talking and laughing, a noisy and voracious manner of eating and drinking, direct contradiction, fierce and positive assertion, and making a great bustle about trifles, are sure indications, not that a person has been ill educated merely, but that he is but partially civilized. As our manners depend so much on the habits which we acquire in early life, and as it is quite as easy to become accustomed to agreeable as to disagreeable habits, I recommend this subject to the particular attention of my young read ers. Do not say that good manners are of no consequence, because some other acquirements are of more importance. Good manners are a part of good morals; and it is as much your duty as your interest to practise both. What good man will be indifferent, whether he hurts the feelings and disturbs the enjoyment of others unnecessarily? What sensible man would wish to become the object of general aversion? What modest man will claim the right to be as disgusting as he pleases? Careless and ill bred people are sometimes tolerated on account of some rare quality which they possess; but they are never agreeable-never popular. With a A man has just what he uses and no more. chest full of gold, he has a desire to eat but twice or thrice a day at most. With a thousand suits of apparel in his wardrobe, he can use but one at a time. His neighbour, therefore, who has but one dinner, and one coat at once, is, upon the whole, just as rich as he. yond what nature requires, reason approves, and the Almighty crowns with his blessing, all is childish and fantastical. Hunter. Be If it be your misfortune to have to struggle with a harsh, ungainly, unbending disposition, the sooner you set out in quest of victory the better. Remember that your own comfort is involved," beyond the power of separation, with that of your fellow-creatures. Take care that the manner of shewing mercy, or of conferring obligation mar not the matter of the benefit. The man who refuses graciously, impresses on the heart a more favourable idea of himself, than he who grants, with harshness, insolence or pride. True goodness considers, together with what is written on tables of stone, what is engraven on the living tables of the heart, and from the heart, communicates itself to the forehead, the eyes, the lips, the hand; impressing on the whole the law of kindness. Ibid. Those are the genuine delights of human life at which we arrive through danger and difficulty, which are the immediate gift of Heaven, which we have not employed improper arts to acquire, and which we can therefore enjoy without shame or remorse. The felicity which we are in too great haste to grasp, which we pursue independently of God and religion, which by crooked paths we arrive at, proves at best a cloud in the embrace; often, a serpent full of deadly poison in the bosom. The very delays which Providence interposes, the sacrifices which a sense of duty offers up, the mortifications to which conscience submits, enhance the value, and heighten the relish of our lawful comforts. Ibid. That boy, that youth, that man, that woman, is lost, who is, or who professes to be, indifferent about the opinion of the world. The love of reputation is one of the trees of nature's planting, and none of her plants are easily rooted up; it often survives the hope of life itself, and the man discovers an earnest concern about his memory, after he has resigned his head to the executioner, and his body to the grave. I recommend not to you, my young friend, that servility of deportment, that fawningness of submission and compliance which aims at the applause of every one alike, which is continually fearful of giving offence, which shrinks from doing good, lest by some it might be misconstrued; but that steadiness and perseverance in rectitude, which looks, and goes straight on, which neither courts nor shuns the public eye, which can rejoice in the addition of the praise of men to the testimony of a good conscience, but trembles to think of purchasing the one with the loss of the other. Ibid. Man was made for action,-for duty and usefulness; and it is only when he lives in accordance with this great design of his being, that he attains his highest dignity and truest happiness. To make pleasure our ultimate aim is certainly to fail of it. No matter what a young man's situation and prospects are; no matter if he is perfectly independent in his circumstances, and heir to millions; he will certainly become a worthless character, if he does not aim at something higher than his own selfish enjoyment; if he does not indeed devote himself to some honourable and useful calling. Hawes. In cases of doubtful morality, it is usual to say is there any harm in doing this? This question may sometimes be best answered by asking ourselves another; is there any harm in letting it alone? Colton. LESSON CXIX. Hymn of Praise.-WILCOX. GREAT is thy goodness, Father of all life, Whose omnipresence makes creation smile, 1 From all thy works. Then let earth, air, and sea; In thy vast bed, o'er half the hollowed earth; And pouring crystal torrents down your sides; Sweet summer all your days by changing clime, But ye, to whom redeeming mercy comes, And join them, all ye winged hosts of heaven, END. |