There, with its waving blade of green, The sea-flag streams through the silent water, To blush like a banner bathed in slaughter; The fan-coral sweeps through the clear deep sea, Are bending like corn on the upland lea; Is sporting amid those bowers of stone, Where the myriad voices of ocean roar, The purple mullet and gold-fish rove, Through the bending twigs of the coral-grove. PERCIVAL. LESSON XV. Roar of the Sea.-ANON. VOICE of the mighty deep, Whose pinions will not light Where thou intrudest busy thought, With depths dark as thy secrets fraught. Thy mystic sounds I hear, The hollow music rings, Its notes borne wild around the world, Oh no, I cannot sleep, Thou vast and glorious sea! While thou dost thus the vigil keep Of thy great majesty, I think God's image near me is, In all its awful mysteries. Thou art a spirit, Ocean, thou! Thine arm that shakes me here, Of North, and South, and central sphere, From flaming Equinox to frigid Pole, Engulfing mountains at a sweep Or murmuring sweet round Scian isles, 'Tis midnight!-earth and air. Thou dost not tire-thou feel'st not toil Thou art not formed, like me, of soil. Why dost thou thunder so? What in thy depths profound, Age thou hast never known Thou shalt be young and free, Till God command thee give thine own, And all is dumb save thee; And haply when the sun is blood, Unchanged shall be thy mighty flood. LESSON XVI. Salmon River.-BRAINARD. 'Tis a sweet stream; and so, 't is true, are all, That undisturbed, save by the harmless brawl Of mimic rapid or slight waterfall, Pursue their way By mossy bank, and darkly waving wood, But yet there's something in its humble rank, There's much in its wild history, that teems Havoc has been upon its peaceful plain, And blood has dropped there, like the drops of rain, Filled from the reeds that grew on yonder hill, Now 't is still, And whistling ploughboys oft their runlets fill Here, say old men, the Indian Magi made Here Philip came, and Miantonimo, And asked about their fortunes long ago, As Saul to Endor, that her witch might show Old Samuel. And here the black fox roved, that howled and shook His thick tail to the hunters, by the brook Where they pursued their game, and him mistook For earthly fox; Thinking to shoot him like a shaggy bear, Such are the tales they tell. "T is hard to rhyme That few have heard of; but it is a theme And one day I may tune my rye-straw reed, LESSON XVII. Time.-MARDON. I ASKED an Aged Man, a man of cares, I asked the aged Venerable Dead, Sages who wrote, and warriors who have bled: From the cold grave a hollow murmur flowed, 'Time sowed the seed we reap in this abode.' 1 asked a Dying Sinner, ere the tide I asked the Golden Sun and Silver Spheres, I asked the Seasons in their annual round, "Tis folly's loss, and virtue's highest prize.' I asked a Spirit Lost; but, oh! the shriek It cried 'A particle, a speck, a mite Of Things inanimate my dial I I asked my Bible, and methinks it said, I asked Old Father Time himself at last; His chariot was a cloud; the viewless wind I asked the Mighty Angel, who shall stand One foot on sea, and one on solid land: By heaven,' he cried,' I swear the mystery 's o'er, Time was!" he cried; but Time shall be no more.' LESSON XVIII. Select Sentences and Paragraphs. Speak truth, or be silent. Omit no duty, commit no unkindness. Be courteous, be pitiful; in honor preferring one another. Master your passions or they will master you. Eat not to dulness; drink not to elevation. Keep the body perfectly pure, as indicative of the purity of the mind within. Waste nothing:-neither money, nor time, nor talents. Obey promptly, that you may learn to deserve to command. Without application, the finest talents are worthless; and with it the humblest are valuable. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform, without what you resolve. fail, Let every thing have its place-let every business have its order. |