ew,

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5. Now take a sim'i-le at hand;
Compare the mental soil to land.
Shall fields be till'd with annual care,
And minds lie fallow every year?
O! since the crop depends on you,
Give them the culture* which is due;
Hoe every weed, and dress the soil;
So harvest shall repay your toil.
6. If human minds resemble trees,
(As every moralist agrees',)

Prunet all the stragglers of your vine;
Then shall the purple clusters shine.
The gard'ner knows, that fruitful life
Demands his salutary knife:
For every wild luxuriant shoot,
Or robs the bloom, or starves the fruit.

SECTION VIII.

Dependence on Providence.
1. REGARD the world with cautious eye,
Nor raise your expectation high.
See that the balanc'd scales be such,
You neither fear nor hope too much:
For disappointment's not the thing;
'Tis pride and passion point the sting.
2. Life is a sea, where storms must rise;
"Tis folly talks of cloudless skies:
He who contracts his swelling sail,
Eludes the fury of the gale.

3. Be still, nor anxious thoughts employ;
Distrust imbitters present joy:

On God for all events depend;

You cannot want, when God's your friend.
Weigh well your part, and do your best;
Leave to your Maker all the rest.

4. The hand which form'd thee in the womb,
Guides from the cradle to the tomb.
Can the fond mother slight her boy?
Can she forget her prattling joy?
Say then, shall sóv'reign love deşert'
The hum'ble and the hōn'est heart?

God is ǎlike, both good and wise,
In what he grants, and what denies :
Pěrhaps', what Goodness gives to-day,
To-morrow, Goodness takes away.
6. You say, that troubles intervene ;

That sorrows darken half the scene.
True; and this consequence you see,
The world was ne'er* deşīgn'd for thee:
You're like a passenger below,
That stays perhaps' a night or so;
But still his native country lies
Beyond the bound'ries of the skies.†
7. Of Heav'n ǎsk vir'tue, wisdom, health;
But never let thy prayer be wealth.
If food be thine, (though little gold,)
And raiment to repel the cold,
Such as may nature's wants suffice,
Not what from pride and folly rise;
If soft the motions of thy soul,

And a calm conscience crowns the whole:
Add but a friend to all this store,

You can't in reason wish for more:

And if kind Heav'n this cóm'fórt brings,

'Tis more than Heav'n bestows on kings.

CHAPTER IV.

DESCRIPTIVE PIECES.

SECTION I.

The pleasures of retirement.

1. HAPPY the man, whose wish and care

A few paternal acres bound; Content to breathe his native air,

a

In his own ground.

2. Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread, Whose flocks supply him with attire ;

Whose trees in summer yield him shade,

3. Blest who can unconcern'dly find

Hours, days, and years, slide soft ǎway,
In health of body, peace of mind,

Quiet by day.
4. Sound sleep by night; study and ease,
Together mix'd; sweet recreation,
And innocence, which most dóeş please,
With meditation.

5. Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;
Thus unlament'ed let me die,

Steal from the world, and not a stone

The Sluggard.

1. 'Tis the voice of the sluggard; I heard him complain, "You have wak'd me too soon, I must slumber ǎgain'."* As the door on its hinges, so he on his bed,

Turns his sides, and his shoulders, and his heavy head.

2. "A little more sleep, and a little more slumber;"
Thus he wastes half his days, and his hours without number:
And when he gets up, he sits folding his hands,
Or walks about' saunt'ring, or trifling he stands.

3. I pass'd by his gàrden, I saw the wild brier,

The thorn, and the thistle, grow broader and higher. The clothes that hang on him àre turning to rags; And his money still wastes, till he starves, or he begs. 4. I made him a visit, still hoping to find

He had ta'en better care for improving his mind: He told me his dreams, talk'd of eating and drinking; But he scarce reads the Bible, and never loves thinking. 5. Said I then to my heart, "Here's a lesson for me; That man's but a picture of what I might be :

But thanks to my friends for their care in my breeding, Who taught me betimes to love working and reading."

SECTION III.

Creation and Prov'idenc.

1. I SING th' almighty power of God, That made the môûn'tains rise

e;

WATTS.

SECTION IV.

A morning in Spring.

I. Lo! the bright, the rosy morning,
Calls me forth to take the air:
Cheerful Spring, with smiles returning,
Ushers in the new-born year.

2 Nature now in all her beauty,

With her gently moving tongue,
Prompts me to the pleasing duty,
Of a grateful morning song.

3. See the early blossoms springing!

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