BEAUTIFUL EXTRACT. O, IF there is one law above the rest The ministry of ill-'TIS LOVE! God has made nothing worthy of contempt. Has been usurped by passion, and profaned To its unholy uses through all time, Still the eternal principle is pure; And in these deep affections that we feel The lavish measures in which love is given. And in the yearning tenderness of a child For every bird that sings above its head, And every tree, and flower, and running brook, N. P. WILLIS. TO THE DEITY. THE prayers I make will then be sweet indeed, By which such virtue may in me be bred, The fetters of my tongue do Thou unbind, That I may have the power to sing of Thee, MICHAEL ANGELO. A HYMN. WRITTEN ON THE OCCASION OF THE EMANCIPATION OF THE SLAVES IN THE BRITISH WEST INDIES. Oн, Holy Father! just and true Are all thy works, and words, and ways, And unto Thee alone are due Thanksgiving and eternal praise! As children of thy gracious care, We veil the eye-we bend the knee, For Thou hast heard, O God of Right, The shackled soul and hand are free- And O, we feel Thy presence here- Thine eye hath seen the bondman's tear- Praise for the pride of man is low- EXTRACT. YOUNG girls, who have more vivacity than understanding, will often make a sprightly figure in conversation. But this agreeable talent for entertaining others is frequently dangerous to themselves; nor is it by any means to be desired or encouraged very early in life. This immaturity of wit is helped on by frivolous reading, which will produce its effect in much less time than books of solid instruction; for the imagination is touched sooner than the understanding; and effects are more rapid as they are more pernicious. Conversation should be the result of education, not the precursor of it. It is a golden fruit, when suffered to grow gradually on the tree of knowledge; but, if precipitated by forced and unnatural means, it will in the end, become vapid, in proportion as it is artificial. HANNAH MORE. |