Page images
PDF
EPUB

And the early air look'd coldly`:

"Tick! tick!" it said, "quick out of bed;
For five I've given warning;

You'll never have health, you'll never have wealth',
Unless you're up soon in the morning!"

3. Still hourly the sound goes round and round",
With a tone that ceases never`;

While tears are shed for bright days fled ́,
And the old friends lost forever!

Its heart beats on, though hearts are gone,
That beat like ours, though stronger`;
Its hands still move, though hands we love",
Are clasp'd on earth no longer!

"Tick! tick!" it said, "to the churchyard bed,
The grave hath given warning:

Up! up! and rise, and look at the skies,

And prepare for a heavenly morning!"

VIII.

SCHEMES OF LIFE OFTEN ILLUSORY.
FROM DR. JOHNSON.

DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON was born in Litchfield, England, in 1709. He came to London, determined to devote himself to literature, and he principally maintained himself by writing for the magazines and other periodicals. After the publication of the Rambler and the English Dictionary, he found himself indisputably at the head of his literary contemporaries. He died in 1784.

1. OMAR, the son of Hassan, had passed seventy-five years in honor and prosperity. The favor of three successive califs had filled his house with gold and silver; and when ever he appeared", the benedictions of the people proclaimed his passage.

2. Terrestrial happiness is of short continuance`. The brightness of the flame is wasting its fuel; the fragrant flower is passing away in its own odors. The vigor of Omar began to fail; the curls of beauty fell from his head`; strength departed from his hands, and agility from his feet. He gave back to the calif the keys of trust, and the seals of secrecy; and sought no other pleasure for the remainder of life than the converse of the wise and the gratitude of the good`.

3. The powers of his mind were yet unimpaired. His chamber was filled by visitants, eager to catch the dictates of experience, and officious to pay the tribute of admiration. Caleb, the son of the viceroy of Egypt, entered every day early, and retired late. He was beautiful and eloquent`: Omar admired his wit, and loved his docility.

4. "Tell me," said Caleb, "thou to whose voice nations have listened, and whose wisdom is known to the extremities of Asia ́, tell me, how I may resemble Omar the prudent`. The arts by which thou hast gained power and preserved it, are to thee no longer necessary or useful; impart to me the secret of thy conduct, and teach me the plan upon which thy wisdom has built thy fortune."

5. "Young man," said Omar, "it is of little use to form plans of life. When I took my first survey of the world, in my twentieth year, having considered the various conditions of mankind, in the hour of solitude, I said thus to myself, leaning against a cedar, which spread its branches over my head: 'Seventy years are allowed to man; I have yet fifty remaining.

6. Ten years I will allot to the attainment of knowledge, and ten I will pass in foreign countries; I shall be learned and therefore shall be honored; every city will shout at my arrival, and every student will solicit my friendship. Twenty years thus passed, will store my mind with images, which I shall be busy, through the rest of my life, in combining and comparing. I shall revel in inexhaustible accumulations of intellectual riches; I shall find new pleasures for every moment, and shall never more be weary of myself.

7. "I will not, however, deviate too far from the beaten track of life; but will try what can be found in female delicacy`. I will marry a wife as beautiful. as the Houries, and wise as Zobeide`; and with her I will live twenty years within the suburbs of Bagdat, in every pleasure that wealth can purchase, and fancy can invent.

8. "I will then retire to a rural dwelling, pass my days in obscurity and contemplation; and lie silently down on the bed of death. Through my life it shall be my settled resolution, that I will never depend on the smile of princes; that I

never stand exposed to the artifices of courts; I will never pant for public honors, nor disturb my quiet with the affairs of state.' Such was my scheme of life, which I impressed indelibly upon my memory.

9. "The first part of my ensuing time was to be spent in search of knowledge`, and I know not how I was diverted from my design. I had no visible impediments without", nor any ungovernable passions within. I regarded knowledge as the highest honor, and the most engaging pleasure; yet day stole upon day, and month glided after month, till I found that seven years of the first ten had vanished ́, and left nothing behind them.

10. "I now postponed my purpose of traveling; for why should I go abroad, while so much remained to be learned at home? I immured myself for four years, and studied the laws of the empire. The fame of my skill reached the judges: I was found able to speak upon doubtful questions, and I was commanded to stand at the footstool of the calif. I was heard with attention; I was consulted with confidence, and the love of praise fastened on my heart.

11. "I still wished to see distant countries; listened with rapture to the relations of travelers, and resolved some time to ask my dismission, that I might feast my soul with novelty; but my presence was always necessary, and the stream of business hurried me along. Sometimes, I was afraid lest I should be charged with ingratitude; but I still proposed to travel, and therefore would not confine myself by marriage.

12. "In my fiftieth year, I began to suspect that the time of my traveling was past; and thought it best to lay hold on the felicity yet in my power, and indulge myself in domestic pleasures. But, at fifty, no man easily finds a woman beautiful as the Houries, and wise as Zobeide. I inquired and rejected, consulted and deliberated, till the sixty-second year made me ashamed of wishing to marry. I had now nothing left but retirement`; and for retirement I never found a time, till disease forced me from public employment`.

13. "Such was my scheme, and such has been its consequence. With an insatiable thirst for knowledge ́, I trifled away the years of improvement; with a restless desire of

seeing different countries, I have always resided in the same city; with the highest expectation of connubial felicity, I have lived unmarried; and with an unalterable resolution of contemplative retirement, I am going to die within the walls of Bagdat`."

IX. THE NEEDLE.

1. THE gay belles of fashion may boast of excelling
In waltz or cotillon, at whist or quadrille ;
And seek admiration by vauntingly telling
Of drawing, and painting, and musical skill:
But give me the fair one, in country or city',
Whose home and its duties are dear to her heart,
Who cheerfully warbles some rustical ditty,
While plying the needle with exquisite art:
The bright little needle, the swift-flying needle,
The needle directed by beauty and art.

2. If Love have a potent, a magical token ́,
A talisman, ever resistless and true ́,
A charm that is never evaded or broken,
A witchery certain the heart to subdue ́,
'Tis this, and his armory never has furnish'd
So keen and unerring, or polish'd a dart;
Let beauty direct it, so polish'd and burnish'd ́,
And O! it is certain of touching the heart:
The bright little needle, the swift-flying needle`,
The needle directed by beauty and art`.

3. Be wise, then, ye maidens, nor seek admiration ́,
By dressing for conquest, and flirting with all;
You never, whate'er be your fortune or station',
Appear half so lovely at rout or at ball ́,
As gayly conven'd at the work-cover'd table,
Each cheerfully active playing her part`,
Beguiling the task with a song or a fable,
And plying the needle with exquisite art:
The bright little needle, the swift-flying needle,
The needle directed by beauty and art.

X. DEATH OF LITTLE NELL.

FROM DICKENS.

CHARLES DICKENS of England, is one of the most popular writers of the day, and is admired as a graphic delineator of human character. He has published numerous interesting works, and is, at present, conductor of the periodical "Household Words."

1. SHE was dead. No sleep so beautiful and calm, so free from trace of pain, so fair to look upon. She seemed a creature fresh from the hand of God, and waiting for the breath of life; not one who had lived, and suffered death. Her couch was dressed with here and there some winter berries and green leaves, gathered in a spot she had been used to favor. "When I die, put near me something that has loved the light, and had the sky above it always`." Those were

her words.

2. She was dead. Dear, gentle, patient, noble Nell was dead. Her little bird, a poor slight thing the pressure of a finger would have crushed, was stirring nimbly in its cage, and the strong heart of its child-mistress was mute and motionless forever! Where were the traces of her early cares, her sufferings, and fatigues? All gone. Sorrow was dead, indeed, in her; but peace and perfect happiness were born, imaged, in her tranquil beauty and profound repose.

3. And still her former self lay there, unaltered in this change. Yes! the old fireside had smiled upon that same sweet face; it had passed, like a dream, through the haunts of misery and care; at the door of the poor schoolmaster on the summer evening, before the furnace-fire upon the cold wet night, at the still bedside of the dying boy, there had been the same mild and lovely look. So shall we know the angels, in their majesty, after death.

4. The old man held one languid arm in his, and the small tight hand folded to his breast for warmth. It was the hand she had stretched out to him with her last smile; the hand that had led him on through all their wanderings`. Ever and anon he pressed it to his lips; then hugged it to his breast again, murmuring that it was warmer now, and, as he said it, he looked in agony to those who stood around, as if imploring them to help her.

« PreviousContinue »