1. SUN-LIGHT'! tell the hidden meaning
Of the rays thou lettest fall;

Are they lessons writ in burning,
Like God's warning on the wall' ?

SECOND VOICE.

Strive, O man, to let a loving
Spirit cheer the sad and poor;
So shall many a fair hope blossom,
Where none grew before!

FIRST VOICE.

2. Stars'! what is it ye would whisper,
With your pure and holy light?
Looking down so calm and tender
From the watch-tower of the night.

SECOND VOICE.

When thy soul would quail from scorning,

Keep a brave heart and a bold;

As we always shine the brightest
When the nights are cold.

FIRST VOICE.

3. Hast thou not a greeting for me,
Heaven's own happy minstrel-bird'?

Thou whose voice, like some sweet angel's,
Viewless, in the cloud is heard'?

QUESTIONS.-1. What is meant by God's warning on the wall? See the 5th chap. of Daniel. 2. What is meant by minstrel-bird? Ans. The lark.

A NON.' is an abbreviation of anonymous, which means without name; nameless. See SANDERS' ANALYSIS, page 88, Exercise 108.

SOWING AND HARVESTING.

1. They are sowing their seed in the daylight fair,
They are sowing their seed in the noonday's glare,
They are sowing their seed in the soft twilight,
They are sowing their seed in the solemn night;
What shall their harvest be?

ANON

2. They are sowing their seed of pleasant thought,
In the spring's green light they have blithely wrought;
They have brought their fancies from wood and dell,
Where the mosses creep, and the flower-buds swell
Rare shall the harvest be!

3. They are sowing the seeds of word and deed,
Which the cold know not, nor the careless heed,-
Of the gentle word and the kindest deed,
That have blessed the heart in its sorest need;
Sweet shall the harvest be!

4. And some are sowing the seeds of pain,
Of late remorse, and in maddened brain;
And the stars shall fall, and the sun shall wane,
Ere they root the weeds from the soil again;
Dark will the harvest be!

5. And some are standing with idle band,
Yet they scatter seeds on their native land;
And some are sowing the seeds of care,
Which their soil has borne, and still must bear;
Sad will the harvest be!

;

6. They are sowing the seed of noble deed,
With a sleepless watch and an earnest heed;
With a ceaseless hand o'er the earth they sow,
And the fields are whitening where'er they go;
Rich will the harvest be!

7. Sown in darkness, or sown in light,
Sown in weakness, or sown in might,
Sown in meekness, or sown in wrath,
In the broad work-field, or the shadowy path,
SURE will the harvest be!

QUESTIONS.-1. Who are meant by they in this lesson?

2. What is said

of those who are sowing the seeds of word and deed? 3. What, of those who are sowing the seeds of care? 4. Repeat the last verse. 5. What passage of Scripture teaches the same idea? Ans. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."-Gal, 6th chap., 7th verse.

LESSON XXIII.

FOR TI FI ED, strengthened by works FORE' CAS TLE, short deck in the fore

1 SA HA' RA, is a Great Desert in Africa, lying south of the Barbary States, and extending from the Atlantic on the west to Egypt and Nubia on the east. The winds that come from this desert, are hot, and suffocating,

A THRILLING INCIDENT.

ANON.

1. OUR noble ship lay at anchor in the Bay of Tangier, a fortified town in the extreme northwest of Africa. The day had been extremely mild, with a gentle breeze sweeping to the northward and westward; but, toward the close of the afternoon, the sea-breeze died away, and one of those sultry, oven-like breathings came from the great, sun-burnt Sahara.'

2. Half an hour before sundown, the captain gave the cheering order for the boatswain to call the hands to "go in swimming," and, in less than five minutes, the forms of our tars were seen leaping from the arms of the lower yards, into the water. One of the studding sails, with its corners suspended from the main yard-arm and the swinging boom, had been lowered into the water, and into this most of the swimmers made their way.

3. Among those who seemed to be enjoying the sport most heartily, were two of the boys, Timothy Wallace and Frederic Fairbanks, the latter of whom was the son of our old gunner, and, in a laughing mood, they started out from the studding sail on a race. There was a loud ringing shout of joy on their lips as they put off, and they darted through the water like fishes. The surface of the sea was smooth as glass, though its bosom rose in long, heavy swells that set in from the Atlantic.

4. The vessel was moored with a long sweep from both cables, and one of the buoys of the anchor was far away on the starboard quarter, where it rose and fell with the lazy swells of the waves. Toward this buoy the two lads made their way, young Fairbanks taking the lead; but, when they were within about twenty or thirty fathoms of the buoy, Wallace shot ahead, and promised to win the race.