wars, every incident, which serves to reconcile us to humanity, ought carefully to be preserved.

1 HIGH TREA'ŞON. The crime of at-3 CAŞ'U-AL. Happening by chance ; tempting to overthrow the governmeut.

2 EX-EC'Y-TIVE. The person or persons that execute the laws of a state.

accidental.

4 PŎL'I-TIC. Prudent; judicious.

5 AC-QUI-ESCED' IN. Assented to;

agreed to.

6 DE-MEAN'OR. Behavior.

1. THE atmosphere rises above us, with its cathedral' dome, arching towards the heavens, to which it is the most familiar synonyme and symbol. It floats around us like that grand object which the apostle John saw in his vision -"a sea of glass like unto crystal." So massive is it, that, when it begins to stir, it tosses about great ships like playthings, and sweeps cities and forests to destruction before it. And yet it is so mobile', that we live years in it before we can be persuaded that it exists at all; and the great bulk of mankind never realize the truth that they are bathed in an ocean of air. Its weight is so enormous that iron shivers before it like glass; yet a soap bubble sails through it with impunity, and the tiniest insect waves it aside with its wing.

2. It ministers lavishly to all the senses. We touch it not; but it touches us. Its warm south wind brings back color to the pale face of the invalid; its cool west winds refresh the fevered brow, and make the blood mantle in our cheeks; even its northern blasts brace into new vigor the hardy children of our rugged clime.

3. The eye is indebted to it for all the magnificence of sunrise, the full brightness of midday, the chastened"

radiance of the "gloaming," and the "clouds that cradle near the setting sun." But for it the rainbow would want its "triumphal arch," and the winds would not send their fleecy messengers on errands round the heavens. The cold weather would not shed its snow feathers on the earth, nor would drops of dew gather on the flowers. The kindly rain would never fall, nor hailstorm nor fog diversify the face of the sky. Our naked globe would turn its tanned and unshadowed forehead to the sun, and one dreary, monotonous blaze of light and heat dazzle and burn up all things.

4. Were there no atmosphere, the evening sun would in a moment set, and without warning plunge the earth in darkness. But the air keeps in her hand a sheaf of his rays, and lets them slip slowly through her fingers; so that the shadows of evening gather by degrees, and the flowers have time to bow their heads, and each creature space to find a place of rest, and nestle to repose. In the morning, the gairish' sun would at once burst from the bosom of night, and blaze above the horizon; but the air watches for his coming, and sends at first one little ray to announce his approach, and then another, and by and by a handful; and so gently draws aside the curtain of night, and slowly lets the light fall on the face of the sleeping earth, till her eyelids open, and, like man, she "goeth forth again to her labor till the evening."

I CA-THE DRṛl. A church of very 3 MŎB'ILE. Movable; light. large size.

2 SYN'O-NYME. One of two or more words having the same or a similar meaning.

4 CHAST'ENED (cha'snd). Pure.

5 GLOAM'ING. Twilight.

6 DI-VER'SI-FY. Give variety to.

7 GAIR'ISH, Gaudy; brightly shining.

[Rev. Dr. Cummings, a Catholic clergyman, was pastor of St. Stephen's Church, New York. He died January 4, 1866.]

1. ERE peace and freedom, hand in hand,
Went forth to bless this happy land,

And make it their abode,

It was the footstool of a throne;
But now no master here is known-
No king is feared but God.

2. Americans uprose in might,

And triumphed in the unequal fight,
For union made them strong;

Union! the magic battle-cry,

That hurled the tyrant from on high,
And crushed his hireling throng!

3. That word since then hath shone on high,

In starry letters to the sky

It is our country's name!

What impious hand shall rashly dare
Down from its lofty peak to tear
The banner of her fame?

4. The spirits of the heroic dead,
Who for Columbia fought and bled,
Would curse the dastard son
Who should betray their noble trust,
And madly trample in the dust,
The charter' which they won.

5 From vast Niagara's gurgling roar
To Sacramento's golden shore,

6. The God of nations, in whose name
The sacred laws obedience claim,
Will bless our fond endeavor

1 CHAR'TER.

To dwell as brethren here below;
The Union, then, come weal3, come woe,
We will preserve forever!

A written instrument, | 2 BLEND'ED. Mingled. bestowing rights or privileges.

8 WEAL. Happiness; prosperity.

XLIV. THE BURIAL OF MOSES.

["And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day." - Deut. xxxiv. 6.]

1. By Nebo's lonely mountain,

On this side Jordan's wave,
In a vale in the land of Moab,
There lies a lonely grave.
And no man dug that sepulchre,
And no man saw it e'er;

For the angels of God upturned the sod,

And laid the dead man there.

2. That was the grandest funeral
That ever passed on earth;

But no man heard the trampling,
Or saw the train go forth.
Noiselessly as the daylight

Comes when the night is done,

And the crimson streak on ocean's cheek
Grows into the great sun, -

3. Noiselessly as the spring time

Her crown of verdure weaves,
And all the trees on all the hills
Open their thousand leaves,-
So, without sound of music

Or voice of them that wept,
Silently down from the mountain crown
The great procession swept.

4. Perchance the bald old eagle,
On gray Bethpeor's height,
Out of his rocky eyry

Looked on the wondrous sight.
Perchance the lion stalking',

Still shuns that hallowed spot,
For beast and bird have seen and heard
That which man knoweth not.

5. But when the warrior dieth, His comrades in the war,

With arms reversed and muffled drum,

Follow the funeral car.

They show the banners taken,

They tell his battles won,

And after him lead his masterless steed,
While peals the minute gun.

6. Amid the noblest of the land

Men lay the sage to rest,

And give the bard an honored place
With costly marble dressed.

In the great minster transept,