LIFE, DEATH AND ETERNITY. 17 to do in this fable; but it is a pleasant mode of show. ing the folly and wickedness of that strife which the meaner passions above auuded to, may create. WITHIN the garden's peaceful scene The rose soon reddened into rage, The lily's height bespoke command. She seemed designed for Flora's hand, This civil bickering and debate The goddess chanced to hear; And flew to save, ere yet too late, "Yours is," she said, "the nobler hue, Let each be deemed a queen." LIFE, DEATH AND ETERNITY. A SHADOW moving by one's side, That is, yet is not,-though descried- A tree that's ever in the bloom, A dark, inevitable night, A blank that will remain ; A thing we know not, yet we dread- The vaulted void of purple sky A morning whose uprisen sun A day that comes without a noon- THE LEAF. Ir came with spring's soft sun and showers The breeze that whispered light and brief THE LEAF. But its companions passed away, The gentle gales of spring went by, And whirled and eddied wearily, And slumbered in the ocean's breast. Thus life begins-its morning hours, His brow yet fresh with childhood's bloom. 19 A FOUNTAIN varied gambols played, While gently murmuring through the glade, Perhaps it gave one envious gaze In all the colors of the sky, Alternately it shone : The brook observed it with a sigh, MAKING RESOLUTIONS. the bursting pipes were ill supplied; But still the brook its peaceful course Her ample, inexhausted source, From nature's fount she drew. "Now," said the brook, "I bless my fate, My little stream rolls on. "And all the world has cause, indeed, MORAL. Humble usefulness is preferable to idle splendor. 21 MAKING RESOLUTIONS. NEVER form a resolution that is not a good one; and when once formed, never break it. If you form a resolution, and then break it, you set yourself a bad example, and you are very likely to follow it. A person may get the habit of breaking his resolutions; this is as bad to the character and mind, as an incurable disease to the body. No person can become great, but by keeping his resolutions; no person ever escaped contempt, who could not keep them. If any of my young friends resolve to read this book through, as proposed in the introduction, I hope they will not fail to do so, unless they have good reasons for it. |