noblest impulses aroused, in view of a generous and kindly action. The Holy Father implanted His own pure principles in the breast of every one, and widely do we deviate from their just dictates, when an unkind word, or an unkind act, wounds a broken heart, or crushes a loving, gentle

nature.

9. "Speak not harshly,-much of care
Every human heart must bear;
Enough of shadows rudely play
Around the very sunniest way;
Enough of sorrows darkly lie
Vailed within the merriest eye.
By thy childhood's gushing tears,
By thy grief in after years,
By the anguish thou dost know,
Add not to another's woe.

10. "Speak not harshly,—much of sin
Dwelleth every heart within;

QUESTIONS.-1. On what has kindness an influence? 2. What influence had it upon the little flower? 3. What, upon the little bird? 4. What is said of cruelty? 5.. What is said of legal and moral suasion? 6. What is Isaid of the lion? 7. Of Powhatan? 8. Why ought we not to speak harshly?

LESSON XIII.

SHAFT, arrow; here, careless word.
MES' SEN GER$, message-bearers.
PANG, distress; anguish.
SPELL$, charms; enchantments.
SEAL' ED, closed up; under seal.
SEP' UL CHER, (ch like k), grave; tomb.
SUM' MON ED, called.

Ae' o NY, extreme suffering.

WRING, writhe.

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UN A WÂRE$, unconsciously.
MIN" GLES', unites; mixes.
En dear' ing, kind; affectionate.
E CLIPSE', darkness; obscuration.

CHER' ISH ED, fostered.

EN SHRINED, Ssacredly preserved.
UT TER ED, expressed,

CARELESS WORDS.

1. О¤, never say a careless Word
Hath not the power to pain;

The shaft may ope some hidden wound,
That closes not again!

Weigh well those light-winged messengers;

God marked your heedless Word,
And with it, too, the falling tear,

The heart-pang that it stirred.

2. Words! what are Words? A simple Word
· Hath spells to call the tears,

That long have lain a sealed fount,
Unclosed through mournful years.
Back from the unseen sepulcher,

A Word hath summoned forth
A form that hath its place no more
Among the things of Earth.

3. Words! heed them well; some whispered one
Hath yet a power to fling

A shadow on the brow, the soul
In agony to wring;

A name, forbidden, or forgot,

That sometimes, unawares,
Murmurs upon our wak'ning lips,
And mingles in our prayers.

4. Oh, Words! sweet Words! A blessing comes
Softly from kindly lips;
Tender, endearing tones, that break
The Spirit's drear eclipse.

Oh! are there not some cherished tones
In the deep heart enshrined?

Uttered but once-they passed-and left
A track of light behind.

QUESTIONS.-1. What is said of careless words? 2. What, of sweet words? 3. What is the use of the apostrophe in wak'ning, third verse? 4. What is the meaning of the suffix less, in the words careless, heedless? See SANDERS' NEW SPELLER, DEFINER, AND ANALYZER, page 143, Ex. 369.

LESSON XIV.

VEĠ' E TA BLE$, plants.

DEP RE DA' TION, robbery; plunder.
CAP TUR ING, catching.
TRES' PASS ER, transgressor.
AP PEAL' ED, referred.
COUNSEL, lawyer; advocate.
AR' GU MENT, plea; reason.
URG'ING, enforcing; advocating.
MIS' CHIEVOUS, hurtful; injurious.

PRAC' TI CAL, pertaining to practice.
DIS TIN' GUISH ED, celebrated.
JU' RIST, one versed in law.
AF FECT'ED, moved; impressed.
FUR' NISH ED, supplied.

VI' O LA TED, broken; transgressed.

DE PRIVE', rob; hinder.

AL LUD' ED, referred; adverted.

RE STORE', give back.

WEBSTER AND THE WOODCHUCK.

BOSTON TRAVELER.

1. EBENEZER WEBSTER, the father of Daniel, was a farmer. The vegetables in his garden had suffered considerably from the depredations of a woodchuck, which had his hole or habitation near the premises. Daniel, some ten or twelve years old, and his older brother Ezekiel, had set a trap, and finally succeeded in capturing the trespasser.

2. Ezekiel proposed to kill the animal, and end, at once, all further trouble from him; but Daniel looked with compassion upon his meek, dumb captive, and offered to let him again go free. The boys could not agree, and they appealed to their father to decide the case.

3. "Well, my boys," said the old gentleman, "I will be the judge. There is the prisoner, (pointing to the woodchuck,) and you shall be the counsel, and plead the case for and against his life and liberty."

4. Ezekiel opened the case with a strong argument, urging the mischievous nature of the criminal, the great harm he had already done; said that much time and labor had been spent in his capture, and now, if he were suffered to live and go again at large, he would renew his depredations, and be cunning enough not to suffer himself to be caught again.

5. He urged, further, that his skin was of some value, and that, to make the most of him they could, it would not repay half the damage he had already done. His argument was ready, practical, to the point, and of much greater length than our limits will allow us to occupy in relating the story. 6. The father looked with pride upon his son, who became Now, Daniel, it is

a distinguished jurist in his manhood.

66

your turn: I'll hear what you have to say.”

7. It was his first case. Daniel saw that the plea of his brother had sensibly affected his father, the judge; and as his

large, brilliant, black eyes looked upon the soft, timid, expression of the animal, and he saw it tremble with fear in its narrow prison-house, his heart swelled with pity, and he urged, with eloquent words, that the captive might again go free.

8. "God," he said, "had made the woodchuck; he made him to live, to enjoy the bright sunlight, the pure air, the free fields and woods. God had not made him, or any thing, in vain; the woodchuck had as much right to life as any other living thing.

9. "He was not a destructive animal, as the wolf and the fox were; he simply ate a few common vegetables, of which they had plenty, and could well spare a part; he destroyed nothing except the little food he needed to sustain his humble life; and that little food was as sweet to him, and as necessary to his existence, as was to them the food upon their mother's table.

10. "God furnished to them food; he gave them all they possessed; and would they not spare a little for the dumb creature, that really had as much right to his small share of God's bounty, as they themselves had to their portion'?

11. "Yea, more, the animal had never violated the laws of his nature or the laws of God, as man often did,; but strictly followed the simple, harmless instincts he had received from the hand of the Creator of all things. Created by God's hand, he had a right—a right from God-to life, to food, to liberty; and they had no right to deprive him of either.'

12. He alluded to the mute, but earnest pleadings of the animal for that life, as sweet, as dear to him, as their own was to them, and the just judgment they might expect, if, in selfish cruelty and cold heartlessness, they took the life they could not restore-the life that God alone had given.

13. During this appeal, the tears had started to the old