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next. Sufficient unto the moment is the trouble thereof. If we had to walk a hundred miles, we should still have to set but one step at a time, and this process continued, would infallibly bring us to our journey's end. Fatigue generally begins, and is always increased, by calculating in a minute the exertion of hours.

Thus, in looking forward to future life, let us recollect that we have not to sustain all its toil, to endure all its sufferings, or encounter all its crosses at once. One moment comes laden with its own little burdens, then flies and is succeeded by another no heavier than the last; if one could be borne, so can another and another.

Even in looking forward to a single day, the spirit may sometimes faint from an anticipation of the duties, the labours, the trials to temper and patience that may be expected. Now this is unjustly laying the burden of many thousand moments upon one. Let any one resolve always to do right now, leaving then to do as it can; and if he were to live to the age of Methuselah, he would never do wrong. But the common error is, to resolve to act right—after breakfast, or after dinner, or to-morrow morning, or next time; but now, just now, this once, we must go on the same as ever.

It is easy, for instance, for the most ill-tempered person to resolve that the next time he is provoked he will not let his temper overcome him; but the victory would be to subdue temper on the present provocation. If, without taking up the burden of the future, we would always make the single effort at the present moment, while there would, at any one time, be very little to do, yet, by this simple process continued, every thing would at last be done.

It seems easier to do right to-morrow than to-day, merely because we forget that when to-morrow comes, then will be now. Thus life passes with many, in resolutions for the future which the present never fulfils.

It is not thus with those who,"by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory, honour, and immortality" -day by day, minute by minute, they execute the appointed task to which the requisite measure of time and

strength is proportioned; and thus, having worked while it was called day, they at length rest from their labours, and their "works follow them."

Let us then, "whatever our hands find to do, do it with all our might," recollecting that now is the proper and 'accepted time."

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EXERCISE.-4. MEANINGS OF WORDS.

1. Give the meaning of the following words :-protested, assign, accuse, beseech, influence, admirable, sustain, resolve, immortality, provocation, anticipation, irrecoverable, encumber, execute, staggers.

2. Distinguish between the meanings of :-course, coarse; hours, ours; maid, made; day, dey; one, won; when, wen; time, thyme; sun, son; weight, wait.

3. Illustrate the different meanings the following words may have :deal, moment, tick, present, well, flies, watch, last.

CALEDONIA.

SIR WALTER SCOTT.

for-eign [L. foris, abroad], belonging to another country. meet [A.-S. gemet] fit, suitable, proper. nurse [L. nutrio, to nourish], one who has the care of children or the sick. course [L. cursus, from curro, to run], carcer, method of procedure, direction.

BREATHES there the man, with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,

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This is my own-my native land!"

Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned,
As home his footsteps he hath turned

From wandering on a foreign strand?
If such there breathe, go-mark him well;
For him no minstrel raptures swell:
High though his titles, proud his name,
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch, concentred all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown;
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonoured, and unsung!
O Caledonia! stern and wild,

Meet nurse for a poetic child!

Land of brown heath and shaggy wood,
Land of the mountain and the flood,
Land of my sires! What mortal hand
Can e'er untie the filial band

That knits me to thy rugged strand ?
Still, as I view each well-known scene,
Think what is now, and what hath been,
Seems as, to me, of all bereft,

Sole friends thy woods and streams were left;
And thus I love them better still,

E'en in extremity of ill.

By Yarrow's stream still let me stray,
Though none should guide my feeble way:
Still feel the breeze down Ettrick break,
Although it chill my withered cheek;
Still lay my head by Teviot stone,
Though there, forgotten and alone,
The bard may draw his parting groan.
Sweet Teviot! on thy silver tide,

The glaring bale-fires blaze no more;
No longer steel-clad warriors ride
Along thy wild and willowed shore;
Where'er thou wind'st, by dale or hill,
All, all is peaceful, all is still!

As if thy waves, since time was born,
Since first they rolled upon the Tweed,
Had only heard the shepherd's reed,
Nor started at the bugle-horn.
Unlike the tide of human time,

Which, though it change in ceaseless flow
Retains each grief, retains each crime

Its earliest course was doomed to know;
And-darker as it downward veers-
Is stained with past and present tears.

EXERCISE.-5. COMPOSITION.

1. Explain the phrases, silver tide, tide of time, doubly dying. 2. What is meant by apostrophe? What examples of this figure occur in this poem?

3. Transpose the following lines

"By Yarrow's streams still let me stray,

Though none should guide my feeble way."

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ANIMALS AND THEIR HABITATS.

hab-i-tats [L. habito, to dwell], the natural localities of animals or plants. in-es-ti-ma-ble [L. in, negative; æstimo, to value], that which is too valuable to have a price placed on it, above all price. distri-bu-tion [L. dis, asunder; tribuo, to assign or divide], allotment, division.

To supply his wants and minister to his pleasure, man was endowed with power over every living thing that moveth upon the earth, and well has he profited by this inestimable privilege. When he desires ease, the horse will carry him; when he requires aid in his labours, it will work for him

;

if he love the chase, it will dash over hill and dale; yea, if the bugle summon him to battle, it will even fight for him. If Providence has cast his lot in the far North, the reindeer will drag his sledge over the snowy waste; if the desire of wealth lead him over the burning sands of the desert, the camel will kneel to receive his goods; and when sunk in helpless slumber, the faithful dog keeps guard over his dwelling. The cold of winter demands warm covering, and the sheep yields its woolly dress to clothe him; the chinchilla parts with its coveted garment to keep him warm, and the hides of the cattle upon a thousand hills protect his feet from the biting frosts and chilling winds. He requires light by the winter fire, and the whale ministers to his wants; he clothes those whom he delights to honour with ermine, and in vain does its possessor attempt to elude his grasp; he loves to decorate his dwelling with the spoils of the chase, and the tiger and leopard are robbed of their beautiful skins.

The distribution of animals depends on the supply of food, on the influence of climate, and on the position of impassable barriers, such as lofty mountains and swelling seas. Animals depend for their food on the vegetable kingdom; for they either live on plants or on plant-eating animals. Where, therefore, vegetable life is most abundant, we find not only the greatest number of animals, but also the most numerous species. Under the tropics, so luxuriant in vegetation, vast herds of deer and gazelles bound over the plains, or dash through the groves of palms with the lion in hot pursuit; the graceful giraffe, and the beautiful zebra roam in unrestrained liberty; crouching behind rocks and trees, the panther and leopard lie in wait for their helpless prey; while gigantic apes hold an almost undisputed sway in the dense equatorial forests. Over the burning sands of the Sahara, the camel, sometimes called the "ship of the desert," carries the productions of many lands, and along the table-lands of sub-tropical Africa, the fierce buffalo is relentlessly pursued for its valuable hide.

Beneath the leafless trees and fragrant myrtles of Australia, numerous pouched animals roam in search of food, when the unfamiliar star-systems are sparkling in the hea

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