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To all classes of my hearers, then, I would say-Cultivate this taste. The pursuit, if rightly engaged in, will be found perfectly compatible with every other. It will sweeten your daily toil, it will dignify your daily lot, it will hallow and bless your daily life. For the sorrows of your homes, for the trials of the world, for the loss of friends, for sickness and solitude and old age, it will bring a healing balm-not instead of, not by any means equal to, but like a ministering angel, coming in aid of those higher agencies which GOD in His infinite mercy has vouchsafed for all His children. If these be indeed the results of your Penny Readings, you will have abundant cause to bless the day when you joined them.

"There's Pleasure in Health and Contentment.”

BY THOMAS NEW BIGGING.

THERE'S Pleasure in Health and Contentment,

There's fortune in freedom from care;
But envy, and strife, and resentment,
Our happiest moments impair.

He's a wise man his passion that bridles,-
He's a fool that will brawl and look sore:

If self, pomp, and pelf are our idols,
Joy soon bids adieu to our door.

Chorus.-He's a wise man, &c.

A crown's but a cumbersome bauble,
That darkens the brow it adorns ;
And he who wins power, oft exchanges
The down of his pillow for thorns.
The heart that is fainting and fearful,
Finds life but a pathway of pain;

But he who is trusting and cheerful,

Descries the bright bow through the rain.
Chorus. He's a wise man, &c.

Though little in life we may boast of,

"Tis wisdom that little to prize;

Small blessings, if men make the most of,

Are Heaven's best gifts in disguise.

The tiniest seed in earth's bosom,
To loftiest tree doth upspring,

And the birds of the air from the tempest
'Neath its branches may shelter and sing.
Chorus.-He's a wise man, &c.

Life hath its eclipses of sorrow,

That hide the blue sky from our sight;
But trust we the brighter to-morrow-

GOD'S manna comes down in the night!
And while the rich harvest we gather,
We'll not the good Giver forget;
But, grateful, low bending together,
With gladness acknowledge the debt.

Chorus.-He's a wise man, &c.

VAGABONDAGE OF HUMAN LIFE.-The fresh, rough, heathery part of human nature, where the air is freshest, and where the linnets sing, is getting encroached upon by cultivated fields. Every one is making himself and herself useful. Every one is producing something. Everybody is a philanthropist. I don't like it. I love a little eccentricity. I respect honest prejudices. I admire foolish enthusiasm in a young head, more than a wise scepticism. It is high time, it seems to me, that a moral game-law were passed for the preservation of the wild and vagrant feelings of human nature. Ah, me! what a world this was to live in two or three centuries ago, when it was getting itself discovered-when the sunset gave up America. Then were the "Arabian Nights" commonplace, enchantments a matter of course, and romance the most ordinary thing in the world. Then man was courting Nature: now he has married her! Yet, for all that time has brought and taken away, I am glad to know that the vagabond sleeps in our blood, and awakes now and then. Overlay nature as you please, here and there some bit of rock or mound of aboriginal soil will crop out with the wild flowers growing upon it, sweetening the air. Genius is a vagabond; Art is a vagabond; Enterprise is a vagabond. The first fine day in spring awakes the gipsy in the blood of the English workman, and incontinently he "babbles of green

fields." On the English gentleman, lapped in the most luxurious civilisation, and with the thousand powers and resources of wealth at his command, descends oftentimes a fierce unrest-8 Bedouin-like horror of cities and the cry of the money-changer; and in a month the fiery dust rises in the track of his desert steed, or in the six-months' polar midnight he hears the big wave dashing on the icy shore. Vagabonds have moulded the world into its present shape. Respectable people swam in the track of the vagabond, as rooks in the furrow of the ploughshare. Respectable people do little in the world, except storing wine-cellars and amassing fortunes for the benefit of spendthrift heirs. Respectable well-to-do Grecians shook their heads over Leonidas and his three hundred when they went down to Thermopylæ. Respectable Spanish churchmen, with shaven crowns, scouted the dream of Columbus. Respectable German folks attempted to dissuade Luther from appearing before Charles and the princes and electors of the empire. Nature makes us vagabonds: the world makes us respectable. Commend me to Shakspeare's vagabonds, the most delightful in the world! His sweet-blooded and liberal nature blossomed into all fine genero rosities as naturally as an apple-bough into pink blossoms and odours. It would be better if we could have along with our modern enlightenment, our higher tastes and purer habits, a greater individuality of thought and manner; better that every man should be allowed to grow in his own way, so long as he does not infringe on the rights of his neighbour, or insolently thrust himself between him and the sun. A little more air and light should be let in upon life. I should think the world has stood long enough under the drill of Adjutant Fashion. It is hard work; the posture is wearisome, and Fashion is an awful martinet, and has a quick eye and comes down mercilessly on the unfortunate wight who cannot square his toes to the approved pattern, or who appears upon parade with a darn in his coat, or with a shoulder-belt insufficiently pipe-elayed. It is killing work. Suppose we try "standing at ease" for a little.ALEXANDER SMITH'S "Dreamthorp Essays."

SOUND AND SENSE. As there is musie in song, so is there music in speech. Every language has music; and in speak Ing it, inflection should be harmonious. Sound is expressive of

sense—aye, much more so than is commonly imagined. Verse and prose have each their peculiar music, and common sense should not be destroyed by the abuse. Poetry would be more enjoyed were elocution better understood. "Paradise Lost" is Lost on minds unable to appreciate, elocutionary force. To read such a work aloud as it ought to be read, implies, I need scarcely state, that it is understood. Mind and voice are simultaneously applied; both must be duly exercised, or that which should be sweet and sonorous is rendered harsh and displeasing. It would be absurd to give examples of the general acceptation of Milton's epic. Deliver any passage as usually rendered, and you have comparative nonsense. Read it with a common sense view of the subject, with fulness, firmness, roundness of voice, proper emphasis, and correct inflection, and that which may have appeared as flat and unprofitable, has be come novel and pleasing. It has been objected that before you can appreciate the sublime genius of Milton, you must of necessity think-think. This is one reason why I recommend the study of "Paradise Lost" to all who would read sensibly, for the intellect being disciplined, the ear becomes gradually attuned to the manly and sonorous notes the various grand addresses and masterly descriptions elicit; you think rightly, and therefore may hope to interpret this and other works cor rectly that is to read and speak musically and naturally. "Bacon's Philosophy," at a first glance, you may not comprehend: look at it again, and with the elocutionist's appreciation, and you feel inclined to award it a third perusal. So with all great works requiring the exercise of manly English vigour of mind clearly to understand and appreciate, much that we symbolise as mere tinsel is discovered, on a closer inspection and an inward appreciation of sound as significant of sense, to be pure gold.-ARTIS on "Elocution."

OR PHONETIC SHORTHAND.

In consequence of the increasing demand for Instructions in the useful Art of Phonography, HENRY PITMAN (brother to the Inventor) has opened an Office at 36, CORPORATION STREET, MANCHESTER; and is prepared to give Lessons in Phonography, either personally or by letter. HENRY PITMAN has had 20 years' experience in teaching Phonography, and has enabled many thousands of persons to write the system with fluency and correctness. The testimony of all who learn Phonography is, that it saves much time, improves the memory, and adds greatly to the enjoyment of life. In the hands of a working man, Phonography will prove an educational lever. It requires no knowledge of grammar or spelling to become a proficient; yet the art is so philosophical that it satisfies the learned. HENRY PITMAN is prepared to give Popular Lectures on Phonography and Co-operation, singly or combined, to Co-operative Societies, Educational Institutions, &c., in any part of England. Phonography can be learned from the published books, but the aid of a Teacher greatly facilitates its acquisition. For further information, direct to HENRY PITMAN, 36, Corporation Street, Manchester.

Shorthand, on account of its great and general utility, merits a much higher rank among the arts and sciences than is generally allotted to it. Its usefulness is not confined to any particular science or profession, but is universal.-DR. SAML. JOHNSON.

Phonography is so clear as to be easily learned by every one of ordinary capacity, and the public benefits to be derived from it are entirely incalculable.-JOHN BRIGHT, Esq., M.P.

Phonography is a railroad method of communicating thought;a frailroad by reason of its expedition—a railroad by reason of its ease. REV. DR. RAFFLES.

Many movements of a more imposing character will probably prove less historical than this writing reformation.-DOUGLAS JERROLD.

It seems strange that while we actually possess a system of Shorthand, by which words can be recorded as rapidly as they can be spoken, we should persist in writing a slow and laborious longhand.-SIR WM. ARMSTRONG.

Sermons, Lectures, Arbitration Cases, &c., Reported verbatim. "The Phonographic Teacher," 6d., sent Postfree. Address

HY. PITMAN, 36, Corporation-st., Manchester.

London: FRED. PITMAN, 20, Paternoster Row, E.C.
Printed by J. WARD, Dewsbury.

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