They say that he again will rise,
More beautiful than now;
That God will bless him in the skies-
O, mother, tell me how!"

"Daughter do you remember, dear,
The cold, dark thing you brought,
And laid upon the casement here, -
A withered worm, you thought?

I told you that Almighty Power
Could break that withered shell,
And show you, in a future hour,
Something would please you well.

Look at the chrysalis, my love,-
An empty shell it lies;
Now raise your wandering glance above,
To where yon insect flies!"

"O, yes, mamma! how very gay
Its wings of starry gold!
And see! it lightly flies awav
Beyond my gentle hold.

O, mother, now I know full well,
If God that worm can change,
And draw it from this broken cell,
On golden wings to range,-

How beautiful will brother be,
When God shall give him wings,
Above this dying world to flee,
And live with heavenly things!"

LIFE.-JAMES.

Life is always like a stream, whatever character it may asGrief murmurs, anger roars, impatience frets; but happiness, like a calm river, flows on in quiet sunlight, without an eddy or a fall to mark the rushing of time towards eternity.

THE ASPEN LEAF.-MISS JEWSBURY.

I would not be

A leaf on yonder aspen tree;

In every fickle breeze to play,
Wildly, weakly, idly gay,

So feebly framed, so lightly hung,

By the wing of an insect stirred and swung;
Thrilling even to a redbreast's note,
Drooping if only a light mist float,
Brightened and dimmed like a varying glass,
As shadow or sunbeam chance to pass;-
I would not be

A leaf on yonder aspen tree.

It is not because the autumn sere

Would change my merry guise and cheer, -
That soon, full soon, nor leaf, nor stem,
Sunlight would gladden, or dewdrop gem,
That I, with my fellows, must fall to earth,
Forgotten our beauty and breezy mirth,
Or else on the bough where all had grown,
Must linger on, and linger alone ;-
Might life be an endless summer's day,
And I be for ever green and gay,
I would not be, I would not be,
A leaf on yonder aspen tree!

Proudly spoken heart of mine,

Yet weakness and change perchance are thine,
More, and darker, and sadder to see,
Than befall the leaves of yonder tree!
What if they flutter-their life is a dance;
Or toy with the sunbeam-they live in his glance;
To bird, breeze, and insect rustle, and thrill,
Never the same, never mute, never still,-
Emblems of all that is fickle and gay,
But leaves in their birth, but leaves in decay-
Chide them not-heed them not-spirit away!
In to thyself, to thine own hidden shrine,
What there dost thou worship? What deemest thou divine
Thy hopes, are they steadfast, and holy and high ?
Are they built on a rock? Are they raised to the sky?-
Thy deep secret yearnings,-oh! whither point they,
To the triumphs of earth, to the toys of a day?
Thy friendships and feelings, doth impulse prevail,
To make them, and mar them, as wind swells the sail?
Thy life's ruling passion-thy being's first aim-
What are they? And yield they contentment or shame ?
Spirit, proud spirit, ponder thy state;
If thine the leaf's lightness, not thine the leaf's fate :
It may flutter, and glisten, and wither, and die,
And heed not our pity, and ask not our sigh;
But for thee, the immortal, no winter may throw
Eternal repose on thy joy or thy woe;
Thou must live, and live ever, in glory or gloom,
Beyond the world's precincts, beyond the dark tomb.
Look to thyself, then, ere past is hope's reign,
And looking and longing alike are in vain;
Lest thou deem it a bliss to have been or to be
But a fluttering leaf on yon aspen tree!

PERSONIFICATION.

WISDOM.-SOLOMON.

Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice? She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths; she crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors; unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man. O ye simple, understand wisdom; and ye fools be ye of an understanding heart.

Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things. For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them. They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge.

Receive my instruction and not silver; and knowledge rath er than choice gold. For wisdom is better than rubies; and the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.

Wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate. Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength.

By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth. I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. Riches and honor are with me; yea durable riches and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver. I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment; that I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.

The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled; before the hills was I brought forth: while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there; when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: when he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: when he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: Then I was by him, as one brought up with him ; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; reoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men. Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favor of the Lord. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.

FAME.-POLLOK.

Of all the phantoms fleeting in the mist
Of time though meagre all, and ghostly thin,
Most unsubstantial, unessential shade
Was earthly Fame. She was a voice alone,

And dwelt upon the noisy tongues of men.
She never thought, but gabbled ever on,
Applauding most what least deserved applause.
The motive, the result, was naught to her.
The deed alone, though dyed in human gore,
And steeped in widow's tears, if it stood out
To prominent display, she talked of much,
And roared around it with a thousand tongues.
As changed the wind, her organ, so she changed
Perpetually; and whom she praised to-day,
Vexing his ears with acclamations loud,
To-morrow blamed, and hissed him out of sight.

Such was her nature, and her practice such.
But O! her voice was sweet to mortal ears,
And touched so pleasantly the strings of pride
And vanity, which in the heart of man
Were ever strung harmonious to her note,
That many thought, to live without her song
Was rather death than life.

GREECE AND ROME.-STORY.

Greece, lovely Greece, 'the land of scholars and the nurse of arms,' where sister republics in fair possessions chanted the praises of liberty and the gods; where, and what is she? For two thousand years the oppressor has bound her to the earth. Her arts are no more. The last sad relics of her temples are but the barracks of a ruthless soldiery; the fragments of her columns and her palaces are in the dust, yet beautiful in ruin. She fell not when the mighty were upon her. Her sons were united at Thermopylæ and Marathon; and the tide of her triumph rolled back upon the Hellespont. She was conquered by her own factions. She fell by the hands of her own people. The man of Macedonia did not the work of destruction. was already done by her own corruptions, banishments, and dissensions. Rome, republican Rome, whose eagles glanced in the rising and setting sun, where, and what is she? The eternal city yet remains, proud even in her desolation, noble in her decline, venerable in the majesty of religion, and calm as in the composure of death. The malaria has but traveled in the paths worn by her destroyers. More than eighteen centu ries have mourned over the loss of her empire. A mortal dis

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