None loves to die.

And yet methinks

We have been dying all our life.

When first thy Childhood sang its hymn
Above the opening bud, that hour
Thine Infancy with eyelids dim

Lay cold in death, a faded flower!

When Youth in turn its place had won,

What whispered Childhood's ebbing breath?
Sad words it sighed o'er bright things gone,
And that first sin, true Childhood's death.

And Youth was dead ere Manhood came:
And wisdom's fruits of bitter taste

Were rooted in a soil of shame,

Poor funeral fruits of Manhood's waste.

Oh Life, long-dying, wholly die,

That Death not less may die at last:

And live, thou great Eternity

That Present art at once and Past!

COMPOSITION.

Write a short composition from the following ideas, taken from above stanzas on death:

The strongest minds draw back from death, for men cannot tell what is then to happen. No one likes to die, and still we are dying every day.

Our infancy dies so soon as we enter childhood, and youth, even while continuing external life, dies the most deplorable death when the first grievous sin is committed.

Long before we become men we have, perhaps, thus died. From experience we have learned the bitterness of sin, and our strength has been wasted away in allowing evil habits to grow up in the soil of our soul.

To prevent the habit of sin and its consequences, we must remember that "in the midst of life we are in death:" that is, we may die at any moment. Also recall that the wages of sin is death, and that the death

of the sinner is the beginning of a life without past or future, being an eternally miserable present.

Commit to memory the following stanza:

Men drop so fast, ere life's mid stage we tread,
Few know so many friends alive as dead.

shrinks

ebbing

waste

A STORY OF TOURS.

IN the latter part of the thirteenth century, there dwelt in the city of Tours, in France, a poor widow, who eked out a scanty living by letting a few rooms in her house to any strangers whom business or pleasure might attract to the ancient capital of Touraine.

Amongst her lodgers was one who, at the period of the occurrence we are about to relate, had already resided some months in her house. He was a young lawyer; his days, and even many of his nights, were spent in studying all the subtleties of the intricate science to which he had devoted himself; and already he had acquired a distinguished reputation.

But he was more than learned; he was truly pious, as his devout attention to his religious duties amply testified.

Soon the fame of his learning and piety spread abroad, and numbers of poor persons flocked to him in their necessities. Often he pleaded their causes gratuitously, and obtained justice for those whose poverty might otherwise have prevented them from getting a hearing. Thus he led the life of a saint, while pursuing a career which is usually supposed to offer greater temptations than almost any other.

During his stay the annual fair took place, and the

town was consequently crowded with merchants, traders, and adventurers from all parts.

Two persons, belonging apparently to the former class, took up their abode in the house of the widow. They appeared to be wealthy, and carried with them a large leathern bag of money, which they seemed in great fear of losing, as it might be supposed there were many dishonest persons among the multitudes who filled the town. In order, therefore, to avoid the risk of carrying such a large sum constantly about with them, they persuaded their hostess to take charge of it for them until such time as they should require it.

They further stipulated that, in order to avoid any possibility of fraud, she should only deliver up the bag of money to the two friends together, not to either separately.

A day or two passed away; her two lodgers made themselves extremely agreeable, and the good woman congratulated herself upon having such worthy people in her house.

One morning they bade her "good day," as usual, and were leaving the house together, when one of them returned, saying he would be glad if she would give them the bag of money, which they had only just recollected they should that day require.

Quite unsuspectingly, she gave it to him, and he took his departure.

In the course of the day, his companion returned, said they had been making some purchases, and requested to have the bag of money. The widow at once replied that she had given it them that very morning.

He answered that she had given it to his companion when he was not present; that she had done very wrong, and had acted quite in opposition to the agreement.

She said that she had fully believed him to be standing close to the door. He replied that such was not the case; and that she must make good the loss.

The poor woman assured him that she had acted in good faith, and that all she possessed would not make up the sum which he declared the bag to contain.

He said that he would compel her to pay the sum due to him according to agreement; and the next morning he had her summoned to court.

When she received the summons, her heart at first sank within her; but, presently, calling to mind the wisdom and learning of her young lodger, she went to him and made known her trouble. He at once perceived that it was a scheme devised by those two heartless villains to ruin his poor hostess, and to defraud her of her little possessions. He bade her, however, be of good courage, for that he would be present on the following day to plead her cause.

The next day the widow appeared before the judge and told her tale, with a sincerity that was convincing. Still the judge decided that as she had paid the money, only one of the owners being present, the other was fairly entitled to redress.

Then, up rose the young lawyer, and, assuring the judge that he bowed to his most just decision, he addressed his adversary, asking him if he were quite certain that such was the agreement, that the money should be paid in the presence of both parties.

"Such was one of the conditions of the agreement," he replied.

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Then," said the lawyer, "by what right do you claim to have it paid to you, as your companion is not present? Bring your friend into this court, and the money shall be forthcoming immediately.”

The rogue was thus caught in his own snare, and the lawyer, turning to the judge, requested that he might be detained while officers of justice were sent in search of his companion, who was discovered with the leathern bag in his possession, which, upon examination, was found to contain only pebbles.

The two heartless thieves suffered the punishment of their crime. The lawyer afterwards entering the ecclesiastical state, became a bishop, and was subsequently canonized; he has been ever since venerated as the patron of lawyers, under the name of St. Yves.

COMPOSITION.

Write the above story in your own language, from the following

SUMMARY:

A young lawyer boarding with a poor widow at Tours is noted for his learning and piety. During his stay the town fair is held. Merchants, travellers and adventurers attend it. Two men, apparently merchants, put up at the widow's inn. They ask her to keep their bag of money and to deliver it only in presence of both. After a few days one obtains the bag in the absence of the other, who shortly returns and demands his money. The widow, threatened with the law, appeals to the young lawyer. The judge deciding against her, the lawyer tells her prosecutor that as the money was to be paid to both together, he must bring his friend forward in order to receive the purse. The scheme thus laid bare, the judge sends men to capture the absent knave, and both are punished. The lawyer becomes a priest, and, under the name of St. Yves, is the patron of lawyers.