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tions and disquietudes, which continually harass and perplex those who have no resources within themselves, and, in some measure, elevates him above the smiles and frowns of fortune.

SECTION VII.

RULE 7. Language of tender emotion, as of mild and humble entreaty, moderate grief or sorrow, kindness, and the like, generally inclines the voice to a gentle upward inflection.

EXAMPLES.

1. Then Judah came near unto him, and sáid, O my lord, let thy sérvant, I pray theé, speak a word in my lord's ears, and let not thine anger burn against thy sérvant, for thou art even as Pharaoh.

2. Then Esther, the queen, answered and sáid, If I have found favor in thy sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given at my petition, and my people at my request; for we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be sláin, and to pèrish.

EXERCISE.

THE HEAD-STONE.- WILSON.

1. The coffin was let down to the bottom of the gráve, the planks were removed from the heaped-up brínk, the first rattling clods had struck their knéll, the quick shoveling

QUESTION. What is the rule for language of entreaty and tender emotion?

• Es'ther, (Queen,) a Jewess, and wife of Ahasuerus, king of Persia

was over, and the lóng, bróad, skillfully cut pieces of turf were aptly joined together, and trimly laid by the beating spáde, so that the newest mound in the chúrch-yard, was scarcely distinguishable from those that were grown over by the undisturbed grass and daisies of a luxuriant spring.

2. The burial was soon over; and the párty, with one consenting mótion, having uncovered their heads in decent. reverence of the place and occasion, were beginning to séparate, and to leave the church-yard.

3. But two men yet stood together at the head of the grave, with countenances of sincére, but unimpassioned grief. They were brothers, the only sons of him who had been buried. And there was something in their situation that naturally kept the eyes of many directed upon them for a long time, and more intently than would have been the case, had there been nothing more observable about them, than the common symptoms of a common sorrow. But these two brothers who were now standing at the head of their father's gráve, had for some years been totally estranged from each other, and the only words that had passed between them during all that time, had been uttered within a few days pást, during the necessary preparations for their father's funeral.

4. No deep and deadly quarrel was between these brothers, and neither of them could distinctly tell the cause of this unnatural estrangement. Surely, if any thing could have softened their hearts toward each other, it must have been to stand silently, side by side, while the éarth, stónes, and clóds, were falling down upon their father's coffin.

5. A.head-stone had been prepared, and a person came forward to plant it. The older brother directed him how to place it a plain stone, with a sand-glass, skull, and bones, chiseled not rudely, and a few words inscribed. younger brother regarded the operation with a troubled eye, and said, loudly enough to be heard by several of the by

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standers, "William, this was not kind in you; you should have told me of this. I loved my father as well as you could love him. You were the elder, and, it may be, the favorite son; but I had a right in nature to have joined you in ordering this head-stone, had I not?"

6. During these words, the stone was sinking into the earth, and many persons who were on their way from the grave, returned. For a while, the elder brother said nothing, for he had a consciousness in his heart that he ought to have consulted his father's son, in designing this last, becoming mark of affection and respect to his memory; so the stone was planted in silence, and now stood erect, decently and simply, among the other unostentatious memorials of the humble dead.

7. The inscription merely gave the name and age of the deceased, and told that the stone had been erected "by his affectionate sons." The sight of these words seemed to soften the displeasure of the angry man, and he said, somewhat more mildly, "Yes, we were his affectionate sons, and since my name is on the stone, I am satisfied, brother. We have not drawn together kindly of late years, and perhaps never may; but I acknowledge and respect your worth; and here, before our own friends, and before the friends of our father, with my foot above his head, I express my willingness to be on other and better terms with you; and if we cannot command love in our hearts, let us, at least, brother, bar out all unkindness."

8. The minister, who had attended the funeral, and had something intrusted to him to say publicly before he left the church-yard, now came forward, and asked the elder brother why he spake not regarding this matter. He saw that there was something of a cold and sullen pride rising up in his heart; for not easily may any man hope to dismiss from the chamber of his heart, even the vilest guest, if once cherished here. With a solemn and almost severe air, he looked upon

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the relenting man, and then, changing his countenance into serenity, said gently,

"Behold how good a thing it is,

And how becoming well,

Together such as brethren are,
In unity to dwell."

9. The time, the place, and this beautiful expression of a natural sentiment, quite overcame a heart, in which many kind, if not warm affections dwelt; and the man, thus appealed to, bowed down his head and wept."Give me your hand, brother;"—and it was given, while a murmur of satisfaction arose from all present, and all hearts felt kindlier and more humanely toward each other.

10. As the brothers stood, fervently but composedly grasping each other's hand, in the little hollow that lay between the grave of their mother, long since dead, and of their father, whose shroud was not yet still from the fall of dust to dust, the minister stood beside them with a pleasant . countenance, and said, "I must fulfill the promise I made to your father on his death-bed. I must read to you a few words which his hand wrote, at an hour when his tongue denied its office.

11. "I must not say that you did your duty to your old father; for did he not often beseech you, apart from one another, to be reconciled, for your own sakes as Christians, for his sake, and for the sake of the mother who bare you, and Stephen, who died that you might be born? When the palsy struck him for the last time, you were both absent, nor was it your fault that you were not beside your dear father when he died.

12. "As long as sense continued with him here, did he think of you two, and of you two alone. Tears were in his eyes I saw them there, and on his cheek too, when no breath came from his lips. But of this no more.

--

He died

with this paper in his hand; and he made me know that I was to read it to you over his grave. I now obey him:'My sons, if you will let my bones lie quiet in the grave, near the dust of your mother, depart not from my burial, till, in the name of God and Christ, you promise to love one another as you used to do. Dear boys, receive my blessing."

13. Some turned their heads away to hide the tears that needed not to be hidden; and, when the brothers had released each other from a long and sobbing embrace, many went up to them, and in a single word or two, expressed their joy at this perfect reconciliation. The brothers themselves walked away from the church-yard, arm in arm, with the minister to the parsonage.

14. On the following Sabbath, they were seen sitting with their families in the same pew; and it was observed that they read together from the same Bible when the minister gave out the text, and that they sung together from the same psalm book. The same psalm was sung, being given out at their own request, of which one verse had been repeated at their father's grave; a larger sum than usual was on that Sabbath found in the plate for the poor, charity are sisters. And ever after, both during the peace and the troubles of this life, the hearts of the brothers were as one, and in nothing were they divided.

GENTLE WORDS.

- for love and

15. More precious than the honeyed dew,
From flowers distilled of saffron hue,
Of rosy tint, or azure blue,

Are gentle words.

16. More joyous than the merry thrill,

When warbling sounds the woodlands fill,
Or parting streamlet, brook, or rill,

Are gentle words.

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