor the chisel can touch, which poetry fails to exalt, which the most eloquent tongue in vain would eulogize, and on which all description becomes ineffective. In the heart of man lies this lovely picture; it lives in his sympathies; it reigns in his affections; his eye looks around in vain for such another object on earth.

4. Maternity, extatic sound! so twined round our hearts, that they must cease to throb ere we forget it! 'tis our first

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