7. "I will send some one to take care of your mother for the evening; and here is a crown with which you can go and get food and medicine for her. Here is also one of my tickets. Come to-night; that will admit you to a seat near me." Almost beside himself with joy, Pierre departed; and, on his way home, bought some oranges and many a little delicacy, which he joyfully carried to the poor invalid, telling her, not without tears, of his good fortune.

8. When evening came, and Pierre was admitted to the concert-hall, he felt that never in his life had he been in so grand a place. The myriad lights, the music, the beauty, the flashing of diamonds, and the rustling of silks dazzled his eyes and almost bewildered his brain. At last she came; and the boy sat with his glance riveted upon her beautiful face.

9. Could he believe that the grand lady, all blazing with jewels, whom everybody seemed to worship, would really sing one of his little songs? Breathless, he waited; until the band struck up a sweet, plaintive melody, which he instantly recognized, and clapped his hands for joy. But, O, how she sung it! It was so simple, yet so plaintive and soul-subduing, that many a bright eye dimmed with tears; and the words of that little song found an echo in every listener's heart. So touching was the sentiment, so sweet and expressive the air!

10. Pierre walked home in ecstasy. What cared he about money now? The greatest singer in the world had sung his little song, and thousands had listened to it, had applauded it! The next day he was surprised at a visit from Madame Malibran. She laid her hand on his head, and, turning to the sick woman, said, "Madame, your son here has brought you a fortune. I was offered, last night, by the best publisher in London, three hundred pounds for his little song. Madame, thank God that your son has been so highly gifted."

11. The noble-hearted singer and the poor woman wept together. As to Pierre, always mindful of Him who watches over the tried and tempted, he knelt down by his mother's bedside, and uttered a simple but fervent prayer, asking God's blessing on the kind lady who had deigned to notice their affliction.

12. The memory of that prayer made the singer even more tender-hearted; and she, who was the idol of England's nobility, went about doing good. In her early death, he who stood by her bed, smoothed her pillow, and lightened her last moments by his undying affection, was the little Pierre of former days, now rich, accomplished, and the most talented composer of the day. All honor to those great hearts who, from their high stations, send down bounty to the widow, and give aid to the fatherless!

LESSON LIV.

THE DISCIPLINE OF DIFFICULTIES.

1. An acorn is not an oak-tree when it is sprouted. It must go through long summers and fierce winters; it has to endure all that frost, and snow, and thunder, and storm, and side-striking winds can bring, before it is a full-grown oak. These are rough teachers; but rugged schoolmasters make rugged pupils. So a man is not a man when he is created; he is only begun. His manhood must come with years. A man who goes through life prosperous, and comes to his grave without a wrinkle, is not half a man.

2. In time of war, whom does the general select for some hazardous enterprise? He looks over the men, and chooses

He

the soldier who he knows will not flinch at dange go bravely through whatever is allotted to him. that he may receive his orders; the officer, blushi pleasure to be thus chosen, hastens away to execute Difficulties are God's errands; and, when we are sent upon them, we should esteem it a proof of God's confidence, and prize it accordingly.

3. The traveler who goes round the world prepares himself to pass through all latitudes and to meet all changes. So a man must be prepared to take life as it comes, - to mount the hill when the hill swells, and to go down the hill when the hill lowers; to walk the plain when it stretches before him, and to ford the river when it rolls over the plain.

H. W. Beecher.

LESSON LV.

BENEFIT OF DIFFICULTIES.

1. Sir, are there difficulties in your path, hindering your pursuit of knowledge, restraining your benevolent endeavor, making your spiritual life a contest and a toil? Be thankful for them. They will test your capabilities of resistance. You will be impelled to persevere from the very energy of the opposition. If there be any might in your soul, like the avalanche of snow it will acquire additional momentum from the obstacles which threaten to impede it.

2. Many a man has thus robed himself in the spoils of a vanquished difficulty; and his conquests have accumulated at every onward and upward step, until he has rested from his labor, the successful athlete who has thrown the world. "An unfortunate illustration," you are ready to say; "for all can

*

not win the Olympic crown, nor wear the Isthmian† garland. What of him who fails? How is he recompensed? What does he gain?" What? Why, strength for life. His training has insured him that. He will never forget the gymnasium and its lessons. He will always be a stalwart man, a man of muscle and sinew. The real merit is not in the success, but in the endeavor; and, win or lose, he will be honored and crowned.

DEFINITIONS.

W. M. Punshon.

Ath'lēte, one who contended for a prize in the ancient public games. Gym na' si um, a place for athletic exercises.

Mo men' tum, the degree of force possessed by a moving body.

LESSON LVI.

THE WISH FOR FAME.

1. Do I lament that roseate youth has flown
In the hard labor grudged its niggard meed,
And cull from far and juster lands alone
Few flowers from many a seed?

2. No! for whoever with an earnest soul

Strives for some end from this low world afar,
Still upward travels, though he miss the goal,
And strays - but toward a star.

3. Better than fame is still the wish for fame,-
The constant training for a glorious strife:

*By the Olympic Crown is meant the olive garland presented to the victor in the Olympic Games, the most splendid national festival of the ancient Greeks, celebrated once every four years.

+ The Isthmian Games were celebrated at Corinth every four years, in honor of Neptune. The victor was presented with a garland of fir.

The athlete, nurtured for the Olympian Game,
Gains strength, at least, for life.

4. The wish for fame is faith in holy things,

That soothe the life, and shall outlive the tomb,-
A reverent listening for some angel wings
That cower above the gloom.

5. To gladden earth with beauty, or men's lives
To serve with action, or their souls with truth,-
These are the ends for which the hope survives
The ignobler thirsts of youth.

Bulwer Lytton.

LESSON LVII.

THE DESERT OF SAHARA.

1. The most important group of deserts in the world is that of the Sahara, which extends across the African continent from the shores of the Atlantic to the Valley of the Nile. This immense area extends more than three thousand miles from east to west, and is, on an average, more than six hundred miles in breadth; it is, in fact, equal in size to two thirds of Europe. In this region there is only one season, — summer, burning and merciless. It is but rarely that rain comes to refresh these arid wastes, on which the solar rays dart vertically down.

2. Those districts of the Sahara which are destitute of o'a ses present a truly formidable aspect, and are fearful places to travel over. The path which the feet of the camels have marked out in the immense solitude points in a straight line toward the spot which the caravan wishes to reach. Some