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LESSON CLXII.— -POLISH WAR SONG.-JAMES G. PERCIVAL.

Freedom calls you! Quick, be ready,

Rouse ye in the name of God,—
Onward, onward, strong and steady,-
Dash to earth the oppressor's rod.
Freedom calls! ye brave!

Rise, and spurn the name of slave.

Grasp the sword!—its edge is keen,
Seize the gun!-its ball is true:
Sweep your land from tyrant clean,—
Haste, and scour it through and through!
Onward, onward! Freedom cries,
Rush to arms, the tyrant flies.

By the souls of patriots gone,
Wake, arise, your fetters break,
Koskiusco bids you on,—

Sobieski cries awake!

Rise, and front the despot czar,
Rise, and dare the unequal war.

Freedom calls you! Quick, be ready,-
Think of what your sires have been,-
Onward, onward! strong and steady,-
Drive the tyrant to his den,

On, and let the watchwords be,
Country, home, and liberty!

LESSON CLXIII.—Belshazzar.-Geo. Croly.
Hour of an Empire's overthrow!

The princes from the feast were gone;
The Idol flame was burning low ;-
'T was midnight upon Babylon.

That night the feast was wild and high;
That night was Sion's gold profaned;
The seal was set to blasphemy;

The last deep cup of wrath was drained.

'Mid jewelled roof and silken pall,
Belshazzar on his couch was flung;

A burst of thunder filled the hall,

He heard, but 't was no mortal tongue :

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"King of the East! the trumpet calls,
That calls thee to a tyrant's grave;
A curse is on thy palace walls,-
A curse is on thy guardian wave:
"A surge is in Euphrates' bed,

That never filled its bed before;
A surge, that, ere the morn be red,
Shall load with death its haughty shore.
"Behold a tide of Persian steel!

A torrent of the Median car;
Like flame their gory banners wheel;
Rise, king, and arm thee for the war!"
Belshazzar gazed; the voice was past,―
The lofty chamber filled with gloom;
But echoed on the sudden blast

The rushing of a mighty plume.

He listened; all again was still;
He heard no chariot's iron clang;
He heard the fountain's gushing rill,
The breeze that through the roses sang.

He slept; in sleep wild murmurs came;
A visioned splendor fired the sky;
He heard Belshazzar's taunted name;
He heard again the Prophet cry,—

"Sleep, Sultan ! 't is thy final sleep,

Or wake, or sleep, the guilty dies.
The wrongs of those who watch and weep,
Around thee and thy nation rise."

He started; 'mid the battle's yell,
He saw the Persian rushing on:

He saw the flames around him swell;
Thou 'rt ashes! King of Babylon.

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The forest fell before its force,

The rocks were shivered in its course:
God was not in the blast;

"T was but the whirlwind of his breath,
Announcing danger, wreck, and death.

-a cloud

It ceased. The air grew mute,—

Came, muffling up the sun,

When, through the mountain, deep and loud,
An earthquake thundered on;

The frighted eagle sprang in air,
The wolf ran howling from his lair;
God was not in the storm :
'T was but the rolling of his car,
The trampling of his steeds from far.

'T was still again, and Nature stood
And calmed her ruffled frame;
When swift from heaven a fiery flood
To earth devouring came;

Down to the depth the ocean fled,—
The sickening sun looked wan and dead;
Yet God filled not the flame;

'T was but the terror of his eye,

That lightened through the troubled sky.

At last, a voice all still and small,
Rose sweetly on the ear;
Yet rose so shrill and clear, that all
In heaven and earth might hear;
It spoke of peace, it spoke of love,
It spoke as angels speak above;
And God himself was there;
For Oh! it was a father's voice,

That bade the trembling heart rejoice.

LESSON CLXV.-DAME NATURE'S CHARMS.-WM. C. LODGE.

I love to pause, in life's cold rugged way,
And muse on Nature in her various forms;
Divest her of that seeming dark array,

And thus expose to view her fairest charms:

5 For she is ever beautiful and bright,

When rightly seen, in wild or calmer mood,

In sunny day, or sable garb of night,
In busy haunts, or quiet solitude.

Oh! my delight has ever been to roam,

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A feather, tossed on fortune's fickle wave, 5 Away from friends, from kindred, and from home, The cold repulses of the world to brave. And when by life's attending ills oppressed, Dear Nature, I would ever turn to thee, For in thy smiles the troubled find a rest, A soothing cordial in thy harmony. I've danced upon the trackless ocean wave, When wild winds held unfettered revelry, And heaven's loud peals the thundering chorus gave To the rude tempest's dirge-like minstrelsy.

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15 Then wings the soul its airy flight along,

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Like lightning glancing o'er the jewelled spray, And leaps to join the revel and the song,

And cast the thoughts and things of earth away.
And I have wooed her in her sober hours,

Amid her native wilds of solitude,
When twilight has revealed its mystic powers,
And cast its spells o'er river, vale, and wood;
'Tis this resolves the passions into thought,
And tinges reason with a purer flame,

25 And shows proud man that all his art is nought,
His boasted honors but an empty name.

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The sunny south, the clime of fruits and flowers,
In one eternal vesture of sweet smiles,

Where laughing streamlets leap 'midst shady bowers,
And wild birds' song the sportive breeze beguiles ;
And the bare mountains of the north, where storms,
And the rude storm-king, hold a fearful sway,
Have all their fierce or soul-subduing charms,

To cheer life's path, and drive its cares away. 35 Man often clouds with vain or fancied ills,

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His narrow span, when Nature's stainless light
Dispenses only happiness, and fills

The world with things so beautiful and bright;
Her plains, her mountains, and her valleys, teem
With living verdure in the fairest dress;
And ocean, river, lake, and singing stream,
Combine to harmonize her loveliness.

LESSON CLXVI. -NIGHT IN EDEN.-MRS. E. H. EVANS.

'T was moonlight in Eden! Such moonlight, I ween,
As never again on this earth shall be seen,-
So soft fell the radiance,—so wondrously blue
Was the sky, with its star-enthroned angels in view!

5 How bright was the bower where the fair-fingered Eve, The blossoming garlands delighted to weave;

While the rose caught its blush from her cheek's living dye, And the violet its hue from her love-lighted eye.

There, lulled by the murmurs of musical streams, 10 And charmed by the rainbow-winged spirit of dreams,— The eyes softly closed that so soon were to weep,— Our parents reposed in a bliss-haunted sleep.

But other forms gazed on the grandeur of night, And beings celestial grew glad at the sight; 15 All warm from the glow of their amber-hued skies, How strange seemed the shadows of earth to their eyes!

There, azure-robed beauty, with rapture-lit smile, Her golden wings folded, reclined for a while; And the Seraph of Melody breathed but a word, 20 Then listened entranced at the echoes she heard:

From mountain and forest an organ-like tone,
From hill-top and valley a mellower one;

Stream, fountain, and fall, whispered low to the sod,
For the word that she spoke was the name of our God!

25 With blushes like Eden's own rose in its bloom,
Her censor slow wafting ambrosial perfume,-
With soft-veiling tresses of sunny-hued hair,
The spirit of fragrance breathed sweet on the air.

Then first on the ears of the angels of light,

30 Rose the singing of birds that enchanted the night,—
For the breezes are minstrels in Heaven, they say,
And the leaves and the flowers have a musical play.

Each form of creation with joy was surveyed,
From the gentle gazelle to the kings of the glade ;
35 And lily-crowned Innocence gazed in the eyes
Of the thunder-voiced lion, with smiling surprise.

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