And when he called on Abraham's God to bless the wedded pair, It seemed a very mockery to breathe so vain a prayer. 5. I saw the palsied bridegroom, too, in youth's gay ensign drest, A shroud were fitter garment far for him than bridal vest; I marked him, when the ring was claimed, 'twas hard to lose his hold, He held it with a miser's clutch-it was his darling gold. His shriveled hand was wet with tears, she shed, alas! in vain Ard trembled like an autumn leaf beneath the beating rain. . I've seen her since that fatal morn- -her golden fetters rest, As e'en the weight of incubus upon her aching breast; And when the victor, (death,) shall come, to deal the welcome blow, He will not find one rose to swell the wreath that decks his brow, For oh! her cheer is blanchel with grief, that time may not as suage: Thus early beauty skede her bloom on the wintry breast of age. LESSON LXXVI. THE WILDERNESS OF MIND. ObBONE 1. THERE is a wilderness more dark, 2. 'Tis not among the untrodden isles, 3. Nor is it in the deepest shade, Of India's tiger-haunted wood; Where crouching panthers lurk for blood 4 'Tis in the dark, uncultured soul, By education unrefined, Where hissing malice, vices foul, LESSON LXXVIII. THE FAMINE IN IRELAND. PRENTISS. 1. THERE lies upon the other side of the wide Atlantic a beautiful island, famous in story and in song. It has been prolific in statesmen, warriors, and poets. It has given to the world more than its share of genius and of greatness. Its brave and generous sons have fought successfully in all battles out its own. In wit and humor it has no equal; while its harp, like its history, moves to tears by its sweet but melancholy pathos. 2. In this fair region God has seen fit to send the most ter rible of all those fearful ministers who fulfill his inscrutable decrees. The earth has failed to give her increase; the common mother has forgotten her offspring, and her breast no longer af fords them their accustomed nourishment. Famine, gaunt and ghastly famine, has seized a nation with its strangling grasp; and unhappy Ireland, in the sad woes of the present, forgets, for a moment, the gloomy history of the past. 3. In battle, in the fullness of his pride and strength, little recks the soldier whether the hissing bullet sing his sudden requiem, or the cords of life are severed by the sharp steel. Bur he who dies of hunger, wrestles alone, day after day, with his grim and unrelenting enemy. He has no friends to cheer him in the terrible conflict; for if he had friends, how could he die of hunger? He has not the hot blood of the soldier to main tain him for his foe, vampire-like, has exhausted his veins. : 4. Who will hesitate to give his mite, to avert such awful results? Give, then, generously and freely. Recollect, that in so doing, you are exercising one of the most godlike qualities of your nature, and, at the same time, enjoying one of the greatest luxuries of life. We ought to thank our Maker that he has permitted us to exercise equally with himself, that noblest of even the Divine attributes, benevolence. 5. Go home and look at your families, smiling in rosy health, and then think of the pale, famine-pinched cheeks of the poor children of Ireland; and you will give according to your store, even as a bountiful Providence has given to you - not grudg ingly, but with an open hand; for the quality of benevolence, Like that of mercy, "Is not strained: It droppeth like the gentle rain from heaven, LESSON LXXIX. WOODMAN SPARE THAT TREE GEORGE P. MORRIS. 1. WOODMAN spare that tree! 2. That old familiar tree, Are spread o'er land and sea, 3. When but an idle boy, But let the old oak stand. 4. My heart strings round thee cling, LESSON LXXX. EMPLOYMENT OF INDIANS IN CIVILIZED WARFARE. CHATHAM 1. 1 AM astonished!-shocked! to hear such principles confessed to hear them avowed in this house, or in this country; principles equally unconstitutional, inhuman, and unchristian. My lords, I did not intend to have encroached again upon your attention; but I cannot repress my indignation. I feel myself impelled by every duty. 2. My lords, we are called upon as members of this house, as men, as christian men, to protest against such notions standing near the throne, polluting the ear of majesty. "That God and nature put into our hands! "I know not what ideas that lord may entertain of God and nature; but I know that such abominable principles are equally abhorrent to religion and humanity. What! to attribute the sacred sanction of God and nature to the massacre of the Indian scalping-knife—to the cannibal savage, torturing, murdering, roasting, and eating, literally, my lords, eating the mangled victims of his barbarous battles! Such horrible notions shock every precept of religion, divine or natural, every generous feeling of humanity, and every sentiment of honor. 3. These abominable principles, and this more abominable avowal of them, demand the most decisive indignation. I call upon that right reverend bench, those holy ministers of the gospel and pious pastors of our church; I conjure them to join in the holy work, and vindicate the religion of their God. I appeal to the wisdom and the law of this learned bench, to defend and support the justice of their country. I call upon the bishops, to interpose the unsullied sanctity of their lawn; upon the learned judges, to interpose the purity of their ermine, to save us from this pollution. I call upon the honor of your lord. ships, to reverence the dignity of your ancestors, and maintain your own. 4. I call upon the spirit and humanity of my country, to vindicate the national character. I invoke the genius of the constitution. From the tapestry that adorns these walls, the immortal ancestors of this noble lord frown with indignation at the disgrace of his country. In vain he led your victorious fleets against the boasted armada of Spain; in vain he defended and |