9. It reveals to us the loveliness of nature; brings back the freshness of youthful feeling; revives the relish of simply pleasures; keeps unquenched the enthusiasm which warmed the spring-time of our being; refines youthful love; strengthens our interest in human nature by vivid delineations of its tenderest and loftiest feelings; spreads our sympathies over all classes of society; knits us, by new ties, with universal being; and, through the brightness of its prophetic visions, helps faith to lay hold on the future life.

LESSON XXIX.

с

THE FINE ARTS."

DEWEY.

1. It is often said that the arts cannot flourish in a republic; and this is said in the face of such examples as Athens and republican Rome. But why can they not? I ask. Want of patronage is the reason usually assigned; but let there be intelligence and refinement among any people, and the patronage of the arts must follow. And is it not safer thus to trust the encouragement of the arts to the inte.ligence and free competition of a whole people, than to a few individuals, kings or princes?

2. Would not a generous artist rather take an intelligent people for his patron, than a king? May not the fine arts, in this respect, be safely and advantageously subjected to the same ordeal as literature? We have wealth enough, we have intelligence in America, and I am willing to rely upon these for the inevitable consequence.

3. It would be sad, indeed, if the allegation were true, that the arts could not flourish in a republic. For it is precisely in a republic that they are wanted, to complete the system of social influences. It is a mistake into which novices fall, to suppose that the arts are unfavorable to morality. In fact,

a Fine arts; such as painting, sculpture, &c. b Ath'ens; the capital of Greece, and the ancient residence of many of the Greek classical writers and philosophers. cRome the capital of Italy, and modern parent of the fine arts.

the fine arts have usually been the handmaids of virtue and rel gion. More than half of the great paintings in the world are illustrative of religious subjects; and, embracing mythol ogy in this account, more than half of the statues are of the same character.

4. And, to refer to kindred arts, architecture, too, has built its noblest structures for religion, and music has composed its sublimest strains for the sanctuary. Genius, indeed, that inspiration from heaven, has always shown its descent from above by this direction of its labors. The introduction of the arts into our country, then, is not to be dreaded on the score of morality. Is it not on every account greatly to be desired? The most material deficiency among us, perhaps, next to the want of virtue, is likely to be the want of refine

ment.

5. There is need among us of objects that kindle up admi ration and enthusiasm, that awaken the sense of delight and wonder, that break up the habits of petty calculation and sordid interest, and breathe a liberal and generous soul into the people; and this need the arts would supply. The Author of nature has shown that it was not beneath his care to provide for the gratification of sentiments precisely similar to those which are addressed by the arts.

6. The world, composed of hill and dale, mountain and valley, not one boundless plowed field to yield food; dressed in gay and bright liveries, not in one somber-suited color; filled with the music of its streams and groves, not doomed to endless monotony or everlasting silence; - such a world the dwelling-place of nations, the school of their discipline the temple of their worship, plainly shows that they were no destined to be pupils of cold and stern utility alone, but of many and diversified influences; of gracefulness, of elegance of beneficence, beauty, and sublimity.

a Mythology; traditions respecting heathen gods and fabulous heroes.

LESSON XXX.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION."

HUMPHREY.

1. THAT is undoubtedly the wisest and best regimen which takes the infant from the cradle, and conducts him along, through childhood and youth, up to high maturity, in such a manner as to give strength to his arm, swiftness to his feet, solidity and amplitude to his muscles, symmetry to his frame, and expansion to his vital energies.

2. It is obvious that this branch of education comprehends, not only food and clothing, but air, exercise, lodging, early rising, and whatever else is requisite to the full development of the physical constitution. The diet must be simple, the apparel must not be too warm, nor the bed too soft.

3. Let parents beware of too much restriction in the manEgement of their darling boy. Let him, in choosing his play, follow the suggestions of nature. Let them not be discomposed at the sight of his sand-hills in the road, his snow-forts in February, and his mud-dams in April; nor when they chance to look out, in the midst of an August shower, and see him wading, and sailing, and sporting along with the water-fowl.

4. If they would make him hardy and fearless, they must let him go abroad as often as he pleases, in his early boyhood, and amuse himself by the hour together in smoothing and twirling the hoary locks of winter. Instead of keeping him shut up all day with a stove, and graduating his sleeping-room by Fahrenheit," they must let him face the keen edge of a north wind, when the mercury is below cipher, and, instead of minding a little shivering and complaining when he returns, cheer up his spirits and send him out again. 5. In this way, they will teach him that he was not born

a Physical education; development of the bodily functions, as separate from the mind. b Fahrenheit, (Fä'ren-hīte;) a Prussian, born at Dantzic, the inventor of Fanrenheit's thermometer. By metonymy, the name of the inventor is here used for the instrument.

to live in a nursery, nor to brood over the fire; but to range abroad, as free as the snow and the air, and to gain warmth from exercise. I love and admire the youth, who turns not back from the howling wintry blast, nor withers under the blaze of summer; who never magnifies "mole-hills into mountains;" but whose daring eye, exulting, scales the ea gle's airy crag, and who is ready to undertake anything that is prudent and lawful, within the range of possibility.

6. Who would think of planting the mountain oak in a greenhouse? or of rearing the cedar of Lebanon in a lady's flower-pot? Who does not know that, in order to attain their mighty strength and majestic forms, they must freely enjoy the rain and the sunshine, and must feel the rocking of the tempest?

LESSON XXXI.

ADVANTAGES OF TEMPERANCE.

HITCHCOCK.

1. TEMPERANCE promotes clearness and vigor of intellect. If the functions of the brain be not in a healthy and vigorous state, equally unhealthy and inefficient must be those of the mind. History will bear us out in asserting, that the highest and most successful intellectual efforts have ever been associated with the practice of those general principles of temper ance in diet for which we plead.

2. It is the mighty minds that have grappled most successfully with the demonstrations of mathematical, intellectual, and moral science, that stand highest on the scale of mental acumen and power; and it is such minds that have found strict temperance in diet essential to their success. Let us advert to the history of a few of the master spirits of the human race.

▲ Leb'a-non; a range of mountains in Syria, the highest summit of which is 11000 feet.

3. Foremost on the list stands Sir Isaac Newton." The treatise of his, that cost him the mightiest intellectual effort of all his works, was composed while the body was sustained by bread and water alone. And in spite of the wear and tear of such protracted and prodigious mental labor as his, that same temperance sustained him to his eighty-fifth year.

4. The celebrated John Locke,' with a feeble constitution, outlived the term of threescore years and ten, by his temperance. "To this temperate mode of life, too, he was probably indebted for the increase of those intellectual powers, which gave birth to his incomparable work on the human. understanding, his treatises on government and education, as well as his other writings, which do so much honor to his memory."

5. Another intellectual philosopher, who saw fourscore years, was the venerable Kant.c By this commendable and healthy practice," early rising, says his biographer, "daily exercise on foot, temperance in eating and drinking, constant employment, and cheerful company, he protracted his life to this advanced period;" and we may add, acquired the power for his immense labors of mind.

6. Few men have more fully established their claims to intellectual superiority of a very high grade than President Edwards. But it was temperance alone that could carry him through such powerful mental efforts. "Though constitutionally tender, by the rules of temperance, he enjoyed good health, and was enabled to pursue his studies thirteen hours a day."

7. The same means enabled Martin Luther, though his days were stormy in the extreme, to make the moral world bend at his will, and to leave for his posterity so many profound literary productions. "It often happened," says his biographer," that for several days and nights he locked him

a Sir Isaac Newton; an eminent philosopher and mathematician of England. b John Locke; a noted intellectual philosopher of England. Kant; an intellectual philosopher, born at Konigsberg, Prussia. d President Edwards; an eminent theologian of Connecticut, and President of Princeton College. • Martin Luther; a distinguished German divine.