She led him through the trackless wild,

Where noontide sunbeams never blazed;
The thistle shrunk, the harvest smiled,

And nature gladdened as she gazed.
Earth's thousand tribes of living things,

At Art's command, are to him given;
The village grows, the city springs,

And point their spires of faith to heaven.

In fields of air he writes his

name,
And treads the chambers of the sky;
He reads the stars, and grasps the flame

That quivers round the throne on high.

LESSON LXXXIV.

TO THE CONDOR.

WONDROUS, majestic bird! whose mighty wing
Dwells not with puny warblers of the spring-

Nor on earth's silent breast,
Powerful to soar in strength and pride on high,
And sweep the azure bosom of the sky,

Chooses its place of rest.

Proud nursling of the tempest, where repose
Thy pinions at the daylight's fading close?

In what far clime of night
Dost thou in silence, breathless and alone,-
While round thee swell of life no kindred tone,

Suspend thy tireless flight?

The mountain's frozen peak is lone and bare;
No foot of man hath ever rested there;

Yet 'tis thy sport to soar
Far o'er its frowning summit;—and the plain
Would seek to win thy downward wing in vain,

Or the green sea-beat shore.
The limits of thy course no daring eye
Has marked;—thy glorious path of light on high

Is trackless and unknown;
The gorgeous sun thy quenchless gaze may share;
Sole tenant of his boundless realm of air,

Thou art, with him, alone.
Imperial wanderer! the storms that shake
Earth's towers, and bid her rooted mountains quake,

Are never felt by thee!-
Beyond the bolt,- beyond the lightning's gleam,
Basking forever in the unclouded beam,-

Thy home immensity!

And thus the soul, with upward flight like thine,
May track the realms where heaven's own glories shine,

And scorn the tempest's power;-
Yet meaner cares oppress its drooping wings;
Still to earth's joys the sky-born wanderer clings-

Those pageants of an hour!

V

LESSON LXXXV.

SELF-INSTRUCTION, 1. SELF-CULTURE has called forth the hidden energies of the soul and fitted its votaries to become the pillars and bulwarks of society. It has taught them that man is not a "leaning willow, but a being “noble in reason and infinite in faculties;” that he must not rely wholly on foreign aid, but must task his own powers, and be able fully to measure his own abilities. This resolute spirit, though latent, can, when fanned into a flame, lead him through every trying emergency, and teach him to remove obstacle after obstacle, till the path lies open to the goal of his ambition, the proudest pinnacle of science.

2. In taking a survey of the master-spirits that have at different periods swayed the world, we find the most prominent among them to be those who have risen by their own exertions, and overcome all opposition with their own hands; men who have emerged from obscurity, and by dint of unremitting labor passed every milestone on the high-road to wisdom; men who, deprived of all outward aid, have turned inward to their own understandings, and found a teacher there: a teacher who continually urged them “onward and upward,” until the aspirations of that mind which God has made immortal, have impelled them forward to their high and honorable destiny. And all have this teacher, this quenchless spirit, and night have this same unconquerable resolution.

3. Poor-men might, did they choose it, become

Kings, not of a state or empire, but of the broad dominions of the world of intelligence; they might grasp the sceptre of knowledge and reign. in prouder state than does the monarch in his jewelled robes and glittering tiara; for, what diadem so priceless as that of wisdom? They might search the pages of ancient lore, and win many a gem to sparkle in that crown, of which the proudest kings of earth might still be prouder.

4. A life of luxury induces sloth, dims the mental perceptions, and enervates a frame naturally vigorous; while the senses, sharpened by privation, are rendered better capable of deep reflection, and the eye of the soul becomes expanded till its piercing vision can gaze undimmed upon the sparkling treasures of intellect. Learning delights to visit the hut of the backwoodsman as well as the lofty mansion of the citizen; all may drink, yet still her unfailing fountain will be ever full: How sweet is the reward of that mind which can say, “I have been my own teacher."

5. How much more enjoyment does it know than he who, having all the advantages which learning could bestow, has cast them lightly aside and refused instruction. It feels that the knowledge it has gained is its own, by a right which none can either question or take away. And it knows that the treasures it may have acquired can never be lost or perverted to ignoble purpóses, because being obliged to toil for them, it has learned to estimate them at their real value. As no theory can be sustained without ilustration, I will point out one from among the mass of numerous instances in which men have risen, by their own exertions, to fill exalted stations in the world of lettersthe self-educated Franklin, the Father of American Science.

6. When a rough, awkward boy, the Governor of New-York, having heard of his uncommon abilities, sent for him in order to test his acquirements, thinking, no doubt, with a very short line, to sound the mind of the untutored “Yankee.” In the course of conversation the youthful Franklin quoted Locke, at which the astonished lawgiver started back in amazement. "Locke! and pray, sir, where did you study Locke ?" "At home, in a tallow chandler's shop," was the answer. The same persevering spirit which led him to search the secrets of philosophy impelled him forward until science gave into his hand the keys of her power, and "the lightning played harmless at his feet."

LESSON LXXXVI.

WASHINGTON'S RESIGNATION.

The hour now approached, in which it became necessary for the American chief to take leave of his officers, who had been endeared to him by a long series of common sufferings and dangers. This was done in a solemn manner. a

The officers having previously assembled for the purpose, General Washington joined them, and“ with a heart full of love and gratitude, said, I now take leave of you. I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honorable."