ornaments, and bringing in all that is requisite to finish the edifice and furnish the apartments. That, then, must obviously be the best system of mental education, which does most to develop and strengthen the intellectual powers, and which pours into the mind the richest streams of science and literature. 7. The object of teaching should never be, to excuse the student from thinking and reasoning; but to teach him how to think and to reason. You can never make your son, ör your pupil a scholar, by drawing his diagrams, measuring his angles, finding out his equations, and translating his Majora. No. He must do all these things for himself. is his own application that is to give him distinction. It is climbing the hill of science by dint of effort and perseverance, and not being carried up on other men's shoulders. It 8. Let every youth, therefore, early settle it in his mind, that if he would ever be any thing, he must make himself; or, in other words, must rise by personal application. Let him always try his own strength, and try it effectually, before he is allowed to call upon Hercules. Put him first upon his own invention; send him back again and again to the resources of his own mind, and make him feel that there is nothing too hard for industry and perseverance to accomplish. 9. In his early and timid flights, let him know that stronger pinions are near and ready to sustain him, but only in case of absolute necessity. When, in the rugged paths of science, difficulties which he can not surmount impede his progress, let him be helped over them; but never let him think of being led, when he has power to walk without help, nor of carrying his ore to another's furnace, when he can melt it down in his own. 10. To excuse our young men from painful mental labor, in a course of liberal education, would be about as wise, as to invent easy cradle springs for the conveyance of our children to school, or softer cushions for them to sit on at home, in order to promote their growth, and give them vigorous constitutions. By adopting such methods, in the room of those distinguished men, to whom we have been accustomed to look for sound literary and theological instruction; for wise laws, and the able administration of justice, our pulpits, and courts, and professorships, and halls of legislation, would soon be filled, or rather disgraced, by a succession of weak and rickety pretenders. QUESTIONS.-1. What is it that distinguishes man from other animals? 2. To what does it raise him? 3. What comparison is male between the mind and body as to growth? 4. In what respect are the rich and poor alike? 5. What makes the great mind? 6. With what may the native talent of a child be compared? 7. What is said in the note, of Cyprian Venuses? 8. What two things should be kept in view in every system of education? 9 How is the point illustrated? 10. What is the best system of mental education? 11. What should be the object of teaching? 12. What must the pupil do for himself? 13. When, only, should he be assisted? 14. What leading sentiment is contained in the closing paragraphs? LESSON CXXXVI. WORDS FOR SPELLING AND DEFINING. IN SIST', stand, or rest on. U NIQUE', (u neek') single in RE PRO DUCE', produce again. 1. WILLIAM SHAK' SPEARE, the illustrious dramatic poet, was born at Stratford-upon-Avon, April 23d, 1564, and died in 1616. 2. BEN JA MIN FRANKLIN, the eminent American Philosopher, was born at Boston in 1706, and died in 1790. 3. FRAN' CIS BA' CON, Baron of Verulam, was born at London in 1561. He was one of the greatest philosophers that any age or country has produced. He examined the whole circle of the sciences, and directed all his studies and efforts at a reform in the systems of human knowledge. He died in 1626. 4. SIR ISAAC NEW TON, the most renowned of philosophers, was born at Colsterworth, in Lincolnshire, Dec. 25, 1642, and died in 1727. 5. SCIPIO is the name of a celebrated family of ancient Rome The name is identified with some of the most splendid triumphs of the Roman arms. The most eminent of the family was Publius Cornelius Scipio, surnamed Africanus, who conquered Hannibal. He died B. C. 183. 6. PHIDI AS, an Athenian, and one of the greatest sculptors of antiquity: born B. C. 498, and died 431 B. C. 7. Mo' SES, the great Jewish Lawgiver. 8. DANTE A LI GHIE RI, the most sublime of Italian poets: born at Florence, Anno Domini 1265. SELF-RELIANCE. R. WALDO EMERSON. Your own gift you 1. Insist on yourself; never imitate. can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another, you have only an extemporaneous, half-possession. That which each can do best, none but his Maker can teach him. No man yet knows what it is, nor can, till that person has exhibited it. 2. Where is the master who could have taught 'Shakspeare? Where is the master who could have instructed 2Franklin, or Washington, or Bacon, or 'Newton? Every great man is a unique. The Scipionism of "Scipio is precisely that part he could not borrow. If anybody will tell ine whom the great man imitates in the original crisis, when he performs a great act, I will tell him who else than himself can teach him. Shakspeare will never be made by the study of Shakspeare. Do that which is assigned thee, and thou canst not hope too much, or dare too much. 3. There is, at this moment, there is for me an utterance bare and grand as that of the colossal chisel of "Phidias, or trowel of the Egyptians, or the pen of 'Moses, or "Dante, but different from all these. Not possibly will the soul all rich, all eloquent, with thousand cloven-tongue, deign to repeat itself; but, if I can hear what these patriarchs say, surely I can reply to them in the same pitch of voice for the ear and the tongue are two organs of one nature. Dwell up ་ན་ there in the simple and noble regions of thy life, obey thy heart, and thou shalt reproduce the Foreworld again. QUESTIONS.-1. What is said of that which each can do best? 2. Wheu only can one know what it is? 3. What is meant by the "colossal chisel of Phidias"? 4. What persons are here meant by Patriarchs? LESSON CXXXVII. WORDS FOR SPELLING AND DEFINING. AD' VERSE, opposing. ? CLOUD'-CAPT, covered with clouds. EMI NENCE, summit. OB STRUCT', block up; impede. MAG NA NIM I TY, greatness of mind. IN BITTER ING, making unhappy. ( PRO PI' TIOUS, favorable. THE WAY TO MEET ADVERSITY. HORACE, BY COWPER. 1. Receive, dear friend, the truths I teach, So shalt thou live beyond the reach 2. He that holds fast the golden mean, Feels not the wants that pinch the poor, 3. The tallest pines feel most the power The bolts, that spare the mountain's side, And spread the ruin round. 4. The well-informed philosopher 5. What if thy heaven be overcast, The god that strings the silver bow, 6. If hindrances obstruct thy way, And let thy strength be seen QUESTIONS.-1. What advice is given in the first stanza? 2. How, in the next stanza, is the poet's meaning explained? 3. What illustrations are given in the third stanza? 4. What is said of the well-informed philosopher? 5. What encouragement to the desponding is given in the fifth and sixth stanzas? 6. Which of the heathen deities is referred to in the fifth stanza? Ans. Apollo, the god of archery, prophecy, and music. 7. Who were the muses? Ans. Certain goddesses who were supposed to preside over poetry, music, the arts and sciences. LESSON CXXXVIII, "AS THY DAYS, SO SHALL THY STRENGTH BE.” L. H. SIGOURNEY. 1. When adverse winds and waves aríse, And in my heart despondence síghs; That, "As my day, my strength shall bè." |