rung; you profess to be very indifferent, as the reading and the prayer close; you even stoop to take up your hat, — as if you had entirely overlooked the fact, that the old President was in the desk, for the express purpose of declaring the successful names. You listen dreamily to his tremulous, yet fearfully distinct enunciation. Your head swims strangely.

They all pass out with a harsh murmur, along the aisles, and through the doorways. It would be well if there were no disappointments in life more terrible than this. It is consoling to express very deprecating opinions of the Faculty in general; and very contemptuous ones of that particular officer who decided upon the merit of the prize themes. An evening or two at Dalton's room go still farther toward healing the disappointment; and if it must be said toward moderating the heat of your ambition.

You grow up however, unfortunately, as the College years fly by, into a very exaggerated sense of your own capacities. Even the good, old, white-haired Squire, for whom you had once entertained so much respect, seems to your crazy, classic fancy, a very humdrum sort of personage. Frank, although as noble a fellow as ever sat a horse, is yet you cannot help thinking very ignorant of Euripides; even the English master at Dr. Bidlow's school, you feel sure would balk at a dozen problems you could give him.

You get an exalted idea of that uncertain quality, which turns the heads of a vast many of your fellows, called - Genius. An odd notion seems to be inherent in the atmosphere of those College chambers, that there is a certain faculty of mindfirst developed as would seem in Colleges, which accomplishes whatever it chooses, without any special painstaking. For a time, you fall yourself into this very unfortunate hallucination; you cultivate it, after the usual college fashion, by drinking a vast deal of strong coffee, and whisky toddy, - by writing a little poor verse, in the Byronic temper, and by studying very late at night, with closed blinds.

It costs you, however, more anxiety and hypocrisy than you could possibly have believed.

-You will learn, Clarence, when the autumn has rounded your hopeful summer, if not before, that there is no Genius in

life like the Genius of energy and industry. You will learn, that all the traditions so current among very young men, that certain great characters have wrought their greatness by an inspiration as it were, grow out of a sad mistake.

And you will further find, when you come to measure yourself with men, that there are no rivals so formidable as those earnest, determined minds, which reckon the value of every hour, and which achieve eminence by persistent application.

Literary ambition may inflame you at certain periods; and a thought of some great names will flash like a spark into the mine of your purposes; you dream till midnight over books; you set up shadows, and chase them down-other shadows, and they fly. Dreaming will never catch them. Nothing makes the "scent lie well," in the hunt after distinction, but labor.

And it is a glorious thing, when once you are weary of the dissipation, and the ennui of your own aimless thought, to take up some glowing page of an earnest thinker, and read - deep, and long, until you feel the metal of his thought tinkling on your brain, and striking out from your flinty lethargy flashes of ideas, that give the mind light and heat. And away you go, in the chase of what the soul within is creating on the instant, and you wonder at the fecundity of what seemed so barren, and at the ripeness of what seemed so crude. The glow of toil wakes you to the consciousness of your real capacities: you feel sure that they have taken a new step toward final development. In such mood it is, that one feels grateful to the musty tomes, which at other hours, stand like curiosity-making mummies, with no warmth, and no vitality. Now they grow into the affections like new-found friends; and gain a hold upon the heart, and light a fire in the brain, that the years and the mold cannot cover nor quench.

MOHAMMED

MOHAMMED. Born at Mecca about 570 A.D. Died at Medina about 632 A.D. The great Arabian prophet and founder of Islam, through whom we have the sacred book, "The Koran."

A marvel of magnetism and prophetic power, Mohammed belongs to

"The dead but sceptered sovereigns, who still rule

Our spirits from their urns."

The word "Koran" signifies in Arabic "that which ought to be read." It is written with the utmost elegance and purity of language, and is the standard of pure Arabic. Its chief doctrine is the unity of God. It contains also many laws of conduct and directions as to the proper worship of the Deity. That Mohammed was really its author is beyond dispute among the non-Mohammedans. The Moslems, however, regard it as of divine origin, and a direct revelation to the prophet from God. Hence the Koran is itself almost worshiped by them. They take their oaths upon it, consult it on great occasions for guidance, and carry it with them to war. Its word is absolute in both spiritual and secular affairs.

MOHAMMED'S LAST SPEECH

YE people, hearken to my words: for I know not whether after this year I shall ever be amongst you here again.

Your lives and your property are sacred and inviolable amongst one another until the end of time.

The Lord hath ordained to every man the share of his inheritance; a testament is not lawful to the prejudice of heirs. The child belongeth to the parent, and the violater of wedlock shall be stoned.

Ye people, ye have rights demandable of your wives, and they have rights demandable of you. Treat your women well.

And your slaves, see that ye feed them with such food as ye eat yourselves, and clothe them with the stuff ye wear. And if they commit a fault which ye are not willing to forgive, then sell them, for they are the servants of the Lord and are not to be tormented.

Ye people! hearken unto my speech and comprehend it. Know that every Muslim is the brother of every other Muslim. All of you are on the same equality: ye are one brotherhood.

(From "THE KORAN")

THE CHARGERS

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

By the CHARGERS that pant,

And the hoofs that strike fire,

And the scourers at dawn,
Who stir up the dust with it,

And cleave through a host with it!

Verily Man is thankless towards his Lord,

And verily he is witness thereof,

And verily in his love of weal he is grasping.

Doth he not know? - when what is in the tombs shall be

laid open,

And what is in men's breasts shall be laid bare;

Verily on that day their Lord shall know them well!

SUPPORT

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

WHAT thinkest thou of him who calleth the Day of Judgment a

lie?

He it is who driveth away the orphan,

And is not urgent for the feeding of the poor.

Woe then to those who pray,

Those who are careless in their prayers,

Who make a pretense,

But withhold SUPPORT.

THE KINGDOM

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

BLESSED be He in whose hand is the KINGDOM: and He is powerful over all;

Who created death and life to prove you which of you is best in actions, and He is the Mighty, the Very Forgiving;

Who hath created seven heavens in stages: thou seest no fault

in the creation of the Merciful; but lift up thine eyes again; dost thou see any cracks?

Then lift up the eyes again twice; thy sight will recoil to thee dazzled and dim.

Moreover, we have decked the lower heaven with lamps, and have made them for pelting the devils, and we have prepared for them the torment of the flame.

And for those who disbelieve in their Lord, the torment of Hell: and evil the journey to it!

When they shall be cast into it, they shall hark to its braying as it boileth;

It shall well-nigh burst with fury! Every time a troop is thrown into it, its keepers shall ask them, "Did not a warner come to you?"

They shall say, "Yea! a warner came to us; but we took him for a liar, and said, 'God hath not sent down anything. Verily, ye are only in great error.'"

And they shall say, "Had we but hearkened or understood, we had not been among the people of the flame!"

And they will confess their sins: so a curse on the people of the flame!

Verily they who fear their Lord in secret, for them is forgiveness -a great reward.

And whether ye hide your speech, or say it aloud, verily He knoweth well the secrets of the breast!

What! shall He not know, who created? and He is the subtle, the well-aware!

It is He who hath made the earth smooth for you: so walk on its sides, and eat of what He hath provided and unto Him shall be the resurrection.

Are ye sure that He who is in the Heaven will not make the earth sink with you? and behold, it shall quake!

Or are ye sure that He who is in the Heaven will not send against you a sand-storm, - so shall ye know about the warning! And assuredly those who were before them called it a lie, and how was it with their denial?

Or do they not look up at the birds over their heads, flapping their wings? None supporteth them but the Merciful: verily He seeth all.