How his strong arm, in its stalwart'1 pride sweeping, Labor is wealth-in the sea the pearl groweth, Temple and statue the marble block hides. 3. Droop not, though shame, sin, and anguish are round thee! Bravely fling off the gold chain that hath bound thee; Look to yon pure heaven smiling beyond thee, Rest not content in thy darkness—a clod !3 Let thy great deeds be thy prayer to thy God. 4. Pause not to dream of the future before us; Unintermitting, goes up into Heaven! Never the ocean-wave falters in flowing; 5. "Labor is worship!"-the robin is singing, Speaks to thy soul from out nature's great heart. Only man in the plan shrinks from his part. 'Stalwart (stål' wort), brave; strong. Co côon', the silken ball in which the silk-worm confines itself before its change. It is composed of silk threads, which, being unwound, form the silk which is manufactured. Clod, a lump of earth.- Un in ter mit' ting, ceaseless; without stopping - Côr' al, a hard substance like shell (carbonate of lime), which is made by very minute creatures, and forms their habitation. It is sometimes red, but more abundant in white. It appears to grow, or rather is formed, by the little creatures, in the 6. Labor is life!-'tis the still water faileth; Idleness ever despaireth, bewaileth: Keep the watch wound for the dark rust assaileth! Plav the sweet keys, wouldst thou keep them in tune! OSGOOD. ELIZA 102. ESCAPE FROM A PANTHER. IZABETH TEMPLE and Louisa' had gained the summit of the mountain, where they left the highway, and pursued their course, under the shade of the stately trees that crowned the eminence. The day was becoming warm; and the girls plunged more deeply into the forest, as they found its invigorating2 coolness agreeably contrasted to the excessive heat they had experienced in their ascent'. The conversation, as if by mutual consent, was entirely changed to the little incidents and scenes of their walk; and every tall pine, and every shrub or flower, called fōrth some simple expression of admiration. 2. In this manner they proceeded along the margin of the precipice,3 cătching occasional glimpses of the plăcid Otsego,* or pausing to listen to the rattling of wheels and the sounds of hammers, that rose from the valley, to mingle the signs of men with the scenes of nature, when Elizabeth suddenly startled, and exclaimed-"Listen! there are the cries of a child on this mountain! Is there a clearing near us? or can some little one have strayed from its parents?"s 3. "Such things frequently happen," returned Louisa. "Let us follow the sounds; it may be a wanderer, starving on the shape of branches of trees, and when alive they appear like flowers on the branches. These little creatures sometimes commence a structure in the ocean, which by degrees becomes an island. The history of the coral insect is exceedingly interesting. Louisa (18 è'za).---” In vỉgʻo råt ing, giving strength.- Pr&c' i pice, a very steep descent of land or rock. Ot sè' go, a beautiful lake in the central part of the State of New York. Pår' ents. 3 hill." Urged by this consideration, the females pursued the low, mournful sounds, that proceeded from the forest, with quick and impatient steps. More than once the ardent Elizabeth was on the point of announcing that she saw the sufferer, when Louisa caught her by the arm, and, pointing behind them, cried"Look at the dog!" 4. The advanced age of Brave had long before deprived him of his activity; and when his companions stopped to view the scenery or to add to their bouquets,' the mastiff' would lay his huge frame on the ground, and await their movements, with his eyes closed, and a listlessness in his air that ill accorded with the character of a protector. But when, aroused by this cry from Louisa, Miss Temple turned, she saw the dog with his eyes keenly set on some distant object, his head bent near the ground, and his hair actually rising on his body, either through fright or anger. It was most probably the latter; for he was growling in a low key, and occasionally showing his teeth, in a manner that would have terrified his mistress, had she not so well known his good qualities. 5. "Brave!" she said, "be quiet, Brave! what do you see, fellow?" At the sounds of her voice, the rage of the mastiff, instead of being at all diminished, was very sensibly increased. He stalked in front of the ladies, and seated himself at the feet of his mistress, growling louder than before, and occasionally giving vent to his ire by a short, surly barking. "What does he see?" said Elizabeth; "there must be some animal in sight." 6. Hearing no answer from her companion, Miss Temple turned her head, and beheld Louisa, standing with her face whitened to the color of death, and her finger pointing upward, with a sort of flickering, convulsed' motion. The quick eye of Elizabeth glanced in the direction indicated by her friend, where she saw the fierce front and glaring eyes of a female panther, fixed on them in horrid malignity, and threatening instant destruction. "Let us fly!" exclaimed Elizabeth, grasping the arm 2 'Bouquet (bo kå'), a bunch of flowers. Mås' tiff, a large kind of dog, remarkable for strength and courage.- Con vůlsed', drawn or contracted with shaking. Ma lig' ni ty, extreme enmity or hatred. of Louisa, whose form yielded like melting snow, and sunk lifeless to the earth. 7. There was not a single feeling in the temperament' of Elizabeth Temple, that could prompt her to desert a companion in such an extremity; and she fell on her knees, by the side of the inanimate Louisa, tearing from the person of her friend, with an instinctive readiness, such parts of her dress as might obstruct her respiration, and encouraging their only safeguard, the dog, at the same time, by the sounds of her voice. "Courage, Brave!" she cried-her own tones beginning to trembleแ courage, courage, good Brave!" 8. A quarter-grown cub, that had hitherto been unseen, now appeared, dropping from the branches of a sapling, that grew under the shade of the beech which held its dam. This ignorant but vicious creature approached near to the dog, imitating the actions and sounds of its parent, but exhibiting a strange mix ture of the playfulness of a kitten with the ferocity of its race. Standing on its hind legs, it would rend the bark of a tree with its fore paws, and play all the antics of a cat, for a moment; and then, by lashing itself with its tail, growling, and scratching the earth, it would attempt the manifestations of anger that renaered its parent so terrific. 9. All this time Brave stood firm and undaunted, his short tail erect, his body drawn backward on its haunches, and his eyes following the movements of both dam and cub. At every gambol played by the latter, it approached nigher to the dog, the growling of the three becoming more horrid at each moment, until the younger beast, overleaping its intended bound, fell directly before the mastiff. There was a moment of fearful cries and struggles; but they ended almost as soon as commenced, by the cub appearing in the air, hurled from the jaws of Brave, with a violence that sent it against a tree so forcibly as to render it completely senseless. 10. Elizabeth witnessed the short struggle, and her blood was warming with the triumph of the dog, when she saw the form ''Têm' per a ment, disposition; constitution. In ån' i mate, without life or spirit; inactive; spiritless. Res pi rà' tion, breathing.— 4 Håunch' es, the hips; the hinder part. of the old panther in the air, springing twenty feet from th branch of the beech to the back of the mastiff. No words of ours can describe the fury of the conflict' that followed. It was a confused struggle on the dried leaves, accompanied by loud and terrible cries, barks, and growls. Miss Temple cóntinued, on her knees, bending over the form of Louisa, her eyes fixed on the animals, with an interest so horrid, and yet so intense, that she almost forgot her own stake in the result. 11. So rapid and vigorous were the bounds of the inhabitant of the forest, that its active frame seemed constantly in the air, while the dog nobly faced his foe at each successive leap. When the panther lighted on the shoulders of the mastiff, which was its constant aim, old Brave, though torn with her talons, and stained with his own blood, that already flowed from a dozen wounds, would shake off his furious foe like a feather, and, rearing on his hind legs, rush to the fray again, with his jaws distended, and a dauntless eye. 12. But age, and his pampered life, greatly disqualified the noble mastiff for such a struggle. In every thing but courage he was only the vestige of what he had once been. A higher bound than ever raised the wary3 and furious beast far beyond the reach of the dog-who was making a desperate, but fruitless dash at her from which she alighted, in a favorable position, on the back of her agèd foe. For a single moment, only, could the panther remain there, the great strength of the dog returning with a convulsive effort. 13. But Elizabeth saw, as Brave fastened his teeth in the side of his enemy, that the collar of brass around his neck, which had been glittering throughout the fray, was of the color of - blood, and, directly, that his frame was sinking to the earth, where it soon lay, prostrate and helpless. Several mighty efforts of the wild-cat to extricate herself from the jaws of the dog followed; but they were fruitless, until the mastiff turned on his back, his lips collapsed, and his teeth loosened; when the short convulsions and stillness that succeeded, announced the death of poor Brave. 1 'Con' flict, battle; fight.- Vês' tiġe, footstep; mark or remains War' y, cautious; careful.- Col låpsed', closed by falling together |