keepeth watch above the everlasting hills. Commit yourself to His care.

5. Now, will you learn with me the second lesson of the night'? Lift your eyes to yon glorious canopy'. Seest thou not there a sentinel, set by the Eternal, at the northern gate of heaven', the pole-star'?

6. The pole-star! Blessings are breathed upon it, by the weary caravan, fearing the poisonous wind of the desert, -by the red forest-children, seeking their home beyond the far Western prairies,-and by the lonely mariner, upon the pathless ocean.

7. The stars'! See them'! The oil in their lamps never burns out. These glorious constellations wheel their mighty course unchanged, while "man dieth and wasteth away, yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?”*

8. Yon brilliant orbs maintain their places, while countless generations pass away, and nations disappear and are forgotten. Let us bow in humility before "Him who bringeth out their host by number, who calleth them all by names, by the greatness of His might, for that. He is strong 12 power; not one faileth."+

9. Thirteen times in the year, Night, the teacher, gives extra lessons. Will you be there to learn them? First, she hangs up a pale crescent in the west. The ancient Jews hailed its infant beam, and answering fires of joy were kindled on the hills of Palestine.'

10. Next, she summons forth a rounded orb, clad in full effulgence, and commits to it the regency when the sun retires. Lastly, a slender, waning crescent appears nightly, like an aged man, ready to descend into the night of the tomb.

*Job, 14th chap., 10th verse.

Isaiah, 40th chap., 26th verse.

11. "Soon as the evening shades prevail,
The moon takes up the wondrous tale,
And nightly to the listening earth,
Repeats the story of her birth;

While all the stars that round her burn,
And all the planets in their turn,
Confirm the tidings as they roll,

And spread the truth from pole to pole."

12. These are some of Night's lessons. Are you tired of them'? Or, will you learn one more? Lift up your heart to Him who has given you the past day, with thanks for its blessings, -with penitence for its faults, -with supplication for strength and wisdom for the time that is

to come.

13. "Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge" of God. Thus, meekly and faithfully studying Night's lessons, may we find

"Even sorrow, touched by Heaven, grows bright
With more than rapture's ray,

As darkness shows us worlds of light,

We never saw by day."

QUESTIONS.-1. Who watches over us when asleep? 2. In what way is the pole-star useful to man? 3. What is said of the stars? 4. What extra lessons is it that night gives thirteen times a year? 5. Describe the first appearance of the moon. 6. How does it next appear? 7. Where is Palestine? 8. Where are the passages to be found, quoted in the 7th, 8th, and 13th paragraphs? 9. Do you know who is the author of the 11th verse? Ans. Addison.

* Psalm 19th, 2d verse.

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

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'?

SECOND VOICE.

Though thy spirit yearneth sky-ward,
Oh, forget not human worth!

I, who chant at heaven's portal,
Build my nest on earth.

FIRST VOICE.

4. River! river'! singing gayly
From the hill-side all day long,
Teach my heart the merry music
Of thy cheery, rippling song.

SECOND VOICE.

Many winding ways I follow;
Yet, at length, I reach the sea.

Man, remember that thy ocean
Is ETERNITY!

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.

LESSON XXII.

GLARE, dazzling light.

BLITHE LY, gayly; joyfully.

WROUGHT, worked; labored.

RE MORSE', painful regret.
WANE, decrease; grow less.
FAN' CIES, whims; notions.

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 hand,
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!