SURPRISE.

ILLUSTRATION.-General Putnam was once waylaid by a party of the enemy, and they formed across the road that he was travelling; he rode carelessly and leisurely towards them, but when within about two rods of their line, he drew his sword, and brandishing it, while, with his thundering voice he exclaimed, Give way, ye rebels! and in an instant they wheeled to the right and left, so that he rode through, and escaped. A curious incident occurred a few years since at Union College. Several lovers of fun had formed a mock-society to make sport, at the expense of some new student; they succeeded for a time to their heart's content. At length they fixed on a new subject; preparations were made for a meeting, a delegation was sent to wait on the new candidate, he mistrusted their object, but kept his thoughts to himself, and proceeded to the scene of action; the members were masqued; mongrel latin was the language of the fraternity. The first order of exercises were declamation from each member, and our hero performed his part with a good grace. Next each one gave an extemporaneous speech, in which were mingled words belonging to no human language. The new member managed to have his turn for a speech come last, when he thus addressed the assemblage:

"Hon. President and members of this most noble Society, I am very much obliged to you for the high honour that you have condescended to bestow

on me in admitting me to your august body. I have travelled much, and your beautiful hog-latin speeches remind me of similar sounds that I have often heard from the numerous gentry that inhabit ponds, and the association of ideas brings me to imagine that I am at a party of bull-frogs." All were taken by surprise; some swore, some gnashed their teeth at the disappointment; others shook their sides with laughter; and during the confusion occasioned by this sudden change of the scene, our hero passed out unobserved, and went to his room quite satisfied with his adventure. This defeat destroyed all their sport of this kind.

EDUCATION.

ILLUSTRATION.-It is the philosopher's stone, at whose magic touch pebbles are transformed into diamonds, deserts into gardens, darkness into light, and the tiger fury and madness of the savage into the mildness of the lamb. Compare the civilized with barbarous nations, and our country with what it was 300 years ago.

PROCRASTINATION.

ILLUSTRATION.-There was a lofty mountain, at the base of which stood a flourishing village, and on its summit was a huge rock, which a rill that flowed under it was gradually undermining its foundation. The inhabitants were repeatedly re. minded of their danger. A little labour would

have rendered it firm in its lofty seat.

Some resolved to do the necessary labour when they should have leisure; others said there is no danger at present, and laughed at those who felt any fears on the subject. One night when all were wrapped in slumber, the rock rolled down with such violence as to destroy the whole village, and buried all of its inhabitants beneath its ruins, and not one survived to tell the sad tale.

LOVE AND HATRED.

ILLUSTRATION.-The one is a sweet smiling angel of heaven, the other a black demon of hell ;. one holds in his hands silken cords that unite hearts in friendship pure to each other, which at length draw them to heaven, the fountain-head of love and bliss; the other conceals his chains of slavery until he has his victims in his power, he then shackles them, and with his hellish taunts drags them down to the regions of despair.

TIME.

ILLUSTRATION.-A man is confined in prison, he has access to water only by means of a small tube through the wall of his cell; by turning the stopper the reservoir is concealed from his view, so that the quantity of water is unknown to him. At his entrance he is told that he must die the very moment the last drop of water is gone. Shortly he unthinkingly turns the stopper and lets the wa

ter spirt about for amusement; but at length, sudden 'reflection brings him to consider what he is doing, and he exclaims to himself, "Alas! what a fool I am thus to waste this water, for the last drop seals my doom in death. I am ignorant of the quantity-there may be hundreds of hogsheads, and there may not be a gallon; I will henceforth use only what necessity compels me to do."

The prison is this world, and Time is the water. We know not how much remains to us. May we then rightly improve it.

NOTE.-Aristotle was continually engaged in study; he ate little and slept less. He soon surpassed all his fellow-students. He visited the principal cities of Greece, seeking the acquaintance of all those from whom he could obtain information. His inquiries extended to the most trifling subjects, and he committed to writing the particulars which he obtained, lest he should forget any useful circumstances. When Alexander the Great attained his fourteenth year, his father, Philip, placed him under Aristotle's tuition. The preceptor instructed his pupil in the sciences in which he himself excelled. Alexander therefore observed, that if he owed his life to his father Philip, it was Aristotle who had taught him to make a good use of it. Cicero, whose genius placed him on an equality with Cæsar, who was continually entrusted with the business of the state and of private individuals, found, amid troubles and storms, amid the occupation and vicissitudes of life, leisure sufficient to acquire a thorough knowledge of all the doctrines of the philosophic sects of Greece. During a career of such prodigious activity he composed numerous works of different kinds, on almost all the subjects interesting to man, subjects on which it is manifest that he had meditated profoundly. Charlemagne, in his prodigious activity, found resources unknown to ordinary minds. He contrived means at once to conquer his enemies, to polish his subjects, to advance and patronise literature and the sciences, to re-establish the navy, and to perform, in a few years, what would seem to require several centuries.

KINDNESS.

ILLUSTRATION.-Proverbs xxv. 21, 22. "If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink; for by so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head."

A Roman army had besieged a city of Greece for several months, and was on the point of abandoning it, when the schoolmaster of the city, who daily marched the children under his care without the walls, one day led them to the Roman camp, and delivered them up to the Roman general, telling him that with them he delivered up the city also, for their parents and friends cannot survive the loss of their children, and they will surrender the city shortly. The Roman general looked at this traitor with disgust and indignation, while he thus addressed him, "Thou base wretch! I despise thy treachery. I will not take the city by base means: thou shalt be justly punished for thy conduct." He then caused his hands to be tied behind him, he then put scourges into the children's hands. with directions to whip him back to the city.

In the meantime, the city was filled with mourn. ing and despair. Fathers were lamenting, mothers were running about the streets with frantic rage, plucking out the hair of their heads, loud wailings of sadness and grief resounded from every quarter; when lo, a herald on the walls proclaim. ed the joyful tidings that the children were returning; then they rushed to behold the glad sight.