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freely; but not now, for thee seems to be out of thy right senses."

"HAVE you read my key to the Romans ?"—said Dr. Taylor, of Norwich, to Mr. Newton. “I have turned it over."-" You have turned it over? And is this the treatment a book must meet with which has cost me many years of hard study? Must I be told, at last, that you have 'turned it over,' and then thrown it aside? You ought to have read it carefully and weighed deliberately what comes forward on so serious a subject."" Hold! You have cut me out full employment, if my life were to be as long as Methuselah's. I 8 have somewhat else to do in the short day allotted me, than to read whatever any one may think it his duty to write. When I read, I wish to read to good purpose; and there are some books, which contradict on the very face of them what appear to me to be first principles. You surely will not say I am bound to read such books. If a man tells me he has a very elaborate argument to prove that two and two make five, I have something else to do than to attend to this argument. If I find the first mouthful of meat which I take from a fine-looking joint on my table is tainted, I need not eat through it to be convinced I ought to send it away."Cecil.

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LESSON CXXI.

On the use of Tobacco.-SULLIVAN.

ALL Consumers of tobacco know two things. 1. That they came to the use of it through painful struggles. 2. That they cannot break the chain of habit, without struggles still more painful. How does it happen, then, that tobacco is so commonly used? Its use, and that of opium, which is the same thing in a more hateful form, began with savages, Turks, and Asiatics, to fill that aching void, which belongs to all idle and uncultivated minds. It has found its way, unhappily, to those who need no relief from such cause; but who might if

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2 they would, fill up every moment, innocently, and profitably. It has become so general, from ignorance and thoughtlessness. A still more efficient cause is, the propensity to imitation, and the natural anticipation of approaching stages in life. A boy wants to be a man. He likes to do those things which men do. Men use tobacco, therefore boys must use it; and boys soon find themselves entrapped in a habit, and act as all other persons do who are so entrapped.

Is there any remedy for this evil? Perhaps, there 3 is none but this, not to begin. And why should one begin? Suppose all who use it were asked, if you had never begun, would you, knowing what you do, have had a pleasanter life without it, than you have had with it? One cannot know what the general answer would be; but every one must know this, that from some persons the answer would be, that tobacco has been to me the most distressing evil; I bitterly lament that I ever began this truly afflictive practice; but it has become. a part of my existence; no operation of my will can 4 disengage me from it. Some might answer,doubtingly, and others would not ascribe to this use the evils which they have suffered from it. Why should a young person take upon himself a want voluntarily, which may lead to painful consequences, and the gratification of which is not only not called for by nature, but which is most expressly condemned by this high authority? Some reasons have been given why it is so condemned. There are many others. Those already spoken of, and many others. that might be, regard the 5 direct injury to the consumer of tobacco. Others relate to those with whom the consumer associates. I may be considered as unquestionably true, that every person who uses tobacco, is, in some way, troublesome, or disgusting, to every person in whose presence he uses it. This is a breach of social law. No one has a right to follow a pleasure, which is a grievous displeasure to those who must witness it. If one has been so unfortunate in early life as to fall into the use of tobacco, as it is entirely a solitary pleasure, he 6 should use it in solitude, and not where he will poison the atmosphere which others must breathe, or do those

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acts which violate the decencies of civilized life. An eminent statesman of this country, who had returned from the court of France, was asked whether gentlemen smoked in France? "Gentlemen," said he, "smoke nowhere."

THE Americans are remarkable for neglecting the teeth. Paley says that "God did not make the teeth to ache." It is the most unpardonable neglect that makes them ache. The teeth were given to us for many highly necessary purposes. They are indispensable in preparing food for the stomach; equally so in speech. They may be highly ornamental, or otherwise. They suffer as much as the skin by neglect; and they make known their complaints, when neglected, in a manner which cannot be disregarded. Notwithstanding these things 8 are so, probably not one child in some hundreds, in the United States, knows that there is such a thing as a' brush for the teeth. Whatsoever the Creator has given to us, he has required of us to use according to his laws, and, consequently, we are to preserve what he has given to be used. This is not the less true of the teeth, than it is of the eyes, the muscles, or the diges tive power. We frequently see males and females, whose intelligent and pleasing expression of countenance prepossesses us in their favor, but the minute 9 they go to speak, and laugh, the charm vanishes, and we feel a sensation of disappointment at the disclosure which they make. This is the consequence of ignorance or neglect, for which parents are directly chargeable. Ignorance is not an excuse for the violation of any plain law of nature. Voluntary neglect aggravates the wrong. If a child has once learned the comfort of cleanliness in this respect, he will duly value it, and never give it up.

LESSON CXXII.

Gertrude.-MRS. HEMANS.

The Baron Von der Wart, accused, though it is believed unjustly, as an accomplice in the assassination of the Emperor Albert, was bound

alive on the wheel, and attended by his wife Gertrude, throughout his last agonizing moments, with the most heroic fidelity. Her own sufferings, and those of her unfortunate husband, are most affectingly described in a letter which she afterward addressed to a female friend. and which was published some years ago at Haarlem, in a book entitled "Gertrude Von der Wart, or Fidelity unto Death."

1 HER hands were clasped, her dark eyes raised, The breeze threw back her hair;

Up to the fearful wheel she gazed,

All that she loved was there.

The night was round her clear and cold,
The holy heaven above;

Its pale stars watching to behold

The might of earthly love.

2 "And bid me not depart," she cried,
"My Rudolph! say not so!
This is no time to quit thy side,
Peace, peace! I cannot go.
Hath the world aught for me to fear

When death is on thy brow?

The world!--what means it ?-mine is here--
I will not leave thee now?

3 "I have been with thee in thine hour
Of glory and of bliss,

Doubt not its memory's living power
To strengthen me through this!
And thou, mine honored love and true,
Bear on, bear nobly on!

We have the blessed Heaven in view,
Whose rest shall soon be won."

4 And were not these high words to flow
From Woman's breaking heart?
-Through all that night of bitterest wo
She bore her lofty part:

But oh! with such a freezing eye,
With such a curdling cheek-
-Love, love! of mortal agony,

Thou, only thou, shouldst speak!

5 The winds rose high-but with them rose Her voice that he might hear ;—

Perchance that dark hour brought repose

To happy bosoms near:

While she sat striving with despair
Beside his tortured form,

And pouring her deep soul in prayer
Forth on the rushing storm-

6 She wiped the death-damps from his brow,
With her pale hands and soft,
Whose touch, upon the lute cords low,
Had stilled his heart so oft.

She spread her mantle o'er his breast,
She bathed his lips with dew,
And on his cheek such kisses pressed,
As Joy and Hope ne'er knew.

7 Oh! lovely are ye, Love and Faith,
Enduring to the last!

She had her meed-one smile in Death-
And his worn spirit passed.

While even as o'er a martyr's grave,
She knelt on that sad spot,
And weeping, blessed the God who gave
Strength to forsake it not!

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LESSON CXXIII.

The Disabled Soldier.-GOLDSMITH.

No observation is more common, and at the same time more true, than that, "one half of the world is ignorant how the other half lives." The misfortunes of the great are held up to engage our attention; are enlarged upon in tones of declamation; and the world is called upon to gaze at the noble sufferers; the great, under the pressure of calamity, are conscious of several others sympathising with their distress; and have, at once, the comfort of admiration and pity.

There is nothing magnanimous in bearing misfor2 tunes with fortitude when the whole world is looking on; men in such circumstances will act bravely even

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