57. The Heavens Near Dawn.

It was a mild, serene, mid-summer night; the sky was without a cloud, the winds were whist. The moon, in her last quarter, had just risen, and the stars shone with a spectral luster, but little affected by her presence. Jupiter, two hours high, was the herald of the day; the Pleiades, just above the horizon, shed their sweet influence in the east; Lyra sparkled near the zenith; Andromeda veiled her newly-discovered glories from the naked eye in the South; the steady pointers, far beneath the pole, looked meekly up from the depths of the North to their sovereign.

Such was the glorious spectacle as I entered the train. As we proceeded, the timid approach of twi light became more perceptible; the intense blue of the sky began to soften; the smaller stars, like little children, went first to rest; the sister-beams of the Pleiades soon melted together; but the bright constellations of the west and north remained unchanged. Steadily the wondrous transfigurations went on. Hands of angels, hidden from mortal eyes, shifted the scenery of the heavens; the glories of night dissolved in the glories of the dawn. The blue sky now turned more softly gray; the great watch-stars shut up their holy eyes; the east began to kindle. Faint streaks of purple soon blushed along the sky; the whole celestial concave was filled with the inflowing tides of the morning light, which came pouring down from above in one great ocean of radiance; till, at length, as we

reached the Blue Hills, a flash of purple fire blazed out from above the horizon, and turned the dewy tear-drops of flower and leaf into rubies and dia. monds. In a few seconds the everlasting gates of the morning were thrown wide open, and the lord of day, arrayed in glories too severe for the gaze of man, began his state.

Edward Everett, Mass., 1794-1865.

58. The Best Books.

The books which help you most are those which make you think most. The hardest way of learning is by easy reading; but a great book that comes from a great thinker,—it is a ship of thought, deep freighted with truth and with beauty.

Theo. Parker, Mass., 1810-1860.

59. Character.

It is the

The crown and glory of life is character. noblest possession of a man, constituting a rank in itself, and an estate in the general good-will; dignifying every station, and exalting every position in society. It exercises a greater power than wealth, and secures all the honor without the jealousies of fame. It carries with it an influence which always tells,—for it is the result of proud honor, rectitude, and consistency, qualities which, perhaps, more than any other, command the general confidence and respect of man kind

S. Smiles, England, 1816

60. A True Life.

A true life must be simple in all its elements. Animated by one grand and ennobling impulse, all lesser aspirations find their proper places in harmonious subservience. Simplicity in taste, in appetite, in habits of life, with a corresponding indifference to worldly honors and aggrandisement, is the natural result of the predominance of a divine and unselfish idea. Under the guidance of such a sentiment, virtue is not an effort, but a law of nature, like gravitation. It is vice alone that seems unaccountable, monstrous, well-nigh miraculous.

Horace Greeley, New Hampshire, 1811-1872.

61. Washington.

While we commend the character and example of Washington to others, let us not forget to imitate it ourselves. The two great leading principles of his policy should be remembered and cherished. Those principles were,-first, the most complete, cordial, and indissoluble union of the States; and second, the most entire separation and disentanglement of our own country from all other countries. Perfect union among ourselves, perfect neutrality toward others, and peace, peace, domestic peace, and foreign peace as the result; this was the chosen and consummate policy of the Father of his country.

R. C. Winthrop, Mass., 1809

62. Genius.

It is nothing less than the possession of all the powers and impulses of humanity, in their greatest possible strength and most harmonious combination; and the genius of any particular man is great in proportion as he approaches this ideal of universal genius. Conceive of a mind in which the powers of Napoleon and Howard, Dante and Newton, Luther and Shakspeare, Kant and Fulton, were so combined as to act in perfect harmony; a mind vital in every part, conceiving everything with intensity, and yet conceiving everything under its due relations, as swift in its volitions as in its thoughts,-conceive of a mind like this, and you will have a definition of genius.

E. P. Whipple, Mass., 1819-.

63. Language.

Language is the amber in which a thousand precious thoughts have been safely imbedded and preserved. It has arrested ten thousand lightning-flashes of genius, which, unless thus fixed and arrested, might have been as bright, but would also have been as quickly passing and perishing as the lightning. Words convey the mental treasures of one period to the generations that follow; and laden with this, their precious freight, they sail safely across gulfs of time in which empires have suffered shipwreck, and the languages of common life have sunk into oblivion.

R. C. Trench, England, 1807—.

64. Fortitude and Perseverance.

I

The great art of life, so far as I have been able to observe, consists in fortitude and perseverance. have rarely seen that a man who conscientiously devoted himself to the studies and duties of any profession, and did not omit to take fair and honorable opportunities of offering himself to notice when such presented themselves, has not at length got forward. The mischance of those who fall behind, though flung upon fortune, more frequently arises from want of skill and perseverance. Life, young friends, is like a game at cards; our hands are alternately good or bad, and the whole seems, at first glance, to depend on mere chance. But it is not so, for in the long run the skill of the player predominates over the casualties of the game. Therefore, do not be discouraged with the prospect before you, but ply your studies hard, and qualify yourselves to receive fortune when she comes your way.

W. Scott, Scotland, 1771-1832.

65. The Beautiful Unappreciated. Suppose that I were to visit a cottage, and to see its walls lined with the choicest pictures of Raphael, and every spare nook filled with statues of the most exquisite workmanship, and that I were to learn that neither man, woman, nor child ever cast an eye at these miracles of art, how should I feel their privation! how should I want to open their eyes, and to