tions for future acquisitions. Knowledge will be more valuable to you than any other worldly advantage which you can possess.

10. "Knowledge, of the right kind, will always command subsistence, respect, influence, and honor. And it is a very safe possession. Thieves cannot steal it; fire cannot burn it; storms at sea cannot sink it. Men cannot deprive you of it in any way. God only can take it away from you by bodily or mental disease. I hope, then, that for the ten years to come, you will coöperate pleasantly and perseveringly with me, in my efforts to store your mind with useful knowledge.

11. "Secondly, Manners.—I want to have you acquire, during the next ten years, not only the knowledge of a scholar, but the manners of a gentleman. A gentleman is one whose manners and habits are such as tend to promote the happiness of those who have intercourse with him. Some persons contrive to make those around them feel uncomfortable or unhappy, by neglecting them, or not showing proper regard to their wishes or feelings, or saying unkind or disagreeable things, or being rude or noisy, or in any way unpleasant in manners. Others are so kind, and attentive, and gentle, and unassuming, that their very appearance and address give pleasure.

12. This is being gentlemanly. Now, perhaps, the best period of life for the formation of gentlemanly manners and habits, is the very period which you are now entering upon, viz., the second ten years of life. So that I hope you will now pay more strict and careful attention than ever before to this subject, so as to form and fix the very best of manners and habits, and thus carry with you, and diffuse around you, as you go on through life, a constant atmosphere of enjoyment.

13. "Thirdly, Character.-Your moral and religious feelings and character will probably be fixed during the next ten years. Shall you form the habit of humbly looking to God, through the Saviour, for the forgiveness of your sins, and for your future protection, and try to live in obedience to his commands,-denying yourself every improper pleasure, and seeking the happiness of others? Or shall you live without God in the world, and be left to wander away into the paths of sin and vice?

14.

This great question you will begin now to settle;

and it will, probably, be finally settled before this ten years. have passed away. We try to train you up in the fear of God, and in habits of obedience to his commands. It gives us great pleasure to perceive that you generally coöperate with us in these efforts. We hope you will do so more and more; so that, when this next ten years are gone, we can see that you are growing up to be a well-educated, gentlemanly, virtuous, and pious man."

"I am

"Yours, very affectionately,

"FATHER."

LESSON XLVIII.

Letter from a Student at College to his Mother. "MY DEAR MOTHER

Though I am sitting with my back towards you, yet love you none the less; and what is quite as strange, I can see you just as plainly as if I stood peeping in upon you. I can see you all just as you sit round the family table. Tell me if I do not see you. There is mother, on the right of the table, with her knitting, and a book open before her; and anon she glances her eyes from the work on paper to that on her needles; now counts the stitches, and then puts her eye on the book, and starts off for another round.

2. "There is Mary, looking wise, and sewing with all her might, now and then stopping to give Sarah and Louisa a lift in getting their lessons, and trying to initiate them into the mysteries of geography. She is on the left of the ta ble. There, in the back ground, is silent Joseph, with his slate, now making a mark, and then biting his lip, or scratching his head, to see if the algebraic expression may have hidden in either of these places.

3. "George is in the kitchen, tinkering his skates, or contriving a trap for that old offender of a rat, whose cunning has so long brought mortification on all his boastings. can now hear his hammer, and his whistle-that peculiar, sucking sort of whistle, which always indicates a puzzled state of the brain.

4. "Little William and Henry are snug in bed, and, if you will just open their bedroom door, you will barely hear them breathe. And now mother has stopped, and is absent

and thoughtful and mu hoart talls me that she is thinking

of her only absent child. Who can he be? Will you doubt any more that I have studied magic, and can see with my back turned to you, and many a hill and valley between us?

5. "You have been even kinder than I expected, or you promised. I did not expect to hear from you till to-morrow, at the earliest. But, as I was walking to-day, one of my class-mates cries, A bundle for you at the stageoffice!' and away I went, as fast as the dignity of a sophomore would allow me. The bundle I seized, and muffled it under my cloak, though it made my arms ache, and, with as much speed as my 'conditions' would permit me, I reached my room.

6. "Out came my knife, and, forgetting all your good advice about strings and fragments,' the said bundle quickly owned me victor, and opened its very heart to me; and it had a warm heart, too, for there were the stockings, and there were the flannels, and the bosoms, and the gloves, and the pin-cushion from Louisa, and the needle-book from Sarah, and the paper from Mary, and the letters and love from all of you. I spread open my treasures, and both my heart and feet danced for joy, while my hands rubbed each other out of sympathy.

7. "Thanks to you all, for bundle, and letters, and love. One corner of my eye is moistened, while I say, 'Thank ye all, gude folks." I must not forget to mention the apples-the six apples, one from each'-and the beautiful little loaf of cake. I should not dare to call it little, if it had not brought the name from you. The apples I have smelled of, and the cake I have just nibbled a little, and pronounced it to be 'in the finest taste.'

8. "Now, a word about your letter. I cannot say much, for I have only read mother's three times, and Mary's twice. Those parts which relate to my own acts and doings, greatly edify me. Right glad to find that the spectacles fitted mother's eyes so well. You wondered how I hit it. Why, have I not been told, from my very boyhood, 'You have your mother's eyes'? And what is plainer than that, if I have her eyes, I can pick out glasses that will fit them?

* Students are called freshmen, during their first year in college; in the second, sophomores; in the third, juniors; and in the last year,

seniors.

9. "I am glad, too, that the new book is a favorite. I shall have to depend on you to read for me, for here I read nothing but my lesson, and, peradventure, dip into mathematics. Joseph's knife shall be forthcoming, and the orders of William and Henry shall be honored, if the apothecary has the pigments. George is delighted with his sled' -a cheering item; for my thumb has retired into his cot, and growled and ached ever since, and even now, ever and anon, gives me a twinge, by way of recalling the feat of building the sled.

6

10. "And you really think that the pigs have profited by my labors, and that though they have forgotten me, yet they like the sty! If they do well, I shall be paid next fall, whether they are grateful or not. Old Charley should be kept warm. He has carried me too many miles to be neglected now. I am sorry I did not have his condition more in mind when at home. Poor fellow! I enjoyed his aid, and helped to make him grow old.

11. “And old Rover, let him have his kennel warm; and if he thinks so much of me, as to go to my room' after me, let him have my old wrapper. Öne member more,tell Sukey, that, though I mention her after horses and dogs, it is not out of any want of respect. I will wear the mittens which she knit and sent, and, in return, though I cannot approve, will send as much, at least, of 'real Scotch,' as will fill her box.

12. "I suppose the pond is all frozen over, and the skating good. I know it is foolish; yet, if mother and Mary had skated as many 'moony' nights as I have, they would sigh, not at the thought, but at the fact, that skating days are over. Never was a face more bright and beautiful than the face of that pond, in a clear, cold night, under a full

moon.

13. "Do the boys go down by my willow still? and do they still have the flag on the little island in the centre, where I used to rear the flag-staff once a year? I was going to tell you all about college. But when I think I will begin, poh! my thoughts are all at home! What a place home is! I would not now exchange ours for wealth enough to make you all kings and queens.

14. "I am warm, well, and comfortable: we all study some; and dull fellows like me have to confess that we study hard. We have no genius to help us. My chum is

a good fellow.-he now sits in yonder corner-his feet poised upon the stove in such a way, that the dullness seems to have run out of his heels into his head, for he is fast asleep.

15. "I have got it framed, and there it hangs, the picture of my father!-I never look up without seeing it, and I never see it without thinking that my mother is a widow, and that I am her eldest son. What more I think, I will not be foolish enough to say; you will imagine it better than I can say it.

16. "Your gentle hint, dear mother, about leaving my Bible at home, was kind; but it will relieve you to know, that I left it designedly, and, in its place, took my dear father's from the upper shelf in your little library room; and what is more, I read it every day.

17. "I need not say, Write! write! for I know that some of you will, at the end of three weeks. But love to you all, and much too. I shall tell you of my methods of economy in my next."

LESSON XLIX.

Anecdote of Chief Justice Marshall.

1. Ir is not long since a gentleman was travelling in one of the counties of Virginia, and, about the close of the day, stopped at a public house, to obtain refreshment, and spend the night. He had been there but a short time, before an old man alighted from his gig, with the apparent intention of becoming his fellow guest, at the same house.

2. As the old man drove up, he observed that both of the shafts of his gig were broken, and that they were held together by withes formed from the bark of a hickory sapling. Our traveller observed further, that he was plainly clad, that his knee-buckles were loosened, and that something like negligence pervaded his dress. Conceiving him to be one of the honest yeomanry of our land, the courtesies of strangers passed between them, and they entered the tavern.

3. It was about the same time, that an addition of three or four young gentlemen was made to their number,—most, if not all of them, of the legal profession. As soon as they became comfortably accommodated, the conversation was turned by one of the latter upon a display of eloquence