Through weary life this lesson learn, 7. "Many and sharp the numerous ills More pointed still we make ourselves Makes countless thousands mourn. 8. "See yonder poor, o'erlabored wight, and vile, So abject, mean, Who begs a brother of the earth The poor petition spurn, 9. "If I'm designed yon lordling's slave,- Or why has man the will and power 10. Yet let not this too much, my son, The poor, oppresséd, honest man, Had never, sure, been born, Had there not been some recompense To comfort those that mourn. 11. "O death! the poor man's dearest friend,-The kindest and the best! Welcome the hour my aged limbs The great, the wealthy, fear thy blow, That, weary-laden, mourn!" QUESTIONS.-1. Whom did the writer meet on the banks of Ayr? 2 In what part of Scotland is the river Ayr? 3. What questions is the old man represented as asking? 4. What had twice forty returns of the sun convinced him of? 5. What does he say of mar in early life? 6. What do age and poverty combine to show? What is said of the favorites of fate? 8. What do we make to our selves? 9. What does "man's inhumanity to man" do? 10 What petition of the poor man is often rejected with scorn? 11. What questions are asked in the 9th stanza? 12. What advice is given in the 10th stanza? 13. What is termed the poor man's dearest friend? LESSON CXXVI. WORDS FOR SPELLING AND DEFINING. MILL ION AIRE', one worth a CIR CU LATE, move round. UN DIS TRACT ED, undisturbed. PRO MIS' CU OUs, mingled; varied. POP' U LACE, people; multitude. DE VEL' OP, unfold; bring out. TUR MOIL, uproar; confusion. The following Debate is chiefly designed for school exhibitions and examinations. It may, on such occasions, be either read or spoken the President and the several speakers being duly arranged for the purpose. It will not only form an agreeable exercise for pupils, but serve well, also, the purpose of awakening and sustaining the interest of an audience. It will, withal, be found, not a little instructive, especially the speech of the President; which forcibly teaches the leading requisites of an orderly discussion. DEBATE FROM M'ELLIGOTT'S AMERICAN DEBATER. Which is preferable, city or country life? FIRST SPEAKER. 1. MR. PRESIDENT:-The question which we are now about to discuss," Which is preferable, city or country life?"-though apparently simple, is far from being devoid of difficulties. I have no hesitation, however, in declaring my preference for the country; though I deeply regret, that the limits, to which I am confined, on the present occasion, utterly forbid any attempt to assign all, or any considerable part of my reasons for that preference. I must, indeed, .content myself, for the present, with the statement of a single argument. It will be found, I hope, so impressive, because so truthful, that conviction must follow in its train. 2. I refer here to the argument derived from what I shall venture to call the moral influence of rural scenes. The country, sir, is the natural abode of man. There he is in constant communion with nature. There, undistracted by the tumults of trade, unenslaved by the tyranny of fashion, unpolluted by the vices of a promiscuous populace, he walks and works from day to day, amid mountains and valleys, meadows green, and cultivated fields, and all else that can inspire gratitude and devotion to the Giver of all good. 3. There man has frequent opportunities, nay, invitations, so to speak, to look into his own heart,-to commune with his own spirit,-to develop and strengthen his native powers; in short, to train and discipline his whole physical, moral, and intellectual nature. If would allow a man, unfettered, to become what he is capable of becoming, you must not throw him into the turmoil and bustle of towns and cities. you 4. There he will, perchance, become what is called a "business man ;" there he may become a millionaire; there he may circulate freely in the gay assemblies of fashion; but there he can not easily realize the true dignity of manhood. There is something in the very quiet and solitude of the country, which wonderfully elicits thought, develops character, and makes the man. Well has the poet said : 5. "Where is the wise, or the learned, or the good that sought not solitude for thinking, And from seclusion's secret vale brought forth his precious fruits? Forests of Aricia, your deep shade mellowed Numa's wisdom; Peaceful gardens of Vaucluse, ye nourished Petrarch's love; Solitude made a Cincinnatus, ripening the hero and the patriot; And taught De Stael self-knowledge, even in the damp Bastile; 6. It fostered the piety of Jerome, matured the labors of Augustine; And gave imperial Charles religion for ambition; That which Scipio praised, that which Alfred practiced, Which fired Demosthenes to eloquence, and fed the mind of Milton, Which quickened zeal, nurtured genius, found out the secret things of science, Helped repentance, shamed folly, and comforted the good with peace, By all men just and wise, by all things pure and perfect, How truly, Solitude, art thou the fostering nurse of greatness !" LESSON CXXVII. WORDS FOR SPELLING AND DEFINING. DIS COURTE Sy, incivility. UN CON TAM'INA TED, unpolluted. MOR BID, diseased. SU FER HUMAN, above mankind. į FAL LA CIOUS, deceptive. DEBATE. (CONTINUED.) Which is preferable, city or country life? SECOND SPEAKER. 1. MR. PRESIDENT:-The speech just delivered, (I mean no discourtesy,) is certainly not without merit, if considered merely as a picture of fancy. But, sir, fancy is not fact; and is, therefore, a very unfit material out of which to construct an argument. He says, that the dweller in the country is "in constant communion with nature": discerning, as it seems to me, no difference between contact and communion. 2. Country people are, indeed, in perpetual contact with those natural objects which often awaken thought and foster devotion; but to infer from this, that they are actually always in sweet and sober communion with the beauties and sublimities of the scenery, amid which they dwell, is fanciful in the highest degree. 3. In reflecting upon rural life, we are very apt to fix our thoughts exclusively on grand and imposing features in Dature, on what is fair and beautiful, and fitted to excite pleasurable emotions, and to shut our eyes against its sterner and more repulsive aspects. Our imagination draws lively landscapes, and peoples them with souls of almost superhuman purity and innocence. It withdraws from the scene the digging and the delving, the bogs, the marshes, and all the nameless annoyances and hardships that constitute the stern realities of country life. 4. It calls into being shepherds and shepherdesses, nay, rustics of every name and occupation, all gentle, all lovely, all kind, all uncontaminated by contact with vicious associations, and breathing a perfectly pure and healthy moral atmosphere. It, moreover, endows these people with peculiar tendencies to contemplation, makes them specially susceptible to the impressions of grand and noble scenes, and almost altogether free from the common propensities and waywardness of humanity. 5. Mr. President, such views of country life may befit those who supply the world with what is called Pastoral Poetry; they may do to beguile a leisure hour, or feed a morbid imagination; but, depend upon it, they have no real existence. Let any man mingle freely with country people; let him examine their habits, manners, their common, everyday life and conversation; and he will not he long in dis |