5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 LESSON CCXXIV.-THE TREASURE THAT WAXETH NOT ÖLD.-- D. HUNTINGTON. Oh! I have loved, in youth's fair vernal morn, To spread imagination's wildest wing, And seek the visioned realms that poets sing,- Where streams of earthly joy exhaustless rise, And shout their raptures to the cloudless skies, Since stern experience waved her iron wand, When Disappointment mocked my wooing heart, And from forbidden pleasures loth to part, Though shrinking oft beneath Correction's deepest smart. And is there naught in mortal life, I cried, Can sooth the sorrows of the laboring breast? No kind recess where baffled hope may hide, Be my few days with peace and friendship blessed; Though neither wealth, nor fame, nor luxury be mine. Encircled with a faithful few, to dwell, Where power can not oppress, nor care corrode, Beyond the reach of every human eye; To each alluring object 'neath the sky, And there in peace await my hour,-in peace to die. 35. Take then thy station,-act thy proper part;— His love, diffused, thy shuddering breast shall warm, 5 His power provide a shelter from the gathering storm." 10 Oh! welcome hiding place! Oh! refuge meet Through snares and darkness, to the realms of day! His healing beams; each gloomy cloud dispel: While on the parting mist, in colors gay, Truth's cheering bow of precious promise fell, And Mercy's silver voice soft whispered,-" All is well." LESSON CCXXV.-THE YOUNG MARINER'S DREAM.-Dimond. His hammock swung loose at the sport of the wind; 5 He dreamed of his home, of his dear native bowers, 10 Then fancy her magical pinions spread wide, And bade the young dreamer in ecstasy rise;- And the cot of his forefathers blesses his eyes. The jassamine clambers, in flower, o'er the thatch; And the swallow sings sweet from her nest in the wall: 15 All trembling with transport, he raises the latch; And the voices of loved ones reply to his call. 20 A father bends o'er him with looks of delight; With those of the sister his bosom holds dear. Joy quickens his pulses,-his hardships seem o'er; And a murmur of happiness steals through his rest,"O God! thou hast blest me; I ask for no more." Ah! whence is that flame which now bursts on his eye? Ah! what is that sound which now larums his ear? 'Tis the lightning's red glare, painting wrath on the sky! 'Tis the crashing of thunders, the groan of the sphere! 5 He springs from his hammock,-he flies to the deck,Amazement confronts him with images dire,— 10 Wild winds and mad waves drive the vessel a wreck,- In vain the lost wretch calls on mercy to save; And the death angel flaps his broad wing o'er the wave. In darkness dissolves the gay frost-work of bliss; 20 Shall home, love, or kindred, thy wishes repay; Unblessed, and unhonored, down deep in the main, Full many a score fathom, thy frame shall decay. No tomb shall e'er plead to remembrance for thee, Or redeem form or fame from the merciless surge; But the white foam of waves shall thy winding-sheet be, And winds, in the midnight of winter, thy dirge! 25 On a bed of green sea-flower thy limbs shall be laid; Around thy white bones the red coral shall grow; Of thy fair, yellow locks, threads of amber be made, And every part suit to thy mansion below. 30 Days, months, years, and ages, shall circle away, O sailor boy! sailor boy! peace to thy soul! LESSON CCXXVI. GUSTAVUS VASA AND CRISTIERN.-Brooke. Crist. Tell me, Gustavus, tell me why is this, That, as a stream diverted from the banks 5 Of smooth obedience, thou hast drawn these men To turn their inundation ? Are the lives Of my misguided people held so light, That thus thou 'dst push them on the keen rebuke 5 Of guarded majesty; where justice waits All awful and resistless, to assert Th' impervious rights, the sanctitude of kings; Gust. Justice, sanctitude, And rights! O patience! Rights! what rights, thou tyrant ? If wrongs give right, Oh! then, supreme in mischief, Of frank election, Not e'en the high anointing hand of Heaven, For lawless power, wed faith to violation, 25 On reason build misrule, or justly bind Allegiance to injustice. Tyranny Absolves all faith; and who invades our rights, 30 There is no name! Thou hast ab, ured mankind, Crist. Licentious traitor! thou canst talk it largely Gust. Mistaken man! I come empowered and strengthened in thy weakness. For though the structure of a tyrant's throne Crist. Profane, and alien to the love of Heaven! Gust. Yes, I know, When such as thou, with sacrilegious hand, That bleat upon the mountain, are the words 25 Of Christian meekness! mission all divine! The law of love, sole mandate. But your gall, Ye Swedish prelacy, your gall hath turned The words of sweet but undigested peace, To wrath and bitterness. Ye hallowed men, 30 In whom vice sanctifies, whose precepts teach Zeal without truth, religion without virtue; Sacked towns, and midnight howlings, through the real Receive your sanction! Oh! 't is glorious mischief! When vice turns holy, puts religion on, 35 Assumes the robe pontifical, the eye Of saintly elevation, blesseth sin, And makes the seal of sweet offended Heaven A sign of blood. Crist. No more of this! 40 Gustavus, wouldst thou yet return to grace, And hold thy motions in the sphere of duty, Acceptance might be found. Gust. Imperial spoiler ! Give me my father, give me back my kindred, |