in all the South Pacific. When on the wing it is the very beau ideal of beauty and grace. Seamen ought to love and prize it dearly, for the drear monotony of life at sea is often relieved by its always welcome appearance; and many an hour is spent by the voyager in watching with admiration its glorious curves and swoops in the elastic ocean of air, race-ground where it has no competitor.

a free

7. A writer, who must have seen the bird in its native seas, says that it flies against, as well as before, the wind, and hovers around a ship at sea, never outstripped by its speed. It enjoys the calm, and sports in the sunbeams on the glassy wave; but it revels in the storm, and darts its arrowy way before the fury of the gale. It seems to be then in its element. Mocking the surges of the mighty sea, and breasting the tempest's blast, its flight has not less sublimity, perhaps, than that of the eagle darting upward to the skies.

8. "It is a beautiful sight to behold this noble bird sailing in the air in light and graceful movements. After the first muscular exertion which gives impulse to its flight, its wings are always expanded, like the sails of a ship, and show no motion, as if it were wafted on by some invisible power. It is from this cause that it sustains untired its long and distant flight across the sea."

Rev. H. T. Cheever.

WORD ANALYSIS AND DEFINITIONS.

A verred', declared; asserted.

Beau ideal (bo i de al), a conception of perfect beauty.

Com pet' i tor (com, with; petitor, one who seeks), one who strives with others for the same object ; a rival.

Ex pand' (ex, out; pand, spread), to become opened; to spread apart. Mo not' o ny (mono, one; tony, tone or sound), sameness of sound. Pro pel' (pro, forward; pel, to urge), to drive forward.

Su per sti' tious, prone to believe in what is mysterious or wonderful; full of idle fancies in regard to religion.

Sus tain' (sus for sub, under; tain, hold), to hold up; to support.

LESSON XLIV.

THE SEA-BIRD'S SONG.

1. On the deep is the mariner's danger, On the deep is the mariner's death; Who, to fear of the tempest a stranger, Sees the last bubble burst of his breath? 'Tis the sea-bird, sea-bird, sea-bird, Lone looker on despair;

The sea-bird, sea-bird, sea-bird,

The only witness there.

2. Who watches their course who so mildly
Careen to the kiss of the breeze?

Who lists to their shrieks who so wildly
Are clasped in the arms of the scas?
'Tis the sea-bird, &c.

3. Who hovers on high o'er the lover,
And her who has clung to his neck?
Whose wing is the wing that can cover
With its shadow the foundering wreck?
'Tis the sea-bird, &c.

4. My eye in the light of the billow,
My wing on the wake of the wave,
I shall take to my breast, for a pillow,
The shroud of the fair and the brave.
I'm a sea-bird, &c.

5. My foot on the iceberg has lighted,

When hoarse the wild winds veer about;

My eye, when the bark is benighted,

Sees the lamp of the light-house go out.

Waiting through the starless night
For the coming of the light,

For my ships which went to sea
Long ago, long ago.

5. I've a ship which went to sea Years ago, years ago,

And the gallant little craft

Beats the tempest fore and aft,
While the homeward gales to me
Ever blow, ever blow.

6. Little heedeth she the storm,
Or the night, or the night;
For her anchor is secure,
And her timbers will endure
Till the coming of the morn,

Pure and bright, pure and bright.

7. Lone and weary have I been, —
Who can tell, who can tell?

All the anguish of the soul,
While the billows round me roll,
Till my ships come sailing in,
Freighted well, freighted well.

8. Then I'll keep this little craft,
Sailing on, sailing on;

She will bear me safely o'er
Far beyond the billow's roar,
For my passage is secure,

TO MY HOME, TO MY HOME.

J. W. Barker.

LESSON XLVI..

DEATH AND SLEEP: AN ALLEGORY.

1. As the two angels, Death and Sleep, joined in brotherly love, were on their journey through the world, they came one evening to a hill on which they sat down, and viewed the cottages which filled the neighboring hamlet. A mournful silence reigned around, broken only by the vesper-bell which sounded from the distant village.

2. Here reclining in a sad and quiet embrace, the angels waited for the coming on of night; and when darkness had settled upon the earth, the Angel of Sleep arose, and, with noiseless hand, strewed around the invisible seeds of slumber. These were soon wafted by the evening breeze to the silent habitations of the tired husbandmen; and all, from the grayhaired sire to the infant in the cradle, were hushed in sweet and refreshing sleep. The sick forgot their pain; the mourners, their grief; and the poor and toil-worn, their cares and labors.

3. Having performed his accustomed task, the good genius. again reclined by the side of his stern brother. "When the morning dawns," he exclaimed with joyous innocence, "how many will praise me as their friend and benefactor! O, what joy thus secretly to do good! How happy we are to be the unseen messengers of the Good Spirit! How beautiful is our silent vocation!

4. As the Angel of Sleep thus spake, his brother and companion gazed upon him with silent melancholy; and a tear, such as spirits weep, stood in his large, dark eye. "Alas!" he exclaimed, "that I can not, like thee, enjoy the happiness of being an object of benediction and gratitude! All mankind call me their enemy, and consider me the destroyer of their joys."