forget the feeling of awe which came over him, when, for the first time, he received a telegraphic dispatch from a distant city, transmitted from New York to New Orleans, actually in advance of time itself! This approaches spiritual power more nearly than any thing we have seen and handled.

4. The times, of which we are writing, are remarkable for the extension of periodical literature, especially for the ubiquity of the Newspaper. The authors of the Spectator, the Tattler, the Rambler, had no conception of the modern newspaper. It seems like putting the gravity of our readers to the test, when we name this as one of the most wonderful

and powerful agents of our times. It is made of rags, ropes, rushes, and lampblack.

5. Great pains are taken in fitting up the visitant to make a respectable appearance in our mansions; but, in its best trim, its pretensions are very humble. It is dumb, yet it tells us of all which is done upon the earth. It bears, in its own name, the initials of the four points of the compass, N. E. W. S.-news. Reeking, in hot haste, as if out of breath, it delivers its message, and then is crumpled up, and thrown into the waste-paper basket, to ignite the morning's fire. Yet is there nothing more worthy of preservation; for it is the great dial-plate on the clock of time.

6. An artist expends great time and labor in painting a panorama, and crowds find delight in gazing upon the canvas; yet it is of a limited space,‚—a ruin, a river, a city, -Thebes or Jerusalem, the Nile, the Hudson, or the Mississippi. But a newspaper is a daguerreotype of the whole world, its warrings and diplomacies, its buyings and sellings, its governments and revolutions, its marryings, births, and deaths.

7. A newspaper is a real microcosm,-the world made smaller, held in the hand, and brought under the eye The huge telescope of Sir John Herschel is so swung, that it reflects all the distant wonders of the sky, which sweep across its lenses, upon a small horizontal table under the eye of the observer; and analogous to this, a newspaper brings all the

occurrences of remote continents, incidents at the North Pole and the Antipodes, under the light of your readinglamp, and within the space of your parlor table. The evening has come, the damp sheet is spread out before you, and with an ill-concealed impatience you sit down to see what new spectacle, "Time, the scene shifter," has prepared for your astonished and delighted eye.

8. The whole world is in motion before you. This is no small gossip about what took place under your own windows; bat as Isaiah, in the visions of prophecy, beheld the concourse from all quarters of the earth, the dromedaries from Midian and Ephah, the ships of Tarshish, and the forces of the Gentiles hastening to the rendezvous, so, in sober fact, the most remote and improbable agencies, from the four winds under heaven, are hurrying through the air and over the sea, to deliver their separate tidings in that small sheet of paper which you now hold in your hand.

QUESTIONS.-1. What examples does the writer give of the influence of familiarity in rendering us indifferent? 2. What wonderful promise made by a character in one of Fletcher's plays, has been, in effect, already realized? 3. What feeling came over men when they first received a telegraphic dispatch? 4. What is said of the ubiquity of the Newspaper? 5. In what terms does the author describe the materials composing a Newspaper? 6. In what respect is a Newspaper analogous to the Telescope? 7. To what, in the prophetic visions of Isaiah, are the contents of a Newspaper compared?

LESSON CXV.

WORDS FOR SPELLING AND DEFINING.

SU PE RI ORI TY, pre-eminence.
SUB OR DI NATE, inferior; lower.
IN FE' RI OR, lower in value.
ARCHITECT, person skilled in
the art of building.
SU PER IN TENDS', oversees.
Ex' E CUTES, performs.
CON TRIVES', plans; devises.

PRE ROG' A TIVE, exclusive priv-
ilege.

CON DUCE', contribute; tend.
PROVINCE, proper office.
UM' PIRE, arbiter.

DE TER MINE, decide.
DE LIB ER ATE, considerate.
MA TURI TY, ripeness.

SUPERIORITY OF WISDOM.

ROBE T HALL.

1. Every other quality is subordinate and inferior to wisdom, in the same sense as the mason who lays the bricks and stones in a building, is inferior to the architect who drew the plan and superintends the work. The former executes only what the latter contrives and directs. Now, it is the prerogative of wisdom to preside over every inferior principle, so as regulate the exercise of every power, and limit the indulgence of every appetite, as shall best conduce to one great end.

2. It being the province of wisdom to preside, it sits as umpire on every difficulty, and so gives the final direction and control to all the powers of our nature. Hence, it is entitled to be considered as the top and summit of perfection. It belongs to wisdom to determine when to act, and when to cease; when to reveal, and when to conceal a matter; when to speak, and when to keep silence; when to give, and when to receive; in short, to regulate the measure of all things, as well as to determine the end, and provide the means of obtaining the end pursued in every deliberate course of action.

3. Every particular faculty or skill, besides, should be under the direction of wisdom; for each is quite incapable of directing itself. The art of navigation, for instance, will teach us to steer a ship across the ocean; but it will never teach us on what occasions it is proper to take a voyage. The art of war will instruct us how to marshal an army, or to fight a battle to the greatest advantage; but we must learn from a higher school when it is fitting, just, and proper to wage war or to make peace.

4. The art of the husbandman is to till the earth and bring to maturity its precious fruits; it belongs to another skill to regulate the consumption of these fruits by a regard to our health, fortune, and other circumstances. In short, there is no faculty we can exert, no species of skill we can apply, that does not require a superintending hand,—that

does not look up, as it were, to some higher principle, for guidance, and this guide is Wisdom.

QUESTIONS.-1. In what sense is wisdom superior to every other quality? 2. What is its prerogative? 3. What is its province ? 4. How is the exercise of wisdom illustrated by the art of navigation? 5. How, by the art of war? 6. How, by the art of husbandry?

LESSON CXVI.

WORDS FOR SPELLING AND DEFINING.

SHIRK, avoid; get off from.
CLOG, burden; hindrance.
PRO PORTION ED, in proportion.
FRACTION, part; portion.

IN DE PENDENCE, self-support.
COMPETENCE, sufficiency.
Nook, corner.

STROLL, ramble leisurely.

WORKING MAN'S SONG.

CHARLES MACKAY.

1. Who lacks for bread of daily work,
And his appointed task would shirk,
Commits a folly and a crime;
A soulless slave,—

A partly knave,

A clog upon the wheels of Time,
With work to do, and stores of health,
The man's unworthy to be free,
Who will not give,

That he may live,

His daily toil for daily fee.

2. No! Let us work! we only ask
Reward proportioned to our task;
We have no quarrel with the great;
No feud with rank,-

With mill, or bank,—

No envy of a lord's estate,
If we can earn sufficient store

To satisfy our need;

And can retain,

For age and pain,

A fraction, we are rich, indeed.

3. No dread of toil have we or ours⚫

We know our worth, our weight, our powers,
The more we work, the more we win;

Success to Trade!

Success to Spade!

And to the corn that's coming in;
And joy to him, who, o'er his task,
Remembers toil is nature's plan;
Who working thinks,

QUESTIONS.-1. What is said of the man who is unwilling to work? 2. When are we rich indeed? 3. To whom does the poet wish success?

JU' PI TER, or Jove, who is often, in ancient poetry, styled, "the father of the gods, and king of men," was the supreme deity among the Romans. Hence, he is represented, by Schiller, as possessing and disposing of the world.