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LESSON XII.

1. EN-SHRINED', preserved, cherished. 2. PER-CEPTION; discernment. [fest. 3. ALL-PER-VA'DING, always mani5. MO-MENT'OUS-NESS, importance.

6. MAR'-VEL-OUS-LY, wonderfully. 6. CON-SPIC'U-OUS, easy to be seen 7. IM-MÜT'A-BLE, unchangeable. 11. AS-SAS'SIN, a secret murderer.

Articulate properly dence in con'fi-dence, shr in en-shrined', ments in judg'

ments.

PRESIDENT LINCOLN. - GURLEY.*

1. The people confided in the late lamented President with a full and a loving confidence. Probably no man since the days of Washington was ever so deeply and firmly enshrined in the very hearts of the people as Abraham Lincoln. Nor was it a mistaken confidence and love. He deserved it well, and deserved it all. He merited it by his character, by his acts, and by the whole tenor and tone and spirit of his life.

2. He was simple and sincere, plain and honest, truthful and just, benevolent and kind. His perceptions were quick and clear; his judgments were calm and accurate; and his purposes were good and pure beyond a question. Always and everywhere he aimed and endeavored to be right and to do right.

3. His integrity was thorough, all-pervading, all-controlling, and incorruptible. It shed a clear and crowning luster upon all his other excellences of mind and heart, and recommended him to his fellow-citizens as the man, who, in a time of unex. ampled peril, when the very life of the nation was at stake, should be chosen to occupy in the country, and for the country, its highest post of power and responsibility.

4. How wisely and well, how purely and faithfully, how firmly and steadily, how justly and successfully, he did occupy that post, and meet its grave demands, in circumstances of surpassing trial and difficulty, is known to you all,- known to the country and the world. He comprehended from the first the perils to which treason had exposed the freest and best government on the earth, the vast interests of liberty and humanity that were to be saved or lost forever in the urgent impending conflict.

* Gurley, (Rev. Dr. P. D.,) a distinguished clergyman of Washington. D. C. President Lincoln was assassinated at. Washington, April 14, 1865; and this lesson is an extract from his funeral sermon.

5. He rose to the dignity and momentousness of the occasion, saw his duty as the Chief Magistrate of a great and imperiled people; and he determined to do his duty, and his whole duty, seeking the guidance and leaning upon the arm of his Heavenly Father. Yes, he leaned upon His arm. He recognized and received the truth, that "the Kingdom is the Lord's, and He is the Governor among the nations."

6. He remembered that God is in history; and he felt that nowhere had His hand and His mercy been so marvelously conspicuous as in the history of this nation. He hoped and he prayed that that same hand would continue to guide us, and that same mercy continue to abound to us in the time of our greatest need. I speak what I know, and testify what I have often heard him say, when I affirm that that guidance and mercy were the props on which he habitually leaned; that they were the best hope he had for himself and for his country.

7. Never shall I forget the emphasis and the deep emotion with which he said to a company of clergymen and others, who called to pay him their respects in the darkest day of our civil conflict: "Gentlemen, my hope of success, in this great and terrible struggle, rests on that immutable foundation, the justice and goodness of God; and, when events are very threatening, and prospects very dark, I still hope, that, in some way which man can not see, all will be well in the end; because our cause is just, and God is on our side." Such was his sublime and holy faith; and it made him valiant for the right, for the cause of God and humanity.

8. This was his noblest virtue, his grandest principle, the secret, alike of his strength, his patience, and his success. This, it seems to me, after being near him steadily, and with him often, for more than four years, is the principle by which, more than by any other, he "being dead yet speaketh." Yes, by his steady, enduring confidence in God, and in the complete ultimate success of the cause of God, which is the cause of humanity, more than in any other way, does he now speak to us, and to the nation he loved and served so well.

9. By this he speaks to his successor in office, and charges

him to have faith in God. By this he speaks to the members of his cabinet; and he charges them to have faith in God. By this he speaks to all who occupy positions of influence and authority in our land; and he charges them all to have faith in God. By this he speaks to this great people, as they weep for him with a bitter wailing, and refuse to be comforted; and he charges them to have faith in God. And by this he will speak through the ages, and to all rulers and peoples in every land; and his message to them will be, Cling to liberty and right; battle for them; bleed for them; die for them if need be; and have confidence in God.

10. Oh that the voice of this testimony may siuk down into our hearts to-day, and every day, and into the heart of the nation, and exert its appropriate influence upon our feelings, our faith, and our devotion to the cause, now dearer to us than ever before, because consecrated by the blood of its most conspicuous defender, its wisest and most fondly trusted friend!

11. Abraham Lincoln is dead. But the memory of his virtues, of his wise and patriotic counsels and labors, of his calm and steady faith in God, lives, and will be a power for good in the country quite down to the end of time. He is dead. But the cause he so ardently loved, so ably and faithfully represented and defended, not for himself only, not for us only, but for all people, in all coming generations till time shall be no more, that cause survives his fall, and will survive it; and the language of God's united providences is telling us, that, though the friends of liberty may die, liberty itself is immortal. There is no assassin strong enough, and no weapon deadly enough, to quench its inextinguishable life, or arrest its onward march to the conquest and empire of the world.

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12. Our beloved President is slain; but our beloved country is saved; and so tears of gratitude mingle with those of sorrow. God be praised that our fallen chief lived long enough to see the day dawn, and the day-star of joy and peace arise upon the nation. He saw it, and he was glad. Alas, alas! he only saw the dawn. When the sun has risen full-orbed and glorious, and a happy, re-united people are rejoicing in its light, it will

shine upon his grave; but that grave will be a precious and a consecrated spot. The friends of Liberty and of the Union will repair to it in years and ages to come, to pronounce the memory of its occupant blessed; and, gathering from his very ashes, and from the rehearsal of his deeds and virtues, fresh incentives to patriotism, they will there renew their vows of fidelity to their country and their God.

QUESTIONS. Who is Dr. Gurley? On what occasion did he deliver the ser. mon from which this lesson is an extract? 1-4. What characteristics of Pres. Lincoln are here enumerated? 5-9. What is said of him as a religious man. 10-12. What, of his example and the cause for which he labored and died?

LESSON XIII.}}

1. EM-BAS'SA-DORS, persons sent on public business from one government to another.

1. TOASTS, sentiments offered at a banquet. 2. FERTIL-IZE, to enrich, to make fruitful. 2. RE-MOT EST, most distant.

4. DIG'NI-FI-ED, exalted, noble.

4. SIM-PLICITY, plainness of manner.

5. LEX-I-COG'RA-PHER, the author of a dictionary.

14. RE-JOIN ED, answered to the reply.
14. VEN ER-A-BLE, deserving respect.
15. RE-CURRED, returned in thought.
16. AN'CIENTS, those living in former ages.
17. AP-PAR'ENT-LY, in appearance only.
18. EC'STA-SY, excessive joy, rapture.
18 AP-PLAUSE', a shout of approbation.
19. MASS'IVE, heavy, weighty.

19. MAG-NIF'I-CENT, grand in appearance.
24. SPLEN'DID-LY, with force and beauty.

ERRORS. - Fol'ler-ing for follow-ing; toas for toasts; stid'y for stead'y; stan still for stand still; ges'ters for gest'ures.

AMUSING ANECDOTES.. ARVINE'S CYCLOPÆDIA.

[Before reading the following anecdotes, see Rules 1 and 3, pages 109 and 114, and also the rule for reading rhetorical dialogue.]

FRANKLIN'S TOAST.

1. LONG after Washington's judicious and intrepid conduct in respect to the French and English had made his name familiar to all Europe, Dr. Franklin chanced to dine with the English and French embassadors, when the following toasts were drank.

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2. The British embassador rising said: " England, — the sun whose bright beams enlighten and fertilize the remotest corners of the earth."

3. The French embassador, glowing with national pride, but too polite to dispute the previous toast, drank: "France,the moon whose mild, steady, and cheering rays are the delight of all nations, consoling them in darkness, and making their dreariness beautiful."

4. Dr. Franklin then arose, and, with his usual dignified simplicity, said: "George Washington, the Joshua* who commanded the sun and moon to stand still, and they obeyed him."

NOAH WEBSTER AND THE COUNTRY BOY.

5. Some years ago, the great lexicographer was passing through the eastern part of New York, on horseback, to visit a brother who lived in Madison County.

6. When he had reached the town where his brother resided, he met a boy going to school; and the following conversation passed between them.

7. "My son," said the learned Doctor, "do you know where Mr. Webster lives?"

8. "Yes, sir; and are you a relation of his?”

9. "Yes."

10. "Well," continued the boy, "you are not a brother of his, are you?"

11. "Yes."

12. "Well, it can't any way be the man that made the Spelling-book, can it?"

13. "Yes.".

14. "O now!" rejoined the boy, as he gazed with awestruck wonder upon the venerable Doctor, "that-that's a fish-story."

15. The old gentleman often recurred to this incident as one of the most pleasing reminiscences of a long journey on horseback.

* Josh'u-a, the son of Nun, was a leader and commander of the children of Israel, For the incident here alluded to, see the Book of Joshua, tenth chapter.

† Noah Web'ster, LL. D., was the author of various elementary school-books, and a complete dictionary of the English language, on which he labored more than twenty years before its publication. He was born in West Hartford, Ct., October 16, 1758; and he died at New Haven, Ct., May 28, 1843, in the 84th year of his age

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