tendants made me but too certain that they were in close pursuit. Nearer and nearer they came. I heard their feet pattering on the ice; I even felt their very breath, and heard their snuffing scent! Every nerve and muscle in my frame was stretched to the utmost tension. The trees along the shore seemed to dance in an uncertain light, and my brain turned with my own breathless speed; yet still my pursuers seemed to hiss forth their breath with a sound truly horrible, when an involuntary motion on my part turned me out of my course. 9. The wolves, close behind, unable to stop, and as unable to turn on the smooth ice, slipped and fell, still going on far ahead. Their tongues were lolling out; their white tusks were gleaming from their bloody mouths; their dark shaggy breasts were fleeced with foam; and, as they passed me, their eyes glared, and they howled with fury. The thought flashed on my mind, that, by this means, I could avoid them, — namely, by turning aside whenever they came too near; for, by the formation of their feet, they are unable to run on ice except in a straight line. 10. I immediately acted upon this plan. The wolves, having regained their feet, sprang directly toward me. The race was renewed for many yards up the stream: they were already close on my back, when I glided round and dashed directly past them. A fierce yell greeted my evolution, and the wolves, slipping on their haunches, again sailed onward, presenting a perfect picture of helplessness and baffled rage. Thus I gained nearly a hundred yards at each turning. This was repeated two or three times, every moment the animals becoming more excited and baffled. 11. At one time, by delaying my turning too long, my sanguinary antagonists came so near that they threw their - white foam over my dress as they sprang to seize me, and their teeth clashed together like the spring of a fox-trap! Had my skates failed for one instant, had I tripped on a stick, or had my foot been caught in a fissure of the ice,the story I am now telling would never have been told. I thought all the chances over. I thought how long it would be before I died, and then of the search for my body; for oh! how fast man's mind traces out all the dread colors of death's picture, only those, who have been near the grim original, can tell! 12. But I soon came opposite the house, and my hounds -I knew their deep voices-roused by the noise, bayed furiously from their kennels. I heard their chains rattle: how I wished they would break them!- then I should have had protectors to match the fiercest denizens of the forest. The wolves, taking the hint conveyed by the dogs, stopped in their mad career, and, after a few moments, turned and fled. I watched them until their forms disappeared over a neighboring hill; then, taking off my skates, I wended my way to the house with feelings which may be better imagined than described. But even yet, I never see a broad sheet of ice by moonlight without thinking of that snuffing breath and those ferocious objects that followed me so closely down that frozen river. LESSON XXII, PURITY OF CHARACTER. HENRY WARD BEECHER. VER the beauty of the plum and apricot there may be OVER seen a bloom and beauty more exquisite than the fruit itself, — a soft, delicate flush that overspreads its blushing check. Now, if you strike your hand over that, and it is once gone, it is gone forever; for it never grows but once. The flower that hangs in the morning, impearled with dew, arrayed with jewels, once shake it, so that the beads roll off, and you may sprinkle water over it as you please, yet it can never be made again what it was when the dew fell lightly upon it from heaven. 2. On a frosty morning, you may see the panes of glass covered with landscapes, mountains, lakes, and trees, blended in a beautiful, fantastic picture. Now, lay your hand upon the glass, and, by the scratch of your fingers, or by the warmth of the palm, all the delicate tracery will be immediately obliterated. So, in youth, there is a purity of character, which, when once touched and defiled, can never be restored, -a fringe more delicate than frostwork, and which, when torn and broken, will never be re-embroidered. tears. 3. A man who has spotted and soiled his garments in youth, though he may seek to make them white again, can never wholly do it, even were he to wash them with his When a young man leaves his father's house, with the blessing of his mother's tears still wet upon his forehead, if he once loses that early purity of character, it is a loss that he can never make whole again. Such is the consequence of crime. Its effects can not be eradicated; they can only be forgiven. LESSON XXIII. AL' LE GO RY is a word of Greek origin. It is made up of two parts,ALL, other; and EGORY, discourse; the literal meaning of the compound being discourse about other things; that is, things other than those expressed by the words, literally interpreted. Allegory is, therefore, the general name for that class of compositions, as Fables, Apologues, Parables, and Myths, in which there is a double meaning, one literal and the other figurative; the literal being designed merely to give a more clear and impressive view of that which is figurative. SHAK' SPEARE, WILLIAM, was born in Stratford on the Avon, England, April, 1564; and died 1616. He is accounted, by all, the greatest dramatic writer of any age. He has been styled the Poet of Nature, the poet who holds up to his readers the mirror of manners and of life. 'Ho' MER, the great Grecian poet, flourished about nine hundred years be fore the Christian era. He is supposed to have been a strolling bard, poor and blind. His chief works are the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey." The Iliad is a poem descriptive of the siege of Troy, in Asia Minor; and the Odyssey describes the wanderings of Ulysses on his return from Troy to his own kingdom in the Island of Ithaca. 1. THE THREE SISTERS. AN ALLEGORY,1 ADAM Virtue and Miss Genius, MAD With their sister, Reputation, Traveled once through foreign countries, On a tour of observation. 2. Ere they started, Genius hinted That, by some unlucky blunder, 3. "And," she said, "it seems but prudent, 4. "As for me, if, from my sisters, I should chance to prove a roamer, Or before the shrine of Homer." 3 5. Virtue said, "If I am missing, And you deem me worth the trouble, 6. "If, among the high and mighty, 7. "Ah!" said Reputation, sighing, 8. "But, I pray you, guard me closely ; If MILTON, JOHN, one of the great poets of England, was born in London, Dec. 9, 1608, and died Nov. 8, 1675. His life was pure and spiritual. His sympathies and best efforts were freely given to all the noblest interests of humanity. He hated every form of oppression, was the eloquent advocate of the freedom of the press, and the bold champion of human rights. When fifty-six years of age, he became totally blind. He now sat down in poverty, affliction, and obscurity, to work cut the immortality which had been the object of his earliest aspirations. His latter years were employed in the compositions of "Paradise Lost" and "Paradise Regained." |