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A heritage, it seems to me,

Worth being rich to hold in fee.

-7. O poor man's son! scorn not thy state;
There is worse weariness than thine,
In merely being rich and great:
Toil only gives the soul to shine,
And makes rest fragrant and benign;"
A heritage, it seems to me,
Worth being poor to hold in fee.

8. Both, heirs to some six feet of sod,
Are equal in the earth at last;
Both, children of the same dear God,
Prove title to your heirship vast
By record of a well-filled past;
A heritage, it seems to me,
Well worth a life to hold in fee.

J. R. LOWELL.

1 IN-HER'-ITS, takes by descent from an an-14 AD-JUNG'ED, decreed; determined. cestor.

2 HER'-IT-AGE, an inheritance; estate de-
rived from an ancestor.

3 IN FEE,"
," an estate or property which one
has in his own right, and which may be
inherited by his heirs.

5 OUT'-CAST, one driven from home or coun. try.

6 BE-NIGN', favorable; having a good infiu

ence.

LESSON XIV.

SCHEMES OF LIFE OFTEN ILLUSORY.

1. OMAR, the son of Hassan', had passed seventy-five years in honor and prosperity. The favor of three successive califs had filled his house with gold and silver; and whenever he appeared', the benedictions of the people proclaimed his presence.

2. Earthly happiness is of short continuance'. The brightness of the flame is wasting its fuel'; the fragrant flower is passing away in its own odors'. The vigor of Omar began to fail'; the curls of beauty fell from his head'; strength departed from his hands', and agility from his feet'. He gave back to the calif the keys of trust, and the seals of secrecy; and sought no other pleasure for the remainder of life than the converse of the wise', and the gratitude of the good'.

3. The powers of his mind were yet unimpaired. His chamber was filled by visitants, eager to catch the dictates of experience, and officious to pay the tribute of admiration. Caleb, the son of the viceroy of Egypt', entered every day early, and retired late'. He was beautiful and eloquent': Omar admired his wit, and loved his docility.

4. "Tell me," said Caleb', "thou to whose voice nations have listened, and whose wisdom is known to the extremities of Asia', tell me how I may resemble Omar the prudent'. The arts by which thou hast gained power and preserved it are to thee no longer necessary nor useful; impart to me' the secret of thy conduct, and teach me the plan upon which thy wisdom has built thy fortune'."

5. "Young man'," said Omar', "it is of little use to form plans of life'. When I took my first survey of the world in my twentieth year', having considered the various conditions of mankind, in the hour of solitude I said thus to myself, leaning against a cedar, which spread its branches over my head: Seventy years are allowed to man'; I have yet fifty remaining.

6. "Ten years I will allot to the attainment of knowledge', and ten I will pass in foreign countries'; I shall be learned', and therefore shall be honored'; every city will shout at my arrival', and every student will solicit my friendship'. Twenty years thus passed will store my mind with. images, which I shall be busy, through the rest of my life, in combining and comparing. I shall revel in inexhaustible accumulations of intellectual riches'; I shall find new pleasures for every moment', and shall never more be weary of myself`.

7. "I will not, however, deviate too far from the beaten track of life', but will try what can be found in female delicacy'. I will marry a wife as beautiful as the Houris', and wise as Zobeide'; and with her I will live twenty years within the suburbs of Bagdat, in every pleasure that wealth can purchase, and fancy can invent.

8. "I will then retire to a rural dwelling, pass my days in obscurity and contemplation, and lie silently down on the bed of death. Through my life it shall be my settled resolution that I will never depend on the smile of princes; that I

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will never stand exposed to the artifices of courts; that I will never pant for public honors, nor disturb my quiet with the affairs of state.' Such was my scheme of life, which I impressed indelibly upon my memory.

9. "The first part of my ensuing time was to be spent in search of knowledge', and I know not how I was diverted from my design'. I had no visible impediments without', nor any ungovernable passions within'. I regarded knowledge as the highest honor, and the most engaging pleasure'; yet day stole upon day, and month glided after month, till I found that seven years of the first ten had vanished', and left nothing behind' them.

10. "I now postponed my purpose of traveling; for why should I go abroad', while so much remained to be learned at home'? I immured myself for four years, and studied the laws of the empire. The fame of my skill reached the judges: I was found able to speak upon doubtful questions, and I was commanded to stand at the footstool of the calif. I was heard with attention; I was consulted with confidence, and the love of praise fastened on my heart.

11. "I still wished to see distant countries; listened with rapture to the relations of travelers, and resolved some time to ask my dismission, that I might feast my soul with novelty'; but my presence was always necessary, and the stream of business hurried me along. Sometimes I was afraid lest I should be charged with ingratitude; but I still proposed to travel, and therefore would not confine myself by marriage.

12. “In my fiftieth year', I began to suspect that the time of my traveling was past, and thought it best to lay hold on the felicity yet in my power, and indulge myself in domestic' pleasures. But at fifty no man easily finds a woman beautiful as the Houris, and wise as Zobeide. I inquired and rejected, consulted and deliberated, till the sixty-second year made me ashamed of wishing to marry. I had now nothing left but retirement'; and for retirement I never found a time', until disease forced me from public employment'.

13. "Such was my scheme', and such has been its consequence'. With an insatiable thirst for knowledge', I trifled away the years of improvement'; with a restless desire of

seeing different countries', I have always resided in the same city'; with the highest expectation of connubial felicity', I have lived unmarried'; and with an unalterable resolution of contemplative retirement', I am going to die within the walls of Bagdat'."

LESSON XV.

A PSALM OF LIFE.

1. TELL me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream'!
For the soul is dead' that slumbers',

And things are not what they seem'.

2. Life is real'! Life is earnest` !
And the grave is not its goal;
"Dust thou art, to dust returnest,"
Was not spoken of the soul.
3. Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.

4. Art is long, and time is fleeting;

And our hearts, though stout and brave
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.

5. In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of life,

Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife.

6. Trust no future, howe'er pleasant,
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act-act in the living present!

Heart within, and God o'erhead.
7. Lives of great men all remind us,
We can make our lives sublime;
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;

8. Footprints that perhaps another,

Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

9. Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.

LONGFELLOW.

LESSON XVI.

PRACTICAL PRECEPTS.

SIR MATTHEW HALE.

1. NEVER speak any thing for a truth which you know or believe to be false. Lying is a great sin against God, who gave us a tongue to speak truths, and not falsehoods. It is a great offense against humanity itself; for where there is no regard to truth, there can be no safe society between man and man.

2. And it is an injury to the speaker; for, besides the disgrace which it brings upon him, it occasions so much baseness of mind that he can scarcely tell truth, or avoid lying even when he has no color of necessity for it; and, in time, he comes to such a pass that, as other people can not believe he speaks truth, so he himself scarcely knows when he tells a falsehood.

3. You must not equivocate, nor speak any thing positively for which you have no authority but report, or conjecture, or opinion. Let your words be few, especially when your superiors or strangers are present, lest you betray your own weakness, and rob yourself of the opportunity which you might otherwise have had to gain knowledge, wisdom, and experience, by hearing those whom you silence by your im pertinent talking.

4. Be not too earnest, loud, or violent in your conversation. Silence-your opponent with reason, not with noise. Be careful not to interrupt another when he is speaking. Hear him

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