READING LESSONS. TO MY YOUNG READERS. 1. HAVING laid aside, my friends, the old familiar pages of the Gradual Reader, let us together, hand in hand, take another step onward and upward. Let me present you new subjects to interest and in struct you. 2. I bring you flowers, culled from forest and glade, in the wide domain of intellect, to blend their bright hues, and mingle their sweet perfume, with the simple buds and blossoms of my own garden. 3. I bring you the rich and varied fruits of many a mental clime, gathered from tropic plains, or ripened on the sunny hill sides of a colder zone. 4. I bring you scenes from mountain top and vale, Nature's own offerings to her children. For it is the especial privilege of the young, to revel in her charms, and to love her with all the heart in sunshine and in storm. 5. God has made the world an Eden for their enjoyment, and he has clothed the universe with beauty for their happiness. 6. He has covered the earth with trees for shade and for shelter to his creatures. He has carpeted it with flowers to rejoice the eye, and has breathed perfume on the plants to gladden the path of childhood. 17. All created things speak of the goodness of God, and hymn forth their Maker's praise. 8. The birds send forth glad voices, and the fra grant air comes laden with their songs. 9. The rivulet sings as it leaps to the swelling stream, and old ocean with its roar welcomes the great rivers to their home. 10. Day breaks in glory on the earth-the morning call to prayer and praise. Night brings forth the stars, burning messengers from the eternal throne, to summon the thoughts and affections up to the great God who created and careth for all. 11. Children, heed this summons. Join your voices with the many-voiced wind that bears the whisperings of all created things. 12. Keep your minds fresh as the opening bud, your hearts pure as the gushing fountain, your thoughts calm as the unrippled lake, your affections gentle as the gliding stream. 13. "Look through nature up to nature's God." Then will the offerings of your hearts, made in the love of all created things, be accepted on the altars of a temple not made with hands. 14. Since the great purpose of life is to advance in wisdom and holiness, that you may secure this progress, cultivate with diligence the talents that are yours. "Lose no moment but in purchase of its worth." 15. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself." These "primal duties shine aloft like stars." 16. Do right, because it is right, and you will truly find that "Wisdom's ways are pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." 17. "One of the early fathers of New England, when his son feared, on account of the Indians and wild beasts, to go through a certain piece of woods, on some important errand, gave him this advice: 11 18. "Never fear to do your duty. No matter where it calls you, no matter how great the danger, never be afraid to do your duty. But if you are tempted to do a mean thing, or a wrong thing, be the greatest coward in the world." 19. "Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding." MORAL AND SELECT SENTENCES. 1. THE days that are past are gone forever; those which are to come may not come to us; the present time only is ours; let us, therefore, use our best exertions to improve it.. 2. Fix on that course of life which is the most excellent, and habit will render it the most delightful. 3. It is the weakness of a little mind, to be charmed and dazzled by the appearance of every thing that sparkles. 4. Gold cannot purchase life, nor can diamonds bring back the moments we have lost; it becomes us, therefore, to employ those that remain in acts of virtue. He who neglects the present moment, throws away all that he possesses. 5. When our bed is straw, we sleep in safety; but when we lie down on roses, we must beware of the thorns. 6. By taking revenge for an injury, a man is only even with his enemy; by passing it over, he is above him. 7. A small injury done to another is a great injury jury done to yourself. 8. A liar begins with making falsehood appear like truth, and ends with making truth appear like falsehood. 9. Truth is always consistent with itself, and needs nothing to help it out. It is always at hand, and sits upon our lips, and is ready to drop out before we are aware; whereas a lie is burdensome, and compels us to invent other lies, to make it pass for truth. 10. We should never be ashamed to own that we have done wrong; for it is but saying, in other words, that we are wiser to-day than we were yesterday. 11. It often happens, that they are the best persons whose characters have been most injured by slanderers; as we commonly find. that the fruit which the birds have been pecking at is the sweetest. 12. Diligence, industry, and submission to advice are material duties of the young. 13. Almost every difficulty may be overcome by industry and perseverance. 14. Industry is the parent of every excellence, but idleness is the root of all evil. 15. Nothing is more engaging than a pleasing address and graceful conversation. 16. Complaisance may be styled civility united with a desire of pleasing; it renders a superior amiable, an equal agreeable, and an inferior acceptable. 17. Excess of ceremony shows want of breeding that civility is best which is free from all superfluous formality. 18. He that is truly polite knows how to contradict with respect, and to please without adulation. 19. Some men would be thought to do great things, who are but tools and instruments; like the fool who fancied he played upon the organ, when he only blew the bellows. 20. It happens to men of learning, as to ears of wheat- they shoot up and raise their heads high while they are empty, but when full and swelled with grain, they begin to droop. 21. The richest endowments are temperance, prudence, and fortitude. 22. The greater the difficulty, the more glory there is in surmounting it; skilful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests. 23. To bear provocation is evidence of great wisdom, and to forgive it is proof of a great mind. SELECTIONS IN POETRY. 1. THE bliss of man (could pride that blessing find) Is, not to act or think beyond mankind. 2. O, the dark days of vanity! while here How tasteless! and how terrible when gone! Gone? they ne'er go: when past, they haunt us still. 3. What nothing earthly gives, or can destroy, The soul's calm sunshine, and the heartfelt joy, Is virtue's prize. 4. Two principles in human nature reign Self-love to urge, and reason to restrain: |