LXIII.-WHAT'S HALLOWED GROUND? WHAT'S hallowed ground? Has earth a clod Erect and free, Unscourged by Superstition's rod What hallows ground where heroes sleep? Or Genii twine beneath the deep But strew his ashes to the wind, Whose sword or voice has saved mankind,— And is he dead, whose glorious mind Lifts thine on high? To live in hearts we leave behind, Is not to die! Is't death to fall for Freedom's right?— What can alone ennoble fight?— Give that; and welcome War to brace Her drums, and rend heaven's welkin space! The colors planted face to face, The charging cheer, Though Death's pale horse lead on the chase, Shall still be dear! And place our trophies where men kneel The cause of truth and human weal, O God above! Transfer it from the sword's appeal Peace, love, the cherubim that join The heart alone can make divine Religion's spot! What's hallowed ground? 'Tis what gives birth Earth's compass round; And your high priesthood shall make earth -Thomas Campbell. LXIV.-MAN AFTER ALL. REST shall come to all, Rest to the heavy-laden and the frail, Rest to the lean and beggared wretch, whose steps Have wound among misfortune's flinty stones; Rest to the pallid, stricken sufferer, Who hath not seen a setting sun for years! Grasping in vain for heaven's precious breath. It can outlive the jest of littleness, And, with a manly, yes, heroic front, And sell them with a peddler's artful tongue Station, good office, and the like, And many that are called philosophers, Or pleasant orators for holidays, Would molder, and fall down like rotten wood, LXV. BE COMPREHENSIVE. TALK to the point, and stop when you reach it. The faculty which some possess of making one idea cover a quire of paper, is despicable. To fill a volume upon nothing is a credit to nobody, though Chesterfield wrote a very clever poem upon Nothing. There are men who get one idea into their heads, and but one, and they make the most of it. You can see it and almost feel it in their presence. On all occasions it is produced, till it is worn as thin as charity. They remind you of a twenty-four pounder discharging at a hummingbird. You hear a tremendous noise, see a volume of smoke, but you look in vain for the effects. The bird is scattered to atoms. Just so with the idea. It is enveloped in a cloud, and lost amid the rumblings of words and flourishes. Short letters, sermons, speeches, and paragraphs are favorites with us. Commend us to the young man who wrote to his father, "Dear sir, I am going to get married;" and also to the old gentleman, who replied, "Dear son, go ahead." Such are the men for action. They do more than they say. The half is not told in their cases. They are worth their weight in gold for every purpose of life, and are men every-where prized. THE MENTAL FACULTIES. THE perceptive faculties are those by which we become acquainted with the existence and qualities of the external world. Consciousness is the faculty by which we become cognizant of the operations of our own minds. Original suggestion is the faculty which gives rise to original ideas, occasioned by the perceptive faculties or consciousness. Abstraction is the faculty by which, from conceptions of individuals, we form conceptions of genera and species, or, in general, of classes. Memory is the faculty by which we retain and recall our knowledge of the past. Reason is that faculty by which, from the use of the knowledge obtained by the other faculties, we are enabled to proceed to other and original knowledge. Imagination is that faculty by which, from materials already existing in the mind, we form complicated conceptions or mental images according to our own will. Taste is that sensibility by which we recognize the beauties and deformities of nature or art, deriving pleasure from the one and suffering pain from the other. -Dr. Wayland. LXVI.-WHERE THERE'S A WILL THERE'S A WAY. WE have faith in old proverbs full surely, And you'll find they believe, like bold wooers, The hills have been high for man's mounting, The poles have been broad for his sway, 66 Have ye vices that ask a destroyer, Or passions that need your control? And your body be ruled by your soul. Have ye poverty's pinching to cope with? And dawn may come out of the night. |