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8. During fifty years, Stanislaus Staszic allowed malice to blacken his actions. He knew the time would come when all Poland would do him justice. On the 20th of January, 1826, thirty thousand mourning Poles flocked around his bier, and sought to touch the pall, as though it were some holy, precious relic.' The Russian army could not comprehend the reason of the homage thus paid by the people of Warsaw to this illustri

ous man.

9. His last testament' fully explained the reason of his apparent avarice. His vast estates were divided into five hundred portions, each to become the property of a free peasant, his former serf. A school, on an admirable plan, and very extended scale, was to be established for the instruction of the peasants' children in different trades.

10. A reserved fund was provided for the succor of the sick and agèd. A small yearly tax, to be paid by the liberated' serfs, was destined for purchasing by degrees the freedom of their neighbors, condemned, as they had been, to hard and thankless toil.

11. After having thus provided for his peasants, Staszic bequeathed six hundred thousand florins for founding a model hospital; and he left a considerable sum toward educating poor and studious youths. As for his sister, she inherited only the same allowance which he had given her yearly, during his life; for she was a person of careless and extravagant habits, who dissipated foolishly all the money she received.

12. A strange fate was that of Stanislaus Staszic. A martyr to calumny during his life, after death his memory was blessed and revered by the multitudes whom he had made happy.

'Rel' ic, remains; something esteemed holy.- Test' a ment, will; a writing in which a person declares how he wishes his property disposed of after his death.—3 Av' a rice, excessive love of money, or gain. -Succor (sůk' kor), help; assistance; aid.— Lib' er a ted, made free.— Flor' ins, coins first made at Florence. The silver florin was valued at from 23 to 54 cents. The gold florin was of the value of about a dollar and a half.-' Mår' tyr, one who is put to death, or suffers, because he does what he thinks is right, or adheres to what he believes to be the truth.

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99. THE LABORER.

1. STAND up-erect! Thou hast the form
And likeness of thy God!—who more!

A soul as dauntless' 'mid the storm

Of daily life, a heart as warm

And pure as breast e'er wore.

2. What then?-Thou art as true a MAN
As moves the human mass among;
As much a part of the great plan
That with creation's dawn began,
As any of the throng.

3. Who is thine enemy?—the high

In station, or in wealth the chief?
The great, who coldly pass thee by,
With proud step, and averted' eye?
Nay! nurse not such belief.

4. If true unto thyself thou wast,

What were the proud one's scorn to thee:
A feather, which thou mightèst cast
Aside, as idly as the blast3

The light leaf from the tree.

5. No:-uncurb'd passions-low desires-
Absence of noble self-respect-

Death, in the breast's consuming fires,
To that high nature which aspires1
Forever, till thus check'd:

6. These are thin enemies-thy worst:
They chain thee to thy lowly lot-

Thy labor and thy life accurst.

Oh, stand erect! and from them burst!
And longer suffer not!

Dauntless, bold; fearless. A vert' ed, turned aside or away.Blåst, a gust of wind. As płres', longs after; desires eagerly to reach.

7. Thou art thyself thine enemy!

The great!-what better they than thou?
As theirs, is not thy will as free?

Has God with equal favors thee
Neglected to endow ?1

8. True, wealth thou hast not-'tis but dust
Nor place uncertain as the wind!
But that thou hast, which, with thy crust
And water, may despise the lust

Of bōth-a noble mind.

9. With this, and passions under ban,2
True faith, and holy trust in God,
Thou art the peer of any man.
Look up, then-that thy little span
Of life may be well trod!

WM. D. GALLAHER.

100. THE TRUE DIGNITY OF LABOR.

FROM the foundation of the world there has been a tendency

to look down upon labor, and upon those who live by it, with contempt, as though it were something mean and ignoble. This is one of those vulgar prejudices which have arisen from considering every thing vulgar that was peculiar to the multitude. Because the multitude have been suffered to remain too lõng rude and ignorant, every thing associated with their condition has been confounded with the circumstances of this condition.

2. The multitude were, in their rudeness and ignorance, mean in the public estimation, and the labor of their hands was held to be mean too. Nay, it has been said that labor is the result of God's primary curse, pronounced on man for his disobedience. But that is a great mistake. God told Adam that the ground was cursed for his sake; but not that his labor was cursed. He

'En dow', bestow; give.-2 Bån, curse; restraint.-Peer, equal; a person of the same rank. Associated (as so shåt ed), joined with; made a companion

THE TRUE DIGNITY OF LABOR.

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told him that in the sweat of his face he should eat his bread till he returned to the ground. But so far from labor partaking of the curse, it was given him as the means of triumphing over the curse. The ground was to produce thorns and thistles, but labor was to extir'pate' these thorns and thistles, and to cover the face of the earth with fruit-trees and bounteous harvests.

3. And labor has done this: labor has already converted the earth, so far as its surface is concerned, from a wilderness into a paradise.' Man eats his bread in the sweat of his face, but is there any bread so sweet as that, when he has only nature to contend with, and not the false arrangements of his fellow-men ? So far is labor from being a curse-so far is it from being a disgrace-it is the věry principle which, like the winds of the air, or the agitation of the sea, keeps the world in health. It is the very life-blood of society, stirring in all its veins, and diffusing vigor and enjoyment through the whole system.

4. Without man's labor, God had created the world in vain! Without our labor, all life, except that of the rudest and most savage kind, must perish. Arts, civilization, refinement, and religion must perish. Labor is the grand pedestal3 of God's blessings upon earth; it is more-like man and the world itself—it is the offspring and the work of God.

5. All honor then to labor, the offspring of Deity; the most ancient of ancients, sent forth by the Almighty into these nether1 worlds as the most noble of nobles! Honor to that divine principle which has filled the earth with all the comforts, and joys, and af'fluence' that it possesses, and is undoubtedly the instrument of happiness wherever life is found.

6. Without labor, what is there? Without it, there were no world itself. Whatever we see or perceive—in heaven or on the earth—is the product of labor. The sky above us, the ground beneath us, the air we breathe, the sun, the moon, the starswhat are they? The product of labor. They are the labors of the Omnipotent, and all our labors are but a continuance of His. Our work is a divine work. We carry on what God began.

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1 Extirpate (eks ter' påt), root out; destroy.- Pår' a dise, a place of great happiness.—3 Pèd' es tal, base or foundation on which any thing rests. Neth' er, lower. Af' flu ence, abundance; riches.

7. What a glorious spectacle is that of the labor of mal upon the earth! It includes every thing in it that is glorious. Look round, my friends, and tell me what you see that is worth seeing that is not the work of your hands, and of the hands of your fellows the multitude of all ages?

8. What is it that felled' the ancient forests and cleared vast morasses of other ages? That makes green fields smile in the sun, and corn, rustling in the breezes of heaven, whisper of plenty and domestic joy? What raised first the hut, and then the cottage, and then the palace? What filled all these with food and furniture—with food simple and also costly; with furniture of infinite variety, from the three-legged stool to the most magnificent cabinet and the regal' throne? What made glass, and dyed it with all the hues of rainbows or of summer sunsets? What constructed presses and books, and filled up the walls of libraries, every inch of which contained a mass of latent3 light hoarded for the use of ages?

9. What took the hint from the split walnut-shell which some boy floated on the brook, and set on the flood first the boat, and then the ship, and has scattered these glorious children of man, the water-walking ships, over all the oceans of the world, and filled them with the prod'uce of all lands, and the machinery of profoundest inventions? What has made the wide sea like a great city street, where merchants are going to and fro full of eager thoughts of self-accumulation, but not the less full of international blessings?

10. What has made the land like one great garden, laid down its roads that run like veins to every portion of the system of life, cut its canals, cast up its lines of railways, and driven alõng them, in fire and vapor, the awful but beneficial dragons of modern enterprise? What has piled up all our cities with their glittering and exhaustless wealth, their splendid utensils,' their paintings, their mechanic wonders, all serving domestic life, and

'Felled', overthrew; caused to fall.- Mo råss' es, marshes; low, wet pieces of ground.—3 Cåb' in et, a piece of furniture consisting of a chest, drawers, and doors; a private room.— Rè' gal, belonging to a king.La' tent, concealed; hidden; out of sight.- International (in ter nåsh' un al), between nations; relating to two or more nations.--' U tên' sil, any article of which use is made; tools, &c.

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