Along the crackling stairs they fiercely play,
And roar, exulting, as they seize their prey.
"Help! HELP!— Will no one come?" She can

no more,

But, pale and breathless, sinks upon the floor.

4. Will no one save thee'? Yes'; there yet is one
Remains to save, when hope itself is gone;
When all have fled, when all but he would fly,
The FIREMAN comes, to rescue or to die!
He mounts the stair it wavers 'neath his tread;
He seeks the room-flames flashing round his head;
He bursts the door; he lifts her prostrate frame,
And turns again to brave the raging flame.

5. The Fire-blast smites him with his stifling breath;
The falling timbers menace him with death;
The sinking floors his hurried step betray,
And ruin crashes round his desperate way.
Hot smoke obscures-ten thousand cinders rise-
Yet still he staggers forward with his prize.
He leaps from burning stair to stair. On! ON!
COURAGE! One effort more, and all is won!
The stair is passed—the blazing hall is braved!
Still on! yet on! Once more! THANK HEAVEN,

SHE'S SAVED!

6. The hardy seaman pants the storm to brave,
For beckoning Fortune wooes him to the wave;
The soldier battles 'neath his smoky shroud,
For Glory's bow is painted on the cloud;
The fireman also dares each shape of death,
But not for Fortune's gold nor Glory's wreath.

No selfish throbs within their breasts are known;
No hope of praise or profit cheers them on:
They ask no meed, no fame; and only seek
To shield the suffering and protect the weak.

7. For this the howling midnight storm they woo;
For this the raging flames rush fearless through;
Mount the frail rafter-thrid the smoky hall-
Or toil, unshrinking, 'neath the tottering wall:
Nobler than they who, with fraternal blood,
Dye the dread field or tinge the fearful flood,-
O'er their firm ranks no crimson banners wave;
They dare-they suffer-not to slay, but save!

LESSON CXIII.

1 SA MAR'I TAN and LE' VITE. For an account of, see the 10th chapter of Luke, from the 30th to the 37th verse.

2 SYB' A RITE, an inhabitant of Syb' a ris, an ancient city of Italy, noted for the effeminacy and voluptuousness of its inhabitants. A person devoted to luxury and pleasure.

BENEFITS OF AGRICULTURE.

D. S. DICKINSON.

W

pro

E have the high authority of history, sacred and fane, for declaring that agriculture is a dignified and time-honored calling,—ordained and favored of Heaven, and sanctioned by experience; and we are invited to its pursuit by the rewards of the the rich promises of the future. war, with its embattled legions, has, in its proud triumphs, "whelmed nations in blood, and wrapped cities in fire,"

past and the present, and While the fierce spirit of

and filled the land with lamentation and mourning, it has not brought peace or happiness to a single hearth, dried the tears of the widows or hushed the cries of the orphans it has made, bound up or soothed one crushed or broken spirit, nor hightened the joys of domestic or social life in a single bosom.

2. But how many dark recesses of the earth has agriculture illumined with its blessings! How many firesides has it lighted up with radiant gladness! How many hearts has it made buoyant with domestic hope! How often, like the Good Samaritan,' has it alleviated want and misery, while the priest and the Levite of power have passed by on the other side! How many family altars, and gatheringplaces of affection, has it erected! How many desolate homes has it cheered by its consolations! How have its peaceful and gentle influences filled the land with plenteousness and riches, and made it vocal with praise and thanksgiving!

3. It has pleased the benevolent Author of our existence to set in boundless profusion before us the necessary elements for a high state of cultivation and enjoyment. Blessings cluster around us like fruits of the land of promise; and Science unfolds her treasures, and invites us to partake, literally without money and without price. The propensities of our nature, as well as the philosophy of our being, serve to remind us that man was formed for care and labor, the acquisition and enjoyment of property, for society and government, to wrestle with the elements around him; and that, by an active exercise of his powers and faculties alone, can he answer the ends of his creation, or exhibit his exalted attributes.

4. His daily wants, in all conditions of life, prompt him to exertion; and the spirit of acquisition, so deeply im

planted in the human breast,-that "ruling passion strong in death,” so universally diffused through the whole family of man, is the parent of that laudable enterprise which has caused the wilderness to bud and blossom like the planted domestic enjoyments in the lair of the beast of prey, and transformed the earth from an uncultivated wild into one vast store-house of subsistence and enjoyment.

rose,

5. What can be more acceptable to the patriot or the philanthropist than to behold the great mass of mankind raised above the degrading influences of tyranny and indolence to the rational enjoyment of the bounties of their Creator; to see, in the productions of man's magic powers, the cultivated country, the fragrant meadow, the waving harvest, the smiling garden, and the tasteful dwelling, and himself, chastened by the precepts of religion, and elevated by the refinements of science, partaking of the fruits of his own industry, with proud consciousness that he eats not the bread of idleness or fraud; that his gains are not met with the tears of misfortune, nor wrung from his fellow by the devices of avarice or extortion; his joys hightened, his sorrows alleviated, and his heart rectified by the cheering voice and heaven-born influences of woman?

6. Well may he sit down under his own vine and figtree without fear of molestation, and his nightly repose be more quiet than that of the stately monarch of the East. upon his down of cygnets, or the voluptuous Sybarite upon his bed of roses. And while he and all his dwellings of care and toil are borne onward with the circling spheres, and the spangled heavens around him, in their infinite depths, invite his thoughts to the contemplation of the Creator's handiwork; still, in all the worlds of philosophy and intellect, he must be a worker. He is nothing, can be nothing, can achieve nothing, without LABOR.

LESSON CXIV.

1 A POL LO. See note, page 56.

2 LA OC'O ON, a priest of Apollo, who, as Virgil describes, was, with his two sons, crushed in the folds of two enormous serpents, on account of an affront offered to Minerva.

THE WORK OF ELOQUENCE.

ORVILLE DEWEY.

IE LABORS requisite to form the public speaker are by

THE

no means, duly appreciated. An absurd idea prevails among our scholars, that the finest productions of the mind are the fruits of hasty impulse, the unfoldings of a sudden thought, the brief visitations of a fortunate hour or evening, the flashings of intuition, or the gleamings of fancy. Genius is often compared to lightning from the cloud, or the sudden bursting out of a secret fountain; and eloquence is regarded as if it were a kind of inspiration.

2. When a man has made a happy effort, he is next possessed with an absurd ambition to have it thought that it cost him nothing. He will say, perhaps, that it was a three-hours' work. Now, it is not enough to maintain that nothing could be more injurious to our youth than this way of thinking; for the truth is, that nothing can be more false. The mistake lies, in confounding, with the mere arrangement of thoughts, or the manual labor of putting them on paper, the long previous preparation of mind, the settled habits of thought. It has taken but three hours, perhaps, to compose an admirable piece of poetry, or a fine speech; but the reflections of three years, or of thirty, may have been tending to that result.

3. To give the noblest thoughts the noblest expression; to stand up in the pure light of reason, or to create a new atmosphere, as it were, for intellectual vision; to put on