sources that were otherwise sealed books to us; and indeed we must do something of this sort if we would be really and truly educated.

LXXIV.-LONGING.

1. Of all the myriad moods of mind

That through the soul come thronging,
Which one was e'er so dear, so kind,
So beautiful, as longing?

The thing we long for, that we are,
For one transcendent moment,
Before the present, poor and bare,
Can make its sneering comment.

2. Still, through our paltry stir and strife,
Grows down our wished ideal;
And longing molds in clay what life
Carves in the marble real;

To let the new life in we know

Desire must ope the portal;
Perhaps the longing to be so
Helps make the soul immortal.

3. Longing is God's fresh heavenward will,
With our poor earthward striving;

We quench it that we may be still
Content with merely living;

But, would we learn the heart's full scope,
Which we are hourly wronging,

Our lives must climb from hope to hope,
And realize our longing.

4. Ah! let us hope that to our praise
Good God not only reckons

The moments when we tread His ways,
But when the spirit beckons;

That some slight good is also wrought
Beyond self-satisfaction,

When we are simply good in thought,
Howe'er we fail in action.

JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.

LXXV.—APPETITE.

1. The young man walks in the midst of temptation to appetite, the improper indulgence of which is in danger of proving his ruin. Health, longevity and virtue depend on his resisting these temptations. The providence of God is no more responsible, because a man by improper indulgence becomes subject to disease, than for the picking of his pockets. For a young man to injure his health, is to waste his patrimony and destroy his capacity for virtuous deeds.

2. Should man love God, he would have more strength for the exercise of it with a sound body. Not only the amount, but the quality, of man's labor depends on his health. Not only lying lips, but a dyspeptic stomach, is an abomination to the Lord. The productions of the poet, the man of science, or the orator, must be affected by his health. The man who neglects to control his appetites, is to himself what a state of barbarism is to society - the brutish part predominates. He is to himself what Nicholas is to Hungary.

3. Men buy pains, and the purveyor and the marketman bring home disease. Our pious ancestors used to bury the suicide where four roads met; yet every gentleman or lady who lays the foundation of disease with turtle soup or lobster salad, as really commits suicide as if he used the rope or the pistol; and were the old law revived, how many who are now honored with a resting

place at Auburn would be found on the cross-roads ! Is it nothing amazing that a man, invited to a repast worthy of the gods, should stop to feed on garbage; or, when called to partake of the Circean cup, should stop to guzzle with swine?

4. If young men imagine that the gratification of appetite is the great source of enjoyment, they will find this in the highest degree with industry and temperance. The epicure, who sees it in a dinner which costs five dollars, will find less enjoyment of appetite than the laborer who dines on a shilling. If the devotee of appetite desires its highest gratification, he must not send for buffalo tongues, but climb a mountain or swing an ax.

5. Without health there is no delicacy that can provoke an appetite. Whoever destroys his health, turns the most delicious viands into ipecac and aloes. The man that is physically wicked does not live out half his days, and he is not half alive while he does live. However gracious God may be with the heart, He never pardons the stomach.

6. Let a young man pursue a course of temperance, sobriety and industry, and he may retain his vigor till three-score years and ten, with his cup of enjoyment full, and depart painlessly: as the candle burns out in its socket, he will expire. But look at the opposite. When a man suffers his appetite to control him, he turns his dwelling into a lazar-house, whether he lives in a hovel, clothed in rags, or in the splendid mansion and gorgeous clothing of the upper ten.

7. Let every young man look on this picture and on that, and tell which he will choose. Society despises the wretch who debases himself, and treats him as the wild horses do their intractable members get him inside of a ring, and kick him to death.

HORACE MANN.

LXXVI.-WATER-SPOUTS.

1. These wonderful appearances are caused by the action of currents of wind meeting in the atmosphere from different quarters. They are sometimes seen on land, but much more frequently at sea, where they are very dangerous visitors. I will try to give you some idea of what they are. I dare say you have often noticed little eddies of wind whirling up dust and leaves, or any light substances which happened to be in the way: when these occur on a larger scale, they are called whirlwinds.

2. Now if a cloud happens to be exactly in the point where two such furious currents of wind meet, it is turned round and round by them with great speed, and is condensed into the form of a cone. This whirling motion drives from the center of the cloud all the particles contained in it, producing what is called a vacuum, or empty space, into which the water, or any thing else lying beneath it, has an irresistible tendency to rush.

3. Underneath the dense impending cloud the sea becomes violently agitated, and the waves dart rapidly towards the center of the troubled mass of water. On reaching it they disperse in vapor and rise whirling in a spiral direction towards the cloud. The descending and ascending columns unite. The whole presenting the appearance of a hollow cylinder, or a tube of glass empty within.

4. This Malte Brun tells us; and he further adds: "It glides over the sea without any wind being felt; indeed several have been seen at once, pursuing different directions. When the cloud and the marine base of the waterspout move with equal velocity, the lower cone is often seen to incline sideways, or even to bend, and finally burst in pieces. A noise is then heard like the noise of a cataract falling in a deep valley. Lightning frequently

issues from the very bosom of the water-spout, particularly when it breaks; but no thunder is ever heard."

5. Sailors, to prevent the danger which would arise from coming in contact with one of these tremendous columns, discharge a cannon into it. The ball passing through it breaks the watery cylinder and causes it to burst, just as a touch causes your beautiful soap-bubble to vanish and turn to water again.

LXXVII.-SOLITUDE.

Verses imagined to have been written by Alexander Selkirk during his solitary abode on the Island of Juan Fernandez.

1. I am monarch of all I survey,

My right there is none to dispute;
From the center all 'round to the sea,
I am lord of the fowl and the brute.
O Solitude! where are the charms

That sages have seen in thy face?
Better dwell in the midst of alarms
Than reign in this horrible place.

2. I am out of humanity's reach;

I must finish my journey alone;
Never hear the sweet music of speech;
I start at the sound of my own.
The beasts that roam over the plain
My form with indifference see;
They are so unacquainted with man,
Their tameness is shocking to me.

3 Society, friendship, and love,

Divinely bestowed upon man,
O, had I the wings of a dove,

How soon would I taste you again!