ot is on you—to be found, untired, take the thought of this calm vesper time, LESSON XXXIX. Seasons of Prayer.-H. WARE, Jr. rayer! to prayer!-for the morning breaks, ayer!—for the glorious sun is gone, the gathering darkness of night comes on. a curtain from God's kind hand it flows, nade the couch where his children repose. kneel, while the watching stars are bright, give your last thoughts to the Guardian of night. rayer!—for the day that God has blest 1 There are smiles and tears in the mother's eyes, Let it gush forth in words of fervent prayer; 4 There are smiles and tears in that gathering band, Kneel down by the dying sinner's side, Kneel down at the couch of departing faith, The voice of prayer at the sable bier!— The voice of prayer in the world of bliss!- sinless and joyous song they raise, heir voice of prayer is eternal praise. e! awake! and gird up thy strength, n that holy band at length. im, who unceasing love displays, 1 the powers of nature unceasingly praise, LESSON XL. Solitude.-BYRON. ight, when meditation bids us feel ough friendless now, will dream it had a friend. ppy years! once more who would not be a boy? bending o'er the vessel's laving side, hought, and claims the homage of a tear- t on rocks, to muse o'er flood and fell, slowly trace the forest's shady scene, e things that own not man's dominion dwell, d mortal foot hath ne'er or rarely been; To climb the trackless mountain all unseen, With the wild flock that never needs a fold; Alone o'er steeps and foaming falls to lean;— This is not solitude; 'tis but to hold Converse with Nature's charms, and view her stores unrolled. But midst the crowd, the hum, the shock of men, And roam along, the world's tired denizen, LESSON XLI. Art of Pleasing.-CHESTERFIELD THE desire of being pleased is universal; the desire of pleasing should be so too. It is included in that great and fundamental principle of morality, of doing to others what we wish they should do to us. There are, indeed, some moral duties of a much higher nature, but none of a more amiable; and I do not hesitate to place it at the head of the minor virtues. The manner of conferring favors or benefits is, as to pleasing, almost as important as the matter itself. Take care, then, never to throw away the obligations, which, perhaps, you may have it in your power to confer upon others, by an air of insolent protection, or by a cold and comfortless manner, which stifles them in their birth. Humanity inclines, religion requires, and our moral duties oblige us, as far as we are able, to relieve the distresses and miseries of our fellowcreatures but this is not all; for a true, heart-felt benevolence and tenderness will prompt us to contribute what we can to their ease, their amusement, and their pleasure, as : anocently we may. Let us, then, not only scatter but even strow flowers, for our fellow-travellers in ed ways of the world. are some, and but too many in this country parwho, without the least visible taint of ill-nature or nce, seem to be totally indifferent, and do not show desire to please; as, on the other hand, they never ly offend. Whether this proceeds from a lazy, negd listless disposition, from a gloomy and melancholic rom ill health, low spirits, or from a secret and sullen ising from the consciousness of their boasted liberty pendence, is hard to determine, considering the vaovements of the human heart, and the wonderful the human head. But, be the cause what it will, trality which is the effect of it, makes these people, alities always do, despicable, and mere blanks in soThey would surely be roused from their indifference, if uld seriously consider the infinite utility of pleasing. person who manifests a constant desire to please, is perhaps small stock of merit at great interest. st returns, then, must real merit, when thus adorned, ily bring in! y is the essential article toward pleasing, and is It of good nature and good sense: Lut good-breeding coration, the lustre of civility, and only to be acquired nute attention to good company. A good-natured an may be intentionally as civil as the politest court his manner often degrades and vilifies the matter; in good-breeding, the manner always adorns and the matter to such a degree, that I have often known urrency to base coin. ty is often attended by a ceremoniousness, which eeding corrects, but will not quite abolish. A certain of ceremony is a necessary outwork of manners: the forward and petulant at a proper distance, and is mall restraint to the sensible and to the well-bred the world. |