He has conferred upon his fellow-men A certain blessing:- should requital come, Did he confer his boon: and so he quails not, Rup. John, thou 'rt a riddle. Where, then, is thy reward for all thy pains? Shed comfort on this transitory life, But be (such is my faith) a joy hereafter! LXXXVI. THE BIRD-CATCHER. Osborne. A little boy was once told he could catch a bird by dropping salt on its tail. The following lines were written on seeing him try the experiment. 1. GENTLY, gently, yet, young stranger, Light of heart and light of heel! Ere the bird perceives its danger, On it slyly steal. Silence! ah! your scheme is failing No pursue your pretty prey; 2. Caution! now you 're nearer creeping; Nearer yet how still it seems! Led, like you, my hopes to centre 5. On what captures I've been counting, Thus have children of all ages, Seeing bliss before them fly, Found their hearts but empty cages, And their hopes — on high! Laman Blanchard. ΕΙ LXXXVII. THE MAN IN THE BELL. 1. In my younger days, bell-ringing was much more in fashion among the young men than it is now. Some fifty years ago, about twenty of us, who dwelt in the vicinity of the ca-the'dral, formed a club which used to ring every peal that was called for. But my bell-ringing practice was shortened by a singular accident, which not only stopped my performance, but made even the sound of a bell terrible to my ears. 2. One Sunday I went with another into the belfry to ring for noon prayers, but the second stroke we had pulled showed us that the clapper of the bell we were at was muffled. The remedy was easy. "Jack," said my companion, " step up to the loft, and cut off the hat;" for the way we had of muffling was by tying a piece of an old hat, or of cloth (the former was preferred), to one side of the clapper, which deadened every second toll. 3. I complied, and, mounting into the belfry, crept as usual into the bell, where I began to cut away. The hat had been tied on in some more complicated manner than usual, and I was perhaps three or four minutes in getting it off; during which time my companion below was hastily called away, and his place supplied by a brother of the club, who, knowing that the time had come for ringing for service, and not thinking that any one was above, began to pull. 4. At this moment I was just getting out, when I felt the bell moving; I guessed the reason at once. it was a moment of terror; but, by a hasty and almost convulsive effort, I succeeded in jumping down, and throwing myself on the flat of my back under the bell. The room in which it hung was little more than sufficient to contain it, the bottom of the bell coming within a couple of feet of the floor of lath. As I lay it was within an inch of my face. I had not laid myself down a second when the ringing began. It was a dreadful situation. 5. Over me swung an immense mass of metal, one touch of which would have crushed me to pieces; the floor under me was principally composed of crazy laths, and if they gave way I should be precipitated to the distance of about fifty feet upon a loft, which would, in all probability, have sunk under the impulse of my fall, and sent me to be dashed to atoms upon the marble floor of the chancel, a hundred feet below. 6. Every moment I saw the bell sweep within an inch of my face; and my eyes I could not close them, though to look at the object was bitter as death-followed it instinctively in its os'cillating progress until it came back again. It was in vain that I said to myself it could come no nearer at any future swing than it did at first; every time it descended, I endeavored to shrink into the very floor to avoid being buried under the down-sweeping mass; and then, reflecting on the danger of pressing too weightily on my frail support, I would cow'er up again as far as I dared. 7. The roaring of the bell confused my intellect, and my fancy soon began to teem with all sorts of strange and terrifying ideäs. The bell pealing above, and opening its jaws with a hideous clamor, seemed to me at one time a răvening monster, raging to devour me; at another, a whirlpool ready to suck me into its bellowing abyss. I often thought that I was in a hurricane at sea, and that the vessel in which I was embarked tossed under me with the most furious vehemence. 8. I trembled lest reason should utterly desert me; lest, when utterly deprived of my senses, I should rise; to do which I was every moment tempted by that strange feeling which calls on a man whose head is dizzy from standing on the battlement of a lofty castle to precipitate himself from it- and then death would be instant and tremendous. When I thought of this, I became desperate. I caught the floor with a grasp which drove the blood from my nails; and I yelled with the cry of despair. 9. I called for help, I prayed, I shouted; but all the efforts of my voice were, of course, drowned in the bell. As it passed over my mouth it occasionally echoed my cries, which mixed not with its own sound, but preserved their distinct character. Perhaps this was but fancy. To me, I know, they then sounded as if they were the shouting, howling, or laughing of the fiends * with which my imagination had peopled the gloomy cave which swung over me. 10. In twenty minutes the ringing was done. Half of that time passed over me without power of computation, — the other half appeared an age. When the bell stopped, I was roused a little by the hope of escape. I did not, however, decide on this step hastily, but, putting up my hand with the ・・ XC. THE CONSUMMATE GLORY OF WASHINGTON. 1. THIS is the consum'mate glory of Washington: a triumphant warrior where the most sanguine had a right to despair; a successful ruler in all the difficulties of a cause wholly untried ; but a warrior whose sword only left its sheath when the first law of our nature commanded it to be drawn, and a ruler who, having tasted of supreme power, gently and unostentatiously is the most serious of all, and hath greatest need of the heavenly light. Thus the last hour of the day is the most beautiful; the beams of evening brighten it like a stream of glory from Elysium.EI 4. "I dreamed I saw a beautiful youth entering my prison. On his countenance were visible that serene gravity and calm composure which justly befit a divine form. In his right hand he held a burning torch, that spread a rosy lustre, like evening light, over the darkness of my prison. The more cheering and sweet this brightness and the aspect of the youth were to me, the more miserable and dreary the night of my prison appeared. 5. "Slowly the divine youth lowered the torch. But methought I seized his arm, and cried: What wouldst thou do?' - He answered: 'I extinguish the torch.' — 'O, no!' implored I; it spreads a sweet light through the darkness of my prison.' But he smiled and said: It is the torch of terrestrial life. Thou needest it no longer; for so soon as it is extinguished thy bodily eye will close forever, and thou wilt rise hand in hand with me to a higher world, where a pure eternal lustre will surround thee. How couldst thou, then, feel the want of the self-consuming earthly torch?" 666 6. "O, then turn the torch!' cried I, and awoke. I was alone in the night of my dungeon. Alas! I grieved that all had been a dream. But, behold, here comes the cup which will realize it." The jailer entered with the boy who carried the cup of poison. The voice of weeping and lamentation arose among the disciples of Socrates, and even the jailer wept. From the German of Krummacher. XCIII. THE JUVENILE CULPRIT. 1. A CULPRIT, from the stōny prison brought, |