THOUGHTS ON BOOKS. 399 practical wisdom, I shall not pine for intellectual companionship; and I may become a cultivated man, though excluded from what is called the best society in the place where I live.Channing. 3. MORAL INFLUENCE OF A LITERARY TASTE. - To a young man away from home, friendless and forlorn in a great city, the hours of peril are those between sunset and bed-time; for the moon and stars see more of evil in a single hour than the sun in his whole day's circuit. The poet's visions of evening are all compact of tender and soothing images. It brings the wanderer to his home, the child to his mother's arms, the ox to his stall, and the weary laborer to his rest. But to the gentle-hearted youth who is thrown upon the rocks of a pitiless city, and stands "homeless amid a thousand homes," the approach of evening brings with it an aching sense of loneliness and desolation, which comes down upon the spirit like darkness upon the earth. In this mood, his best impulses become a snare to him, and he is led astray because he is social, affectionate, sympathetic, and warm-hearted. If there be a young man thus circumstanced within the sound of my voice, let me say to him that books are the friends of the friendless, and that a library is the home of the homeless. A taste for reading will always carry you to converse with men who will instruct you by their wisdom and charm you by their wit, who will soothe you when fretted, refresh you when weary, counsel you when perplexed, and sympathize with you at all times. Evil spirits, in the middle ages, were exorcised and driven away by bell, book, and candle; you want but two of these agents, the book and the candle. - Hillard. 4. DESIRABLENESS OF A TASTE FOR READING. Were I to pray for a taste which should stand me in stead under every variety of circumstance, and be a source of happiness and cheerfulness to me during life, and a shield against its ills, however things might go amiss and the world frown upon me, it would be a taste for reading. Give a man this taste, and the means of gratifying it, and you can hardly fail of making him a happy man; unless, indeed, you put into his hands a most perverse selection of books. You place him in contact with the best society in every period of history, with the wisest, the wittiest, the tenderest, the bravest, and the purest characters who have adorned humanity. You make him a denizen of all nations, a contemporary of all ages. The world has been created for him. Sir John Herschel. 5. THE HABIT OF READING MAY BE ABUSED. - A man may as well expect to grow stronger by always eating, as wiser by always reading. Too much overcharges nature, and turns more into disease than nourishment. It is thought and digestion which EI make books serviceable, and give health and vigor to the mind. Better read not at all than read bad, unprofitable books. "There are those persons," says Locke, "who are very assiduous in reading, and yet do not much advance their knowledge by it. They are delighted with the stories that are told, and, perhaps, can tell them again, for they make all they read nothing but history to themselves; but, not reflecting on it, not making to themselves observations from what they read, they are very little improved by all that crowd of particulars that either pass through, or lodge themselves in, their understandings. They dream on in a constant course of reading and cramming themselves, but, not digesting any thing, it produces nothing but a heap of crudities." Be not seduced by any eloquence of style, sophistry EL of argument, or seeming novelty and boldness of thought, into a distrust of any truth which your own immortal soul, in its highest aspirations, has approved, and which the monitions of conscience, no less than the assurances of Holy Writ, impel you to regard as sacred. EI CLXXXVI. CAPTURE OF A WHALE. 1. THE monotony of the calm was suddenly broken by the long-expected cry, "There she blows!" from the man at the mast-head.. -"Where away?" demanded the captain."Three points off the lee bow, sir.' "Raise up your wheel. Steady!" Steady, sir."-" Mast-head, ahoy! Do you see that whale now?". 66 'Ay, ay, sir. A school of sperm whales! There she There she breathes!" Sing out! Sing out every 66 blows! time! 66 Ay, ay, sir. 66 There she blows! There there half." "So near? Call all hands! Clew up the fore-top- back the main-yard! 2. Down went the boats with a splash. Each boat's crew sprang over the rail, and in an instant the larboard, starboard, and waist boats were manned. There was great rivalry in gětting the start. The waist boat got off in pretty good time, and away went all three, dashing the water high over their bows. Nothing could be more exciting than the chase. The larboard boat, commanded by the mate, and the waist boat, by the second mate, were head and head. "Give way, my lads, give way!" shouted our headsman; we gain on them; give way. A long, steady stroke - that's the way to tell it." 66 CAPTURE OF A WHALE. ΕΙ 401 Sometimes the 3. The chase was now truly soul-stirring. larboard, then the starboard, then the waist boat took the lead. It was a severe trial of skill and muscle. After we had run two miles at this rate, the whales turned flukes, going straight to windward. "Now for it, my lads!" cried our headsman. “We'll have them the next rising. Now pile it on! A long, steady pull! That's it! That's the way! Those whales belong Don't give out! Half an hour more, and they're our whales." On dashed the boat, clearing its way through the rough sea, as if the briny element were blue smoke. The whale to us. we pursued, however, turned flukes before we could reach him. When he appeared again above the surface of the water, it was evident that he had gone a good distance while down, gaining on us nearly a mile. 4. The chase was now almost hopeless, as the whale was making to windward rapidly. A heavy black cloud was on the horizon, portending an approaching squall, and the bark was fast fading from sight. Still we were not to be bafffed by discouraging circumstances of this kind, and we braced our sinews for a grand and final effort. The wind had by this time increased almost to a gale, and the heavy black clouds were scattering far and wide. Part of the squall had passed off to leeward, and entirely concealed the bark. Our situation was rather unpleasant, in a rough sea, the other boats out of sight, and each moment the wind increasing. We continued to strain every muscle till we were hard upon the whale. Tabor sprang to the bow, and stood by it with the harpoon. ΕΙ 66 5. " Softly, softly, my lads!" said the headsman.Ay, ay, sir." "Hush-h-h! Softly! Now's your time, Tabor!" Tabor let fly the harpoon, and buried the iron. "Stern all!" thun dered the headsman. "Stern all!" And as we rapidly backed from the whale, he flung his tremendous flukes high in the air, covering us with a cloud of spray. He then plunged down under water, making the line whiz as it passed through the chocks.EI When he rose to the surface again, we hauled up, and the second mate stood ready in the bow to despatch him with lances. 6. "He is spouting blood!" said Tabor; "he is a dead whale. He will not need much lancing." It was true enough; for, before the officer could get within dart's reach of him, the monster commenced his dying struggles. The sea was crimsoned with his blood. We lay upon our oars a moment to witness his last throes, and when he had turned his head towards the sun a loud simultaneous cheer burst from every lip. J. ROSS BROWNE. CLXXXVII.-THE PASSIONS: AN ODE. 1. WHEN Music, heavenly maid, was young, 2. First, Fear 156 his hand, its skill to try, 3. Next, Anger rushed; his eyes on fire 4. With woful measures wan Despair Low, sullen sounds! - his grief beguiled; 5. But thou, O Hope! with eyes so fair, And where her sweetest theme she chose, A soft responsive voice was heard at every close; And Hope, enchanted, smiled, and waved her golden hair. 6. And longer had she sung-but, with a frown, He threw his blood-stained sword in thunder down; The war-denouncing trumpet took, ODE ON THE PASSIONS. And blew a blast so loud and dread, Were ne'er prophetic sounds so full of woe! The doubling drum with furious heat : And though, sometimes, each dreary pause between, Her soul-subduing voice applied, Yet still he kept his wild, unaltered mien, 403 While each strained ball of sight seemed bursting from his head. 7. Thy numbers, Jealousy, to naught were fixed; Sad proof of thy distressful state! Of differing themes the veering song was mixed; And, now it courted Love; now, raving, called on Hate. 8. With eyes up-raised, as one inspired, Pale Melancholy sat retired; And, from her wild, sequestered seat, In notes, by distance made more sweet, Poured through the mellow horn her pensive soul: Bubbling runnels joined the sound: Through glades and glooms the mingled measure stole, (Round a holy calm diffusing, Love of peace, and lonely musing) In hollow murmurs died away. 9. But, O! how altered was its sprightlier tone, When Cheerfulness, a nymph of healthiest hue, Her bow across her shoulder flung, Her buskins gemmed with morning dew, Blew an inspiring air, that 166 dale and thicket rung!- 1 The oak-crowned Sisters, and their chaste-eyed Queen, Peeping from forth their alleys green; Brown Exercise rejoiced to hear, And Sport leaped up, and seized his beechen spear. 10. Last came Joy's ecstatic trial: He, with viny crown advancing, First to the lively pipe his hands addressed: Whose sweet, entrancing voice he loved the best. ΕΙ To some unwearied minstrel dancing: |