On liquid rocks the tottering vessel's tossed; 3. When, in an instant, He who rules the floods, Earth, air, and fire, - Jehovah, God of gods, In pleasing accents speaks his sovereign will, And bids the waters and the winds BE STILL! Hushed are the winds the waters cease to roar Safe are the seas- and silent as the shore. 4. Now say, what joy elates the sailor's breast, 2. In the far isles of the main ; With their wishes, hopes, and fears; 3. Little children, not alone On the wide earth are ye known, CHAPTER VI. THE CHILD'S THOUGHTS. 1. "WERE I the sun". "What then, my child? Were you the sun, what then?" "I would not shine so warm and mild Upon such wicked men ! I'd wither up their budding grain When just it leaves the earth, And they should sow their seed in vain, To warm it into birth. 2. "But on the harvest of the good I'd send both heat and dew, Till every young and callow bud To golden fruitage grew. The flowers should spring around his door, And if he were despised and poor, I'd fill with richest fruit his store, And bless him all his days. 1. WITHOUT perseverance all your past labor is lost; and in perseverance every step brings you nearer to success. Did you ever see a dairy-maid churning her butter? It is a laborious and monotonous exercise, whether to turn the handle of a barrel churn round and round, or to lift the handle of an upright churn up and down, up and down, for an hour together; and yet, if she becomes loitering or impatient, and suffers the motion to stop, not merely is its progress arrested, but in the dairy language, "the butter goes back;" the business does not remain stationary, but retrogrades. 2. But if, in spite of weariness, she goes steadily on, perhaps only two or three strokes after she has resisted the temptation to flag, a thickening sound is perceptible in the liquor, which indicates that the change she has so anxiously waited has actually taken place. 3. So, my dear young friends, be encouraged not to cast away good beginnings; press on, however weary, and perhaps a very few more steps may reward your perseverance. In an inferior sense, that encouraging maxim of Scripture will apply to every virtuous pursuit, and in the highest degree to the most important pursuit of all- "Be not weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.”. Gal. vi. 9. 4. The eager impatience of some young people to get through a book, or to make a show in any pursuit before they have made real progress, or really understand what they are about, often reminds me of one of my childish follies. I once set four very fine filberts in my father's garden, and pleased myself with the idea of their becoming trees, from which I should gather fruit and present to my friends. 5. This was about November. I asked the old gardener how long it would be before they would come up. I sighed as he replied, "Four, five month; may be two winter: sometime de nut remain in ground two winter, den come up fine strong plant." "Be sure you don't dig them up, Monet," I said. "Ah, no; I will put four marks to keep place where miss plant her nut trees." 6. When I was at home a few days at Easter, I reckoned that four months had elapsed, and with some self-complacency at my own patient waiting so long, (though, by the way, I had no opportunity of doing otherwise,) I proceeded to the spot, in full expectation of seeing them come up; but nothing appeared. 7. I began to think that they must have been devoured by |