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Glanced through his thoughts, what deep and cureless

wound

Fate had already given.-Where, man of wo! 20 Where wretched father! is thy boy? Thou callest His name in vain:-he cannot answer thee.

Loudly the father called upon his child:

No voice replied. Trembling and anxiously

He searched their couch of straw: with headlong haste 25 Trod round his stinted limits, and, low bent,

Groped darkling on the earth:- -no child was there.
Again he called:-again, at farthest stretch

Of his accursed fetters,-till the blood

Seemed bursting from his ears, and from his eyes
30 Fire fláshed,―he strained with arm extended far,
And fingers widely spread, greedy to touch
Though but his idol's garment. Useless toil!
Yet still renewed:--still round and round he goes,
And strains, and snatches, and with dreadful cries
35 Calls on his boy. Mad frènzy fires him now:
He plants against the wall his feet;-his chain
Grasps;-tugs with giant strength to force away
The deep-driven stàple;-yells and shrieks with rage.
And, like a desert lion in the snare

40 Raging to break his toils,-to and fro bounds.
But see! the ground is opening:—a blue light
Mounts, gently waving,-noiseless:-thin and cold
It seems, and like a rainbow tint, not flăme;
But by its lustre, on the earth outstretched,
45 Behold the lifeless child!-his dress is singed,
And o'er his face serene a darken'd line
Points out the lightning's track.

The father saw,

And all his fury fled:-a dead calm fell

50 That instant on him:-speechless, fixed he stood,
And with a look that never wandered, gazed
Intensely on the corse. Those laughing eyes
Were not yet closed,—and round those ruby lips
The wonted smile returned.

55

Silent and pale

The father stands:-no tear is in his eye:

The thunders bellow-but he hears them nót:

The ground lifts like a sea:—he knows it nót:The strong walls grind and gape:-the vaulted roof 60 Takes shapes like bubble tossing in the wind:

See! he looks up and smiles;-for death to him
Is happiness. Yet could one last embrace
Be given, 'twere still a swèeter thing to die.

It will be given. Look! how the rolling ground, 65 At every swell, nearer and still more near

Moves towards the father's outstretched arm his boy:Once he has touched his gàrment;-how his eye Lightens with love-and hope-and anxious fears! Ha! see! he has him now!-he clasps him round— 70 Kisses his face;-puts back the curling locks, That shaded his fine brow:-looks in his eyesGrasps in his own those little dimpled handsThen folds him to his breast, as he was wont To lie when sleeping-and resigned awaits 75 Undreaded death.

And pangless.

And death came soon, and swift,

The huge pile sunk down at once

Into the opening earth. (..) Walls-arches-roof80 And deep foundation stones-all.. mingling .. fell!

EXERCISE 87.

The Orphan Boy.-MRS. OPIE.

1 Stay, lady stay, for mercy's sake,
And hear a helpless orphan's tale:
Ah, sure my looks must pity wake-
'Tis want that makes my cheek so pale!
Yet I was once a mother's pride,

And my brave father's hope and joy:
But in the Nile's proud fight he died—
And I am now an orphan boy!

2 Poor, foolish child! how pleased was I
When news of Nelson's victory came,
Along the crowded streets to fly,

To see the lighted windows flame!
To force me home my mother sought-

She could not bear to see my joy!
For with my father's life 'twas bought-
And made me a poor orphan boy!

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3 The people's shouts were long and loud!
My mother, shuddering, closed her ears;
Rejoice! rejoice!" still cried the crowd-
My mother answered with her tears!
"Oh! why do tears steal down your cheeks,"
Cried I, "while others shout for joy!"
She kissed me, and in accents weak,
She called me her poor orphan boy!

4" What is an orphan boy?" I said;

When suddenly she gasped for breath,
And her eyes closed; I shrieked for aid:
But, ah! her eyes were closed in death!
My hardships since I will not tell:

But now no more a parent's joy;
Ah! lady, I have learned too well
What 'tis to be an orphan boy.

EXERCISE 88.

Christian Consolation.-ANONYMOUS

[The annexed feeling, and beautiful lines are said to have been writ ten by a young English lady, who had experienced much affliction.]

1 Jesus-I my cross have taken,
All to leave, and follow thee,
Naked, poor, despised, forsaken-

Thou, from hence, my all shalt be!

Perished every fond ambition

All I've sought, or hoped, or known,
Yet how rich is my condition-

God and heaven are all my own!

2 Go, then, earthly fame and treasure-
Come disaster, scorn, and pain;
In thy service, pain is pleasure,
With thy favor, loss is gain;
I have called thee Abba Father-
I have set my heart on thee;

Storms may howl, and clouds may gather-
All must work for good to me!

3 Soul! then know thy full salvation—
Rise o'er sin, and fear, and care;
Joy to find in every station

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Something still to do or bear!
Think, what spirit dwells within thee—
Think what heavenly bliss is thine;
Think that Jesus died to save thee-
Child of Heaven-canst thou repine?

4 Haste thee on, from grace to glory,

Armed by faith, and wing'd by prayer—
Heaven's eternal day 's before thee-
God's own hand shall guide thee there.
Soon shall close thy earthly mission!
Soon shall pass thy pilgrim-days,
Hope shall change to glad fruition-
Faith to sight, and prayer to praise.

EXERCISE 89.

Cruelty to Animals.-CowPER.

I would not enter on my list of friends,
(Though grac'd with polish'd manners and fine sense,
Yet wanting sensibility,) the man

Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm.
5 An inadvertent step may crush the snail,
That crawls at evening in the public path;
But he that has humanity, forewarn'd,
Will tread aside, and let the reptile live.
The creeping vermin, loathsome to the sight,
10 And charg'd perhaps with venom, that intrudes
A visiter unwelcome into scenes

Sacred to neatness and repose, th' alcove,
The chamber, or refectory, may die.

A necessary act incurs no blame.

15 Not so, when held within their proper bounds,
And guiltless of offence they range the air,
Or take their pastime in the spacious field.

There they are privileg'd. And he that hurts
Or harms them there, is guilty of a wrong;
20 Disturbs the economy of nature's realm,
Who when she form'd, design'd them an abode.
The sum is this: if man's convenience, health,
Or safety, interfere, his rights and claims
Are paramount, and must extinguish theirs.
25 Else they are all-the meanest things that are,
As free to live and to enjoy that life,

As God was free to form them at the first,
Who in his sovereign wisdom, made them all.
Ye, therefore, who love mercy, teach your sons
30 To love it too. The spring time of our years
Is soon dishonor'd and defil'd, in most,

By budding ills, that ask a prudent hand
To check them. But, alas! none sooner shoots,
If unrestrain'd, into luxuriant growth,
35 Than cruelty, most devilish of them all.
Mercy to him that shows it, is the rule
And righteous limitation of its act,

By which Heav'n moves in pard'ning guilty man;
And he that shows none, being ripe in years,

40 And conscious of the outrage he commits,
Shall seek it, and not find it in his turn.

EXERCISE 90.

Christianity.-MASON.

The cardinal fact of Christianity, without which all her other facts lose their importance, is the resurrection, from the dead, of a crucified Saviour, as the prelude, the pattern, and the pledge of the resurrection of his 5 followers to eternal life. Against this great fact the "children of disobedience," have levelled their batteries. One assails its proof; another its reasonableness; all, its truth. When Paul asserted it before an audience of Athenian philosophers, 66 some mocked”– -a short 10 method of refuting the Gospel; and likely, from its convenience, to continue in favor and in fashion.

Yet with such doctrines and facts did the religion of Jesus make her way through the world. Against the

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