14. I directed my sight as I was ordered, and, whether or no the good Genius strengthened it with any supernatural force, or dissipated part of the mist, that was before too thick for the eye to penetrate, I saw the valley opening at the farther end, and spreading forth into an immense ocean, that had a huge rock of adamant running through the midst of it, and dividing it into two equal parts. The clouds still rested on one half of it, insomuch that I could discover nothing in it; but the other appeared to me a vast ocean, planted with innumerable islands, that were covered with fruits and flowers, and interwoven with a thousand little shining seas, that ran among them.

15. I could see persons dressed in glorious. habits, with garlands upon their heads, passing among the trees, lying down by the sides of fountains, or resting on beds of flowers; and could hear a confused harmony of singing birds, falling waters, human voices, and musical instruments. Gladness grew in me upon the discovery of so delightful a scene. I wished for the wings of an eagle, that I might fly away to those happy seats; but the Genius told me there was no passage to them except through the gates of death, that I saw opening every moment upon the bridge.

16. "The islands," said he, "that lie so fresh and green before thee, and with which the whole face of the ocean appears spotted, as far as thou canst see, are more in number than the sands on the sea-shore. There are myriads of islands behind those which thou here discoverest, reaching farther than thine eye or even thine imagination can extend itself. These are the mansions of good men after death, who, according to the degrees and kinds of virtue in which they excelled, are distributed among these several islands, which abound with pleasures of different kinds and degrees, suitable to the relishes and perfections of those who are settled in them. Every island is a paradise accommodated to its respective inhabitants.

17. "Are not these, oh Mirza, habitations worth contending for? Does life appear miserable, that gives thee opportunities of earning such a reward? Is death to be feared, that will convey thee to so happy an existence? Think not man

was made in vain, who has such an eternity reserved for him." I gazed with inexpressible pleasure on those happy islands. At length, said I, "Show me now, I beseech thee, the secrets that lie under those dark clouds that cover the ocean on the other side of the rock of adamant."

18. The Genius making me no answer, I turned about to address myself to him a second time, but I found that he had left me. I then turned again to the vision which I had been so long contemplating; but, instead of the rolling tide, the arched bridge, and the happy islands, I saw nothing but the long, hollow valley of Bagdat, with oxen, sheep, and camels grazing upon the sides of it. ADDISON.

LESSON XXIV.

CHRIST'S SECOND COMING.

1. THE Lord shall come! The earth shall quake,
The mountains to their centre shake;
And, withering from the vault of night,
The stars shall pale their feeble light.
The Lord shall come! a dreadful form,
With rainbow wreath and robes of storm,
On cherub wings, and wings of wind,
Appointed Judge of all mankind.

2. Can this be He, who wont to stray
A pilgrim on the world's highway,
Oppress'd by power, and mock'd by pride,
The Nazarene-the crucified?

While sinners in despair shall call,
"Rocks, hide us; mountains, on us fall!"
The saints, ascending from the tomb,

Shall joyful sing, "The Lord is come!"

3. "And they said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand ?"-Rev., vi., 16, 17.

PART V.

FIRST DIVISION OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY.

[This subject is continued in the Fifth Reader.]
LESSON I.

1. In the delightful retreat of Glenwild, near a small village in one of the middle states of our Union, resided Mr. and Mrs. Maynard, who had a select family school of some twenty pupils. A leading object with Mr. and Mrs. M. in opening the school was the education of their own children, who were Master Edward, a lad of nine years, Charles, a lad of eleven, and Ella, their only daughter, who had just entered her fourteenth year.

2. The building occupied as the school and dwelling-house was a venerable1 mansion, built in the old Dutch style, with gambrel roof and dormer3 windows, and a wide piazza extending the whole length of the side of the house, where was the main entrance. A beautiful lawn spread out in front, bordered on the left by a rivulet from the hills, which formed a pretty waterfall where it entered the glen below, while on the right a sturdy oak, that had probably withstood the storms of five hundred winters, lifted its gnarled but still luxuriant branches to the sky.

3. In the background, groves of chestnut and maple, skirting the hills, were relieved by the deeper green of an occasional towering pine or hemlock; a quiet stream, which modern geographers have not even deigned to notice, but which was known in that region as "The River," wound its peaceful way through meadow-lands in a long line of silvery brightness; and from both sides of the valley arose undulating5 highlands, stretching away to the southward in gentle ridges, and blending, in the distance, into the bolder outlines of the Alleghanies.

4. The most charming nook in all this secluded and peaceful valley was Glenwild, situated just above the point where *The River" enters a wild and rocky glen; and this delightful spot Mr. Maynard had chosen for his home, and his family school; and here, partially withdrawing himself from the busy world, he devoted all the energies of a powerful and well-trained intellect to the business of educating his own children, and a few others committed to his care.

5. Mr. Maynard was a teacher who really loved his youthful charge; and this, combined with the vast fund of information which he possessed, and the delight which he took in imparting knowledge to the young, was doubtless the reason why he was so beloved by his pupils. A consistent Christian, he was also a devoted student of Nature, reading lessons of wisdom in all her works; and he had the peculiar faculty of inspiring others with a portion of his own enthusiasm for the pursuits of science.

6. This model man and teacher was the almost constant companion of his pupils, to whom nothing was more delight

ful than to be told all they wished to know; and he who joined them in their pastimes," who accompanied them in their rambles, who flew their kites, helped construct their water-wheels and wind-mills, who artfully drew forth and answered all the thousand and one questions of prattling, inquisitive childhood, was the loved and guardian genius of the little group.

7. In such a school, and with such a teacher, it is not surprising that the branches studied, even by the younger pupils, were numerous and important, and such as are often deemed tedious and uninviting by those who have merely the barren tree of knowledge presented them, stripped of both fruit and foliage. But Mr. M. did not limit his educational views and labors to the duties of the school-room. The various plans which he suggested to his pupils for their hours of recreation were wisely designed for opening to their view some of the most interesting fields of knowledge.

8. It was in the various departments of natural history, especially, that the pupils of Mr. Maynard found a fund of combined information and amusement that tasked1o all their energies without ever wearying them. Nature was to them a vast bazar11—a curiosity shop from which they had col lected a miniature12 one of their own. They knew at sight the kinds of trees that grew in the woodlands around, and could tell both their botanical and their common names; not a flower did they pass in their rambles without inquiring of their teacher its name and properties; and each had collected a neat herbarium13 of his own; and from the stream, the glen, and the hill-side, they had made a handsome collection of specimens for a geological cabinet.

9. They could tell the names and characteristics of all the songsters that warbled in the neighboring groves, and of the fish that filled the streams; while the thousand insects that sported in the summer air were, to them, objects, not of annoyance or curiosity merely, but of rational amusement and instruction; and their numerous entomological14 specimens would have done credit to older naturalists than they were. How surprising it is that all teachers do not cultivate for their own gratification, and instruct their pupils in a science