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us to have an interest apart from the mere speculative considerations of the future physical condition of our globe. We see now, for the first time, the evidence of cosmical decay-a decay which, in its slow progress, may be but the preparation for renewed growth, but still a decay which, so far as the races at present on the earth are concerned, must be looked upon as finally destructive.

ON STUDIES.

LORD BACON.

Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight is in the quiet of private life; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of business; for expert men can execute and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels and the plots and marshaling of affairs come best from those that are learned.

To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use too much for ornament is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules is the humor of a scholar. They perfect nature and are perfected by experience, for natural abilities are like natural plants that need pruning by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience.

Crafty men contemn studies, simple men admire

them, and wise men use them; for they teach not their own use, but that there is a wisdom without them and above them, won by observation. Read not to contradict and to confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider.

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested— that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Some books may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others; but that would be only in less important arguments, and the meaner sort of books; else distilled books are, like common distilled waters, flashy things.

Reading maketh a full man, conversation a ready man, and writing an exact man; and, therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wit; and if he read little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know what he doth not.

Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtile; natural philosophy, deep; moral philosophy, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend. Studies pass into character: so if a man's wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics; for in demonstrations, if his wit be called away ever so little, he must begin again; if his wit be not apt to distinguish or find difference, let him study the schoolmen; if he be not apt to beat over matters, and to call up one thing to prove and illustrate another, let him study the lawyers' cases.

Indeed there is no impediment in the wit but may be wrought out by fit studies, as diseases of the body may, by appropriate exercises.

craft' y, quick; dexterous.

dis tilled', condensed.

im ped'i ment, something that hinders. sub' tile, acute.

ALONE.

GEORGE HOWLAND.

Not in the throng does man prepare
His noblest deeds to do, or dare,
Which heaven itself may own;
But ere with power divine endued,
The soul in deepest solitude,
Where mortal eye can ne'er intrude,
Must first retire alone.

Not when embattled squadrons meet,
In panoply of war complete,

Are man's true triumphs shown;
But when in sadness he hath gone
Apart, from every aid withdrawn,
And from the darkness till the dawn
Hath wrestled there alone.

Not 'neath the gaze of friendly eyes
Do we behold the spirit rise,

To its full stature grown;

But while the weary watchers sleep
It turns aside in silence deep,
Its sleepless vigils there to keep,
And seek for strength alone.

Then only hath the prophet's face
Put off each weak and human trace,
And like an angel's shone;

When he from crowded camp hath fled,
And on the mountain summit dread,
With clouds and darkness overspread,
Communed with God alone.

Not when the loud huzzas resound
And palms and branches strew the ground
Are joys the deepest known;

But when it feels itself replete

With blessedness so pure and sweet
No tongue the rapture can repeat,
The heart would be alone.

And when our dearest joys depart
And anguish rends the bleeding heart,
No idle dust is strown;

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No soothing words of kindred kind
No friendly hand the wound to bind
The writhing spirit seeks to find,

But goes to weep alone.

And when this fitful dream is o'er,
And friend or foe can do no more,

All earthly comforts flown;

When brightest mortal glories pale,
And heart and flesh together fail,
The parting spirit lifts the veil
And passes through alone.

huz za', a hurrah; a cheer.
pan' o ply, defensive armor.

re plete', filled full.

stat' ure, height of body.

A COSSACK VILLAGE AT EVENING.

COUNT LEO TOLSTOI.

It was one of those peculiar evenings such as are found only in the Caucasus. The sun had gone down behind the mountains, but it was still light. The last rays lighted up a third of the sky; the mountains stood out distinct against their sunset background. Their shadows extended for miles out on the steppe. The landscape seemed devoid of life. Roads, river, and steppe, all were desolate.

It is true that a few horsemen now and then passed along the dusty road which skirted the village, but the Circassian villagers and even the Cossacks at the military outpost looked at the riders with astonishment and curiosity, and ventured various guesses as to who those ill-fated people were. Cossack girls, braiding their whips together, hasten from the gardens with pleasant talk before the setting of the sun.

The gardens are soon left deserted, as are all the surroundings, but the station at this time of the evening quickly becomes alive. From every side

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