the balance of a debt which the lapidary had owed to my father. My sisters' portions, my mother's provision, my cousin Ronza, and my expected castle, all came to my mind, only to reproach me for my vanity and folly.

5. CONCLUSION OF THE STORY.

1. But I was still a lapidary, and have since been, at times, a jewel-hunter. My hopes, however, have not been crowned with success; but yet I have lived happily. Never has my hammer laid open the lustre of another opal; I have never entered Cracow again with the exulting thought that I was about to possess myself of fifty thousand florins; but neither have I quitted it with the painful reflection that my own vanity and folly have lost. me the fruit of a year's labor, and of many years' hope: I have had no portions to bestow upon my sisters, but they have married, and have been happy without them; no provision to settle upon my mother, but she has long been beyond the need of it; no castle to offer Ronza, but she has never appeared to wish for more than she possesses.

2. Old age steals fast upon me, and so would it if I had possessed riches; death has no greater terror for the poor than for the rich man; nor has it so much to disturb the serenity of his meditations. My children regret that I should leave them, and their regrets are sincere, because, when I am gone, they expect no fortune from my estate.

3. I hope to go down to my grave in a good old age, honored and respected for my worth, and leaving to my children a good education, an honorable business, and the inheritance of a good name; all which I know to be more conducive to true and lasting happiness, than either the expectation or the attainment of great worldly wealth and honors.

VIII. Our Return to St. Petersburg.

1. We parted with our friend Mr. Delmar', after many expressions of regard and good wishes on both sides, and

then returned to St. Petersburg. Dr. Edson, Henry, and two or three others of our party had left, three days before the rest, to visit Vladimeer and Ivano'vo, two great manufacturing towns north-east of Moscow. Dr. Edson tells us that Ivano'vo has recently grown to great importance, and that the English call it the Russian Manchester.

2. To-morrow we leave St. Petersburg for Rotterdam and the Rhine, and then for the Straits of Gibraltar and the Mediterranean; but whether we shall visit Paris on the way, or not, is still uncertain.

CHAPTER VI.—AFTER THE READING OF THE LETTER.

1. After the reading of Freddy's letter,-given in the preceding chapter,-there was much talk about the countries and places visited by the voyagers. Some allusion having been made to Freddy's previous letter, Mr. Raymond gave an account of the national museum at Stockholm, which he had visited. Mr. Agnew spoke of the great Swedish botanist Linnæ'us; and Aunt Clara gave some account of the writings of the famous Swedish novelist, Fredrika Bre'mer.

2. Uncle Philip had something to say about the almost unlimited natural resources of Russia,―her mines of gold, silver, copper, iron, and coal,—and the exceedingly varied and extensive manufactures that have grown up there during the past thirty years. "There are now," said he, "as we gather from the latest reports, more than ninety thousand separate large manufactories, of various kinds, in this extensive empire; and their products of woollen, cotton, silk, linen, and other goods and wares, are increasing with wonderful rapidity."

3. Eddie could repeat those portions of Southey's poem

which Freddy had omitted; and Minnie asked if the Russians have any celebrated poets of their own.

"O yes," said Mary Atkins, "they have certainly one great poet, and that is the poet who wrote that grand poem, or ode, to GOD. I do not know," said she, turning to the teacher, "that I can pronounce his Russian name."

4. "It is Der-zhä’vin,” said the teacher; "and the ode to which you refer is certainly one of the noblest and most sublime poems ever written. It has been translated into English by that celebrated poet-translator, Sir John Bowring, and it has not only been translated into several other European languages, but also into Chinese and Japanese. It is said to have been hung up in the palace of the Emperor of China, printed in gold letters on white satin, and in the same manner in the Japanese temple of Yedo. I am sure you have it in the library, Eddy, in Bowring's Specimens of the Russian Poets."

5. Eddy went and brought the book, and, at the request. of Uncle Philip, Mr. Raymond read aloud this famous ode, which is as follows:

Derzha'vin's Ode to God.

1. O Thou eternal one! Whose presence bright
All space doth occupy, all motion guide;
Unchanged through Time's all-devastating flight;
Thou only God! There is no God beside!
Being above all beings! Mighty One!

Whom none can comprehend and none explore ;
Who fill'st existence with Thyself alone:
Embracing all-supporting-ruling o'er-
Being whom we call GOD-and know no more!

2. In its sublime research, philosophy

May measure out the ocean-deep-may count

Verse 1.-Why can we properly speak of "Time's devastating flight"?

The sands or the sun's rays-but, God! for Thee
There is no weight nor measure :-none can mount
Up to Thy mysteries. Reason's brightest spark,

Though kindled by Thy light, in vain would try
To trace Thy counsels, infinite and dark:

And thought is lost ere thought can soar so high,
Even like past moments in eternity.

3. Thou, from primeval nothingness, didst call, First, chaos, then, existence :-Lord! on Thee Eternity had its foundation:—all

Sprung forth from Thee:-of light, joy, harmony, Sole origin-all life, all beauty Thine.

Thy word created all, and doth create;

Thy splendor fills all space with rays divine.
Thou art, and wert, and shalt be! glorious! great!
Light-giving, life-sustaining Potentate!

4. Thy chains the unmeasured universe surround,
Upheld by Thee, by Thee inspired with breath!
Thou the beginning with the end hast bound,
And beautifully mingled life and death!
As sparks mount upward from the fiery blaze,

So suns are born, so worlds spring forth from Thee;
And as the spangles in the sunny rays

Shine round the silver snow, the pageantry
Of heaven's bright army glitters in Thy praise.

5. A million torches, lighted by Thy hand,

Wander unwearied through the blue abyss:

Verse 2.-Why say that "Philosophy may measure the oceandeep"? [Ans. Because Philosophy resembles, in its results, the art of measuring. It can estimate the depth of ocean without measuring it.]—V. 5. Why "a million torches" ?—Why "own thy power" ?— Why "accomplish thy command" ?-Why " eloquent”?

They own Thy power, accomplish Thy command,
All gay with life, all eloquent with bliss.
What shall we call them? Piles of crystal light?
A glorious company of golden streams?
Lamps of celestial ether burning bright?

Suns lighting systems with their joyous beams?But Thou to these art as the noon to night.

6. Yes! as a drop of water in the sea,

All this magnificence in Thee is lost :

:

What are ten thousand worlds compared to Thee? And what am I, then? Heaven's unnumbered host, Though multiplied by myriads, and arrayed

In all the glory of sublimest thought,
Is but an atom in the balance weighed

Against Thy greatness,-is a cipher brought
Against infinity! O, what am I, then? Nought!

7. Nought! Yet the effluence of Thy light divine,
Pervading worlds, hath reached my bosom too;
Yes, in my spirit doth Thy Spirit shine,

As shines the sunbeam in a drop of dew.
Nought! But I live, and on hope's pinions fly
Eager toward Thy presence; for in Thee
I live, and breathe, and dwell, aspiring high,
Even to the throne of Thy divinity.

I am, O God! and surely Thou must be!

8. Creator-yes! Thy wisdom and Thy word
Created me! Thou Source of life and good!
Thou Spirit of my spirit, and my Lord!
Thy light, Thy love, in their bright plenitude

Verse 7.-Why "fly on hope's pinions"?