Dear sons of my country, her pride, and her hope, catch the spirit of this Spartan promise. If you cannot surpass the great and the good, who have gone before you, study their excellences, walk in their footsteps, and God give you grace to fill their places well, when they are mouldering in dust.

Remember that knowledge of the right kind, though it inspires with noble motives, leads also to humility. The fully ripened ear of wheat, bends downward. It is the little blade, that holds itself up so pertly.

True learning and goodness bow the soul in adoration, before a Being of perfect wisdom. The higher you ascend in knowledge, said a philosopher, the wider is the region you see beyond you ;-Alps upon Alps, which no human intellect has surmounted.

Let me address to you, the words of Alcuin, who wrote in England, more than a thousand years ago: "Oh ye, who enjoy the youthful age, so fitted for your lessons,-Learn!-Be docile!Acquire the conduct and manners so beautiful in the young.

"Let your early days be adorned with the study of the virtues, that your age may shine in honour. For remember, that the passing hour, like the receding wave, never returns again.”

THE OLD SCHOOL HOUSE.

ONCE, in travelling, I saw a very old building. It appeared to be falling into ruins. No smoke issued from its broken chimney. No foot crossed its grass-grown threshold. The casements were

gone, and through their vacant places, the winds whistled, and the rains fell.

I asked, "what is this building, which is thus suffered to decay?" They answered, "a school house. But a part of its materials have been used to build a better one, in a more convenient spot, for the village children."

So I paused there, a little time, to meditate. And I said to myself, what a variety of scenes may have past, within these tottering walls. Where are the teachers, who in years gone by, sat in the chair of state, and ruled, and gave instruction ?

In yonder corner, perhaps, was a low bench, for the little ones conning their alphabet. Those little ones have grown up,-grown gray,-and died. The babes whom they rocked in the cradle, have shown the same tenderness to their own babes. "One generation passeth away and another cometh."

Beneath those windows, where that trim old sycamore looked in, with all its show of green leaves, waving and gossipping in the breeze of summer, I imagine a row of young girls, with their sunny locks, knitting, sewing, or listening with serious faces, while the mistress taught them what it was necessary for them to know, when they became women.

The snows of winter seem to spread around. The frozen pond in the rear of the school-house, is covered with boys. The clock strikes nine. They hasten to their school. The narrow entry rings with the jingle of their skates, as they throw them down. One or two, who love play better than study, approach with more lingering steps.

Methinks, I see their ruddy faces, as they take their seats. The master raises a stern eye at their clamour, or stifled laughter, and commands them to write their copies, or attend to their But the treatise of arithmetic is thumbed, and the grammar lesson curled into dog's ears, by those whose roving thoughts are among their winter sports.

sums.

Then there was the long sigh of indolence, and the tears of such as were punished. And there was impatience there, and ambition, and hope, and the kindlings of intellect, and the delights of knowledge. The master endeavors to rule each for their good, as the wise magistrate restrains the people by laws.

I fancy that I behold that teacher walking homeward, weary and thoughtful when the day was done. He felt sadness for those who did not improve, and over those who did, he rejoiced with a peculiar love.

Perhaps, he repeated mournfully the words of the prophet, "I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought." And a voice from heaven, answered in his heart, "Yet surely thy judgment is with the Lord, and thy work with thy God."

Old school-house!-could'st thou speak, I doubt not thou wouldest tell me, that eminent men have been nurtured in thee; ingenious mechanics, on whom the comfort of the community depends; athletic farmers, laying the forest low, and forcing earth to yield her increase; physicians whom the sick sufferer blesses; eloquent lawyers, wise statesmen, holy priests, who interpret the word of the Almighty.

I wish that the school-houses in our country, were more commodious and tasteful in their construction, more spacious, and airy, surrounded with trees, or beautified with shrubbery. When some of the boys, who read this book, become men, perhaps they will build such a school-house, and present it to the children of their town.

But it is not so important in what kind of a building we go to school, as what we learn, and how we behave while we are there. Very good

things have been learned, in poor, and rude edifices.

There was once, a benevolent man, who went in a ship, to the great island, or continent of New-Holland. He found multitudes of children, growing up, neglected and ignorant. He wished much to have them taught. But there was no school-house.

So he collected them under a spreading tree, whose branches could shelter at least one hundred, from the heat of the sun. He hung cards, with painted lessons among the boughs. And there, he taught the poor colonists, to read, and to spell, and to sing.

There are very beautiful birds in that country. Many of them had nests in this large tree. So, there they were, flying about, and tending their young, while the children were learning below; and the chirping of the new-fledg'd birds, and the warbling of their parents, and the busy voices of the children, learning to be good, made sweet music in the heart of that benevolent man. Did they not ascend, and mingle with the praises of angels, around the Throne?