ing on me from among them. Hark! is that music?" and, lifting his finger, he seemed listening for a moment. He fell back, and the old veteran burst into tears. The child was dead. LESSON CXXVIII. The World for Sale. - R. HoYT. THE WORLD FOR SALE!-hang out the sign;' Who 'll buy this brave estate of mine, "T is going! yes, I mean to fling It is a glorious thing to see, Ah! it has cheated me so sore ! For sale! - It shall be mine no more. Who bids? Who 'll buy the SPLENDID TEAR? Here's WEALTH in glittering heaps of gold, A baser lot was never sold; Who 'll buy the heavy heaps of care? And here spread out in broad domain, A goodly landscape all may trace, Hall - cottage tree — field — hill and plain : Who 'll buy himself a burial-place! Here's LOVE, the dreamy potent spell, That beauty flings around the heart; 'Tis going. Love and I must part : - Must part! What can I more with Love? Who 'll buy the plumeless dying dove And FRIENDSHIP, rarest gem of earth, How dazzling every gilded name! -- low: How much for FAME? How much for FAME? Hear how it thunders! - Would you stand On high Olympus, far renowned, Now purchase, and a world command, And be with a world's curses crowned! Sweet star of HOPE! with ray to shine Who bids for man's last friend and best? Ah! were not mine a bankrupt life, Nor ever may unite again. And SONG! For sale my tuneless lute' Sweet solace, mine no more to hold; Or e'en were mine a wizard shell, Ambition, fashion, show, and pride, Has taught my haughty heart to bow. And still its aching throbs to bear; No more for me life's fitful dream; The best of all I still have left My FAITH, my BIBLE, and my GOD. LESSON CXXIX. The Discontented Pendulum. -JANE TAYLOR. An old clock, that had stood for fifty years in a farmer's kitchen, without giving its owner any cause of complaint, early one summer's morning, before the family was stirring, suddenly stopped. Upon this, the dial-plate (if we may credit the fable), changed countenance with alarm; the hands made a vain effort to continue their course; the wheels remained motionless with surprise; the weights hung speechless; each member felt disposed to lay the blame on the others. At length the dial instituted a formal inquiry as to the cause of the stagnation, when hands, wheels, weights, with one voice protested their innocence. But now a faint tick was heard below from the pendulum, who thus spoke :— "I confess myself to be the sole cause of the present stoppage; and I am willing, for the general satisfaction, to assign my reasons. The truth is, that I am tired of ticking." Upon hearing this, the old clock became so enraged, that it was on the very point of striking. "Lazy wire!" exclaimed the dial-plate, holding up its hands. "Very good!" replied the pendulum, "it is vastly easy for you, Mistress Dial, who have always, as everybody knows, set yourself up above me, it is vastly easy for you, I say, to accuse other people of laziness!-you, who have had nothing to do all the days of your life, but to stare people in the face, and to amuse yourself with watching all that goes on in the kitchen! Think, I beseech you, how you would like to be shut up for life in this dark closet, and to wag backwards and forwards, year after year, as I do." "As to that," said the dial, " is there not a window in your house, on purpose for you to look through ?"-"For all that," resumed the pendulum, "it is very dark here; and although there is a window, I dare not stop, even for an instant, to look out at it. Besides, I am really tired of my way of life; and if you wish, I'll tell you how I took this disgust at my employment. I happened this morning to be calculating how many times I should have to tick in the course of only the next twenty-four hours; perhaps some of you, above there, can give me the exact sum." The minute-hand, being quick at figures, presently replied, "Eighty-six thousand four hundred times."-"Exactly so," replied the pendulum; "well, I appeal to you all, if the very thought of this was not enough to fatigue one; and when I began to multiply the strokes of one day by those of months and years, really it is no wonder if I felt discouraged at the prospect; so, after a great deal of reasoning and hesitation thinks I to myself, I'll stop." The dial could scarcely keep its countenance during this harangue; but resuming its gravity, thus replied: "Dear Mr. Pendulum, I am really astonished that such a useful, industrious person as yourself, should have been overcome by this sudden action. It is true, you have done a great deal of work in your time; so have we all, and are likely to do; which, although it may fatigue us to think of, the question is, wheth er it will fatigue us to do. Would you now do me the favor to give about half a dozen strokes to illustrate my argu ment?" The pendulum complied, and ticked six times in its usual pace. "Now," resumed the dial, " may I be allowed to inquire, if that exertion was at all fatiguing or disagreeable to you?" "Not in the least," replied the pendulum, "it is not of six strokes that I complain, nor of sixty, but of millions.” "Very good,” replied the dial; "but recollect, that though you may think of a million strokes in an instant, you are required to execute but one; and that, however often you may hereafter have to swing, a moment will always be given you to swing in." "That consideration staggers me, I confess," said the pendulum. "Then I hope," resumed the dial-plate, "we shall all immediately return to our duty; for the maids will lie in bed if we stand idling thus.” Upon this, the weights, who had never been accused of light conduct, used all their influence in urging him to proceed; when, as with one consent, the wheels began to turn, the hands began to move, the pendulum began to swing, and to its credit, ticked as loud as ever; while a red beam of the rising sun that streamed through a hole in the kitchen, shining full upon the dial-plate, it brightened up, as if nothing had been the matter. When the farmer came down to breakfast that morning, upon looking at the clock, he declared that his watch had gained half an hour in the night. |