On pillars stout, and arches wide,
A bridge of granite stems the tide;
And midway o'er the foaming flood,
Upon the bridge the toll-house stood;

There dwelleth the gate-man, with babes and wife;
Oh, seest thou the water? quick! flee for thy life.

Near and more near the wild waves urge;

Loud howls the wind, loud roars the surge;
The gate-man sprang on the roof in fright,

And he gazed on the waves in their gathering might

"All-merciful God! to our sins be good!

We are lost! we are lost! The flood! the flood!"

High rolled the waves! In headlong track
Hither and thither dashed the wrack!
On either bank uprose the flood;

Scarce on their base the arches stood!
The gate-man, trembling for house and life,
Out-screams the storm with his babes and wife.

High heaves the flood's wrack: block on block,
The sturdy pillars feel the shock;
On either arch the surges break,

On either side the arches shake:

They totter! they sink 'neath the 'whelming wave!
All-merciful heaven, have pity and save!

Upon the river's further strand

A trembling crowd of gazers stand;
In wild despair their hands they wring,
Yet none may aid or succor bring;

And the hapless gate-man, with babes and wife,
Is screaming for help through the stormy strife.

When shall the Brave Man's praises swell
As organ blast or clang of bell?

Ah! name him now, he tarries long;
Name him at last, my glorious song!

O! speed, for the terrible death draws near;
O Brave Man! O Brave Man! arise, appear!

Quick gallops up, with headlong speed,
A noble Count on noble steed!

And lo! on high his fingers hold

A purse well stored with shining gold. "Two hundred pistoles for the man who shall save Yon perishing wretch from the yawning wave!"

Who is the Brave Man? Say, my song,
Shall to the Count thy meed belong?

Though, heaven be praised, right brave he be,
I know a braver still than he.

O Brave Man! O Brave Man! arise, appear!
Oh, speed! for the terrible death draws near!

And ever higher swell the waves,

And louder still the storm-wind raves,
And lower sink their hearts in fear-

O Brave Man! Brave Man! haste, appear!
Buttress and pillar, they groan and strain,
And the rocking arches are rent in twain!

Again, again, before their eyes,

High holds the Count the glittering prize;
All see, but all the danger shun —

Of all the thousand stirs not one.

And the gate-man in vain, through the tumult wild,
Out-screams the tempest, with wife and child.

But who amid the crowd is seen,
In peasant garb, with simple mien,
Firm, leaning on a trusty stave,
In form and feature tall and grave?

He hears the Count, and the scream of fear;
He sees that the moment of death draws near!

Into a skiff he boldly sprang;

He braved the storm that round him rang;

He called aloud on God's great name

And back he a deliverer came.

But the fisher's skiff seems all too small,
From the raging waters to save them all.

The river round him boiled and surged;
Thrice through the waves his skif he urged,
And back, through wind and waters' roar,
He bore them safely to the shore:

So fierce rolled the river, that scarce the last
In the fisher's skiff through the danger passed.

Who is the Brave Man? Say, my song,
To whom shall that high name belong?
Bravely the peasant ventured in,

But 'twas, perchance, the prize to win.
If the generous Count had proffered no gold,
The peasant, methinks, had not been so bold.

Out spake the Count: "Right boldly done!
Here, take thy purse; 'twas nobly won."
A generous act, in truth, was this,

And truly the Count right noble is;
But loftier still was the soul displayed
By him in the peasant garb arrayed.

"Poor though I be, thy hand withhold;
I barter not my life for gold!
Yon hapless man is ruined now;
Great Count, on him thy gift bestow."
He spake from his heart in his honest pride,
And he turned on his heel and strode aside.

Then loudly let his praises swell,
As organ blast, or clang of bell;
Of lofty soul and spirit strong,

He asks not gold-he asks but song!
Then glory to God, by whose gift I raise

The tribute of song to the Brave Man's praise!

DIRECTIONS AND CAUTIONS FOR READING.

VERSE 1.-Line 1: Avoid the verse accent on let, and hasten on to brave and swell. VERSE 2.-Line 4: No accent on doth; the emphatic word is still. Line 5: Avoid the verse accent on in. Line 10: Do not place any accent on upon, but read upon-the-bridge as one word. VERSE 3.-Line 1: Read and-more-near as one word. Line 2: Loud is the emphatic word. VERSE 4.-Line 7: No accent on upon, but hasten on to further strand. VERSE 5.- Line 1: The word with the greatest weight of emphasis is when, and shall has none at all. VERSE 6.— Line 1: The emphatic word is who. No emphasis at all on is. Line 2 Hasten on to the emphatic word Count. VERSE 7.- Line 2: High is more emphatic than holds. Line 3: All is emphatic; not see. Line 4: Thousand is the chief word; and then the two very emphatic words not one. VERSE 8.-Line 8: Thrice is emphatic, not through.

COMPOSITION.

Write the story of "The Brave Man" from the following headings: A flood in the north of Italy. The blocks of ice come down and strike a bridge. A large part of it is carried away. The bridge-keeper and his family are in danger. A gentleman offers a purse of gold to any one who will save them. A peasant jumps into a boat, and brings the family away in safety. The gentleman offers him the purse; but he says:

"Poor though I be, thy hand withhold;

I barter not my life for gold!

Yon hapless man is ruined now;

Great Count, on him thy gift bestow."

EDUCATION.

WE are taught that we have three powers in our soul

-memory, will, and understanding. These three powers are, as it were, shut up in the soul of every child when first it is born into the world. But something is necessary in order to draw out these powers and give them their proper direction, and this makes up what we call the work of education.

The word "education" is derived from a Latin term which means "to lead or draw forth," because the training of a man's soul is really the gradual bringing out of all his different powers. For we are not to suppose that education consists merely in the teaching which a child. receives at school. Whatever influence, good or bad, calls out his faculties, and teaches him how to use them, is to him education. Thus all men are more or less educated; they cannot exist with eyes and ears, in a world full of varying objects, without receiving ideas and notions from what they see around them, and learning, by observation of other men, and a thousand means besides, how to use their natural powers.

But the education of rude nature is not sufficient to make man what his Creator designed that he should be. It acts very slowly and imperfectly, and only produces such results as are witnessed in wild and barbarous life. Savages are nature-educated men. They grow cunning and ingenious, and learn to catch animals that are suitable to serve them as food; they also make themselves canoes that can float them across rivers and seas, and fashion for themselves garments out of leaves and skins. But they are never able to compel the great physical powers of nature to work in their service and for their advantage;