the most ancient rocks; and it is only by such minute studies of existing nature that we can hope to interpret those older appearances. In some very ancient rocks we have impressions of rain-marks quite similar to those which occur in the alluvial mud of the deep Bay of Fundy. In those old rocks, also, and especially in the coal formation, we find surfaces netted with sun-cracks precisely like those on the dried surfaces of the modern mud flats, and faithful casts of these have been taken by the beds next deposited. A striking geological fact connected with the marshes is the presence beneath them of stumps of trees still rooted in the soil, and other indications which prove that much, if not the whole, of this marine deposit rests on what once was upland soil supporting forest trees.

The moon shines white and silent
On the mist, which, like a tide

Of some enchanted ocean,

O'er the wide marsh doth glide,
Spreading its ghost-like billows
Silently far and wide.

A vague and starry magic.

Makes all things mysteries

And lures the earth's dumb spirit
Up to longing skies;

I seem to hear dim whispers
And tremulous replies.

The fireflies o'er the meadow
In pulses come and go;
The elm-trees' heavy shadow
Weighs on the grass below;
And faintly from the distance
The dreaming cock doth crow.

All things look strange and mystic; The very bushes swell

And take wild shapes and motions, As if beneath a spell;

They seem not the same lilacs

From childhood known so well.

The snow of deepest silence
O'er everything doth fall,

So beautiful and quiet,

And yet so like a pall,

As if all life were ended

And rest were come to all.

O wild and wondrous midnight,
There is a might in thee

To make the charmed body
Almost like spirit be,

And give it some faint glimpses
Of immortality!

ADVANTAGES OF EDUCATION.

HORACE MANN.

If we contemplate the subject with the eyes of a statesman, what resources are there, in the whole domain of Nature, at all comparable to that vast influx of power which comes into the world with every incoming generation of children? Each embryo life is more wonderful than the globe it is sent to inhabit, and more glorious than the sun upon which it first opens its eyes. Each one of these millions, with a fitting education, is capable of adding something to the sum of human happiness and of subtracting something from the sum of human misery; and many great souls amongst them there are who may become instruments for turning the course of nations, as the rivers of water are turned.

It is the duty of moral and religious education to employ and administer all these capacities of good for lofty purposes of human beneficence, as a wise minister employs the resources of a great empire. "Suffer little children to come unto me,"

said the Savior, "and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of Heaven." And who shall dare say that philanthropy and religion can not make a better world than the present from beings like those in the kingdom of Heaven?

Education must be universal. It is well when the wise and the learned discover new truths, but how much better to diffuse the truths already discovered amongst the multitude! Every addition to true knowledge is an addition to human power; and while a philosopher is discovering one new truth, millions may be propagated amongst the people. Diffusion, then, rather than discovery, is the duty of our government.

With us, the qualification of voters is as important as the qualification of governors, and even comes first, in the natural order. Yet there is no Sabbath of rest in our contests about the latter, while so little is done to qualify the former. The theory of our government is, not that all men, however unfit, shall be voters, but that every man, by the power of reason and the sense of duty, shall become fit to be a voter. Education must bring the practice as nearly as possible to the theory. As the children now are, so will the sovereigns soon be. How can we expect the fabric of the government to stand if vicious materials are daily wrought into its framework?

Education must prepare our citizens to become municipal officers, intelligent jurors, honest witnesses, legislators, or competent judges of legislation fine, to fill all the manifold relations of life. For this end it must be universal. The whole land

in

must be watered by the streams of knowledge. It is not enough to have, here and there, a beautiful fountain playing in palace gardens, but let it come like the abundant fatness of the clouds upon the thirsting earth.

Finally, education alone can conduct us to that enjoyment which is, at once, best in quality and infinite in quantity. God has revealed to us-not by ambiguous signs, but by His mighty works; not in the disputable language of human invention, but by the solid substance and reality of thingswhat He holds to be valuable, and what He regards as of little account. The latter He has created sparingly, as though it were nothing worth, while the former He has poured forth with immeasurable munificence.

I suppose all the diamonds ever found could be hid under a bushel. Their quantity is little, because their value is small. But iron ore-without which mankind would always have been barbarians; without which they would now relapse into barbarism — He has strewed profusely all over the earth. Compare the scantiness of pearl with the extent of forests and coal-fields. Of one, little has been created, because it is worth little; of the others, much, because they are worth much. His fountains of naphtha, how few! but who can fathom His reservoirs of water, or measure the light and the air?

This principle pervades every realm of nature. Creation seems to have been projected upon the plan of increasing the quantity in the ratio of the intrinsic value. Emphatically is this plan manifested when we come to that part we call ourselves.