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2. The cheek of the peasant I clothe with health,

And yield the sturdy yeoman wealth;

I give the spirit of commerce wings,
And prop the tottering throne of kings.
The gorgeous palace and the humble cot

Owe every atom to me they've got ;

And the prince at the banquet, and the hind at his board,
Alike must depend on the fare I afford.

3. Man may boast of his creaturely might-
His talents in peace, and prowess in fight,
And lord it over the beast and bird,

By the charm of his touch, and the spell of his word;

But I am the sole and mighty source

Whence flows the tide of his boasted force

Whatever his right, and whoever he be,
His pomp and dominion must come from ME!

4. I am the giver of all that's good,

And have been since the world has stood.

Where's there wealth on ocean, or beauty on land,
But sprung from the warmth of my fostering hand?
Or where the object fair and free,

That claims a being, but 's traced to me?
Cherish, then cherish, ye sons of toil,
The wonderful might of the fruitful soil!

5. And whence, says the Christian, dost thou obtain
This power so mighty, of which thou art vain?
Thou boastest of that which is furnished to thee
By Him who is Lord both of land and sea;

For know that the treasures which come from thy sod
Are only thine own as the gift of thy God.

CHAPTER XXIX.

MARROW OF GOOD SENTIMENTS.

WITHOUT a friend, the world is but a wilderness; a man may have a thousand intimate acquaintances, and not a friend amongst them all. If you have one friend, think yourself happy.

When once you profess yourself a friend, endeavor to be always such. He can never have any true friends who is always changing them.

Nothing more engages the affections of men, than a handsome address and graceful conversation.

Complaisance renders a superior amiable, an equal agreeable, and an inferior acceptable.

Excess of ceremony shows want of breeding. That civility is best which excludes all superfluous formality.

Ingratitude is a crime so shameful, that the man was never yet found who would acknowledge himself guilty of it.

There cannot be a greater treachery than first to raise a confidence and then deceive it.

No man hath a thorough taste of prosperity to whom adversity never happened.

It is as great a point of wisdom to hide ignorance as to discover knowledge.

Pitch upon that course of life which is the most excellent, and habit will render it the most delightful.

No man was ever cast down with the injuries of fortune, unless he had before suffered himself to be deceived by her favors.

None more impatiently suffer injuries than those that are most forward in doing them.

By taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior.

A more glorious victory cannot be gained over another

man than this, that when the injury began on his part, the kindness should begin on ours.

We should take a prudent care for the future, but so as to enjoy the present. It is no part of wisdom to be miserable to-day, because we may happen to be more so to-morrow.

Some would be thought to do great things, who are but tools and instruments; like the fool who fancied he played upon the organ, when he only blew the bellows..

Though a man may become learned by another's learning, he never can be wise but by his own wisdom.

He who wants good sense is unhappy in having learning, for he has thereby more ways of exposing himself.

It is ungenerous to give a man occasion to blush at his own ignorance in one thing, who perhaps may excel us in many.

No object is more pleasing to the eye than the sight of a man whom you have obliged; nor any music so agreeable to the ear as the voice of one that owns you for his benefactor.

The temperate man's pleasures are durable, because they are regular; and all his life is calm and serene, because it is innocent.

An angry man who suppresses his passions, thinks worse than he speaks; and an angry man that will chide, speaks worse than he thinks.

A good word is an easy obligation; but not to speak ill requires only our silence, which costs us nothing.

It is the infirmity of little minds to be taken with every appearance, and dazzled with everything that sparkles; but great minds have but little admiration, because few things appear new to them.

The failings of good men are commonly more published in the world than their good deeds; and one fault of a deserving man will meet with more reproaches than all his virtues praise. Such is the force of ill-will and ill-nature.

It is harder to avoid censure than to gain applause; for this may be done by one great or wise action in an age,but to escape censure a man must pass his whole life without saying or doing one ill or foolish thing.

CHAPTER XXX.

THE DEMON OF THE STUDY.

1. THE Brownie sits in the Scotchman's room,
And eats his meat and drinks his ale,
And beats the maid with her unused broom,
And the lazy lout with his idle flail;
But he sweeps the floor and threshes the corn,
And hies him away ere the break of dawn.

2. The shade of Denmark fled from the sun,

And the Cocklane ghost from the barn-loft cheer, The fiend of Faust was a faithful one,

Agrippa's demon wrought in fear,

And the devil of Martin Luther sat
By the stout monk's side in social chat.

3. The Old Man of the Sea, on the neck of him
Who seven times crossed the deep,

Twined closely each lean and withered limb,
Like the night-mare in one's sleep.

But he drank of the wine, and Sinbad cast
The evil weight from his back at last.

4. But the demon that cometh day by day
To my quiet room and fire-side nook,
Where the casement light falls dim and gray
On faded painting and ancient book,

Is a sorrier one than any whose names
Are chronicled well by good King James.

5. No bearer of burdens like Caliban,
No runner of errands like Ariel,
He comes in the shape of a fat old man,
Without rap of knuckle or pull of bell:
And whence he comes, or whither he goes,
I know as I do of the wind which blows.

W

6. A stout old man with a greasy hat

Slouched heavily down to his dark red nose, And two gray eyes enveloped in fat,

Looking through glasses with iron bows.
Read ye, and heed ye, and ye who can,
Guard well your doors from that fat old man!

7. He comes with a careless "how d'ye do?"
And seats himself in my elbow chair;
And my morning paper and pamphlet new
Fall forthwith under his special care;
And he wipes his glasses and clears his throat,
And, button by button, unfolds his coat.

8. And then he reads from paper and book,
In a low and husky asthmatic tone,
With the stolid sameness of posture and look,
Of one who reads to himself alone;
And hour after hour on my senses come
That husky wheeze and that dolorous hum.

9. The price of stocks, the auction sales,
The poet's song and the lover's glee,
The horrible murders, the seaboard gales,
The marriage list and the jeu d'esprit,
All reach my ear in the self-same tone, -
I shudder at each, but the fiend reads on!

10. I cross my floor with a nervous tread,

I whistle and laugh and sing and shout,
I flourish my cane above his head,

And stir up the fire to roast him out;
I topple the chairs, and drum on the pane,
And press my hands on my ears, in vain!

11. I've crossed the Psalter with Brady and Tate, And laid the Primer above them all, I've nailed a horse-shoe over the grate,

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