15. "But what madness must it be to run into debt, for these superfluities? We are offered, by the terms of this sale, six months' credit; and that, perhaps, has induced some of us to attend it, because we can not spare the ready money, and hope now to be fine without it. But, ah! think what you do when you run into debt; you give to another power over your liberty. 16. "If you can not pay at the time, you will be ashamed to see your creditor; you will be in fear when you speak to him; you will make poor, pitiful, sneaking excuses, and, by degrees, come to lose your veracity, and sink into base, downright lying; for, The second vice is lying, the first is running into debt, as Poor Richard says; and again, to the same purpose: Lying rides upon Debt's back; whereas a free-born, honest man, ought not to be ashamed nor afraid to see or speak to any one living. But poverty orten deprives a man of all spirit and virtue. It is hard for an empty bag to stand upright."

QUESTIONS.-1. What does Father Abraham say must be joined with industry! 2. How does he illustrate this? 3. Can you repeat some of the precepts which he gives? 4. Do you know who is meant by Father Abraham and Poor Richard?

LESSON LVI.

SPELL AND DEFINE.-1. BELLES, gay young ladies. 2. Co TIL LON, a brisk dance performed by eight persons. 3. QUA DRILLE', a game of cards played by four persons. 4. VAUNT' ING LY, boastingly. 5. WAR' BLES, sings. 6. RUS' TIC AL, pertaining to the country. 7. Drr'TY, a song. 8. Ex' QUI SITE, exact; complete. 9. Po' TENT, powerful. 10. E VAD' ED, escaped; avoided. 11. WITCH' ER Y, sorcery; enchantment. 12. ARM OR Y, place where arms are kept. 13. POLISH ED, made smooth and glossy. 14. BURN' ISH ED, brightened; polished. 15. CoN' QUEST, victory; captivation. 16. ROUT, crowd; a fashionable assemblage.

Avoid saying boas for boast, wist for whist, d'rected for directed, and dart for and art.

Be careful to avoid a sing-song tone in reading the two follow ing pieces of poetry.

THE NEEDLE.

SAMUEL WOODWORTH

1. The gay belles of fashion may boast of excelling
In waltz or cotillon, at whist or quadrille;
And seek admiration by vauntingly telling

Of drawing, and painting, and musical skill;
But give me the fair one, in country or city,
Whose home and its duties are dear to her heart,
Who cheerfully warbles some rustical ditty,
While plying the needle with exquisite art:
The bright little needle-(")the swift-flying needle,
The needle directed by beauty and art.

2. If love have a potent, a magical token,
A talisman, ever resistless and true,—
A charm that is never evaded or broken,
A witchery certain the heart to subdue,-
'Tis this,—and his armory never has furnished
So keen and unerring, or polished a dart;
Let Beauty direct it, so pointed and burnished,
And, oh! it is certain of touching the heart:
The bright little needle-(")the swift-flying needle,
The needle directed by beauty and art.

3. Be wise, then, ye maidens, nor seek admiration
By dressing for conquest, and flirting with all;
You never, whate'er be your fortune or station,
Appear half so lovely at rout or at ball,
As gayly convened at a work-covered table,
Each cheerfully active and playing her part,
Beguiling the task with a song or a fable,
And plying the needle with exquisite art:
The bright little needle-(") the swift-flying needle,
The needle directed by beauty and art.

QUESTIONS.-1. In what terms does the author express his admiration of those ladies that "ply the needle"? 2. What advice in the 3d stanza does he give to young ladies? 3. What celebrated piece, by the same author, in the same measure? Ans. The Old Oaken Bucket."

66

How, according to the notation marks, should the latter part of each stanza be read? How many accented syllables in each line of this poetry? What is such kind of poetry called?

LESSON LVII.

6. TEM'

SPELL AND DEFINE.-1. Breed' inG, bringing up; education. 2. FAITH LESS LY, in a manner without faith; falsely. 3. No' BLE MAN, a person of noble rank, or birth. 4. IN TOLER ANT, oppressive; tyrannical. 5. IM' PULS ES, instincts; motives; feelings. PER ED, moderated; governed. 7. COR' DI AL, kind; loving. Avoid saying affex for affects, it sease for its ease, nature sown for nature's own, finest tin for finest in, &c.

NATURE'S NOBLEMAN.

MARTIN F. TUPPER

1. Away with false fashion, so calm and so chill,
Where pleasure itself can not please;
Away with cold breeding, that faithlessly still
Affects to be quite at its ease;

For the deepest in feeling is highest in rank,
The freest is first in the band,

And nature's own Nobleman, friendly and frank,
Is a man with his heart in his hand!

2. Fearless in honesty, gentle yet just,

He warmly can love and can hate,

Nor will he bow down with his face in the dust
To fashion's intolerant state;

For best in good breeding, and highest in rank,
Though lowly or poor in the land,

Is nature's own Nobleman, friendly and frank,
The man with his heart in his hand!

3. His fashion is passion, sincere and intense,
His impulses, simple and true;

Yet tempered by judgment, and taught by good sense,
And cordial with me, and with you;

For the finest in manners, as highest in rank,
Is you, man! or you, man! who stand
Nature's own Nobleman, friendly and frank,

A man with his heart in his hand!

QUESTIONS.-1. What is the author's description of the character whom he designates as "nature's nobleman"! 2. What is meant by the line "The man with his heart in his hand"?

What kind of emphasis on his and you, last stanza? Note VI, p. 21

LESSON LVIII.

SPELL AND DEFINE.-1. AN' GUISH, extreme pain. 2. CON DEMNATION, the act of condemning. 3. DO MES' TIC, pertaining to home. 4. E CON' O MY, frugality; saving. 5. PHIL AN THROP' IC, pertaining to the love of mankind. 6. EM PRISE', an undertaking; an enterprise. 7. SIG NIF I CANT LY, meaningly; with force of expression. 8. DE CI DED LY, in a manner decided; positively. 9. VI ANDS, food; victuals. 10. GRUDG' ING LY, unwillingly. 11. NUR' TUR ED, fostered; brought up. 12. EF FEM' I NATE, weak; unmanly. 13. AP PLI AN CES, agencies; means. 14. LEDGER, the principal book of accounts. 15. CAS' U AL, accidental.

Avoid saying gether for gather, fathers' stables for fathers' tables, &o

THE FALSE POSITION

KNICKERBOOKER MAG.

Uncle. What do you mean, Anne, by the "undercurrent," which you and James appear to be so warmly discussing?

Anne. I was saying, Uncle, that there are a great many persons who suffer keenly from poverty; not truly for want of bread, or clothing, or even the ordinary comforts, and, I might add, many of the luxuries of life.

Uncle. Well, what kind of poverty is that which affords all the needful things, and many of the enjoyments of luxury? I'm like James; I can not see the suffering" you talk about.

of

Anne. It is the anguish that settles upon the heart every honest man, when he feels that he is living beyond his means.

Uncle. No man has a right to do that; it is dishonest, and should receive condemnation rather than pity.

Anne. Yes; that's very well; but for all you say, there are hundreds and thousands all through our cities and country, who do it, and are forced by circumstances so to live on from year to year, outwardly maintaining the appearance of rank and wealth; when, could we glide into the bosom of their every-day domestic economy, we should see heart-burnings, and toil, and scantiness, such as the world does not dream

find rope-dancers and tumblers bring their bodies to! not but that some, in almost all manual arts, are as wonderful; but I name those which the world takes notice of for such; because, on that very account, they give money to see them. All these admired motions, beyond the reach and almost the conception of unpracticed spectators, are nothing but the mere effects of use and industry in men, whose bodies have nothing peculiar in them from the amazed lookers-on.

4. As it is in the body, so it is in the mind; practice makes it what it is; and most even of those excellences which are looked on as natural endowments, will be found, when examined into more narrowly, to be the product of exercise, and to be raised to that pitch only by repeated actions. Some men are remarked for pleasantries in raillery, others for apologues and apposite diverting stories. This is apt to be taken for the effect of pure nature, and that the rather, because it is not acquired by rules, and those who excel in either of them, never purposely set themselves to the study of it, as an art to be learned.

5. But yet it is true, that at first some lucky hit which took with somebody, and gained him commendation, encouraged him to try again, inclined his thoughts and endeavors that way, till at last he insensibly got a facility in it without perceiving how; and that is attributed wholly to nature, which was much more the effect of use and practice.

6. I do not deny that natural disposition may often give the first rise to it; but that never carries a man far without use and exercise, and it is practice alone that brings the powers of the mind as well as those of the body to perfection. Many a good poetic vein is buried under a trade, and never produces anything for want of improvement.

7. We see the ways of discourse and reasoning are very different, even concerning the same matter, at court and in the university. And he that will go but from Westminster Hall to the Exchange, will find a ifferent genius and turn in their ways of talking;