moves the rubbish. The figure is in the stone, the sculptor only finds it.

What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to a human soul. The philosopher or the hero, the wise, the good, or the great man, very often lies hid and concealed in a plebeian, which a proper education might have disinterred, and have brought to light. I am, therefore, much delighted with reading the accounts of savage nations, and with contemplating those virtues which are wild and uncultivated; to see courage exerting itself in fierceness, resolution in obstinacy, wisdom in cunning, patience in sullenness and despair.

Men's passions operate variously, and appear in different kinds of actions, according as they are more or less, rectified and swayed by reason.

It is, therefore, an unspeakable blessing to be born in those parts of the world where wisdom and knowledge flourish; though it must be confessed there are, even in these parts, several poor uninstructed persons, who are but little above the inhabitants of those nations of which I have been here speaking; as those who have had the advantages of a more liberal education rise above one another by several different degrees of perfection. For, to return to our statue in the block of marble, we see it sometimes only begun to be chipped, sometimes rough-hewn, and but just sketched into a human figure; sometimes we see the man appearing distinctly in all his limbs and features; sometimes we find the figure wrought up to a great elegancy, but seldom meet with any to which the hand of a Phidias or Praxiteles could not give several nice touches and finishings.

JOSEPH ADDISON.

LESSON II.

plăn' et a ry, relating to the planets.

în'ti mā'tion, hint; suggestion. u'ni fôrm, of the same form.

in erěd'i ble, impossible to be believed.

pŎn'der oŭs, very heavy; important.

THE EARTH'S JOURNEY ROUND THE SUN.

One, two, three, four, five! Does the reader know that while he has been counting these five beats, five seconds, he has actually been conveyed through space a distance of more than a hundred miles? Yet so it is. However incredible it may seem, no fact is more certain than that the earth is constantly on the wing, flying around the sun with a velocity so prodigious, that for every breath we draw we advance on our way forty or fifty miles.

If, when passing across the waters in a steamboat, we can wake, after a night's repose, and find ourselves conducted on our voyage a hundred miles, we exult in the triumphs of art, which has moved so ponderous a body as a steam-ship over such a space in so short a time, and so quietly, too, as not to disturb our slumbers; but, with a motion more quiet and uniform, we have, in the interval, been carried along with the earth in its orbit more than half a million of miles.

In the case of the steam-ship, however perfect the machinery may be, we still, in our waking hours at least, are made sensible of the action of the forces by which the motion is maintained,— as the roaring of the fire, the beating of the piston, and the dashing of the paddle-wheels; but in the

more perfect machinery which carries the earth forward on its grander voyage, no sound is heard, nor the least intimation afforded of the stupendous forces by which this motion is achieved.

The distance of the sun from the earth is about ninety-five millions of miles. No human mind can comprehend fully what this vast distance means. But we may form some conception of it by such an illustration as this: A ship may leave Liverpool and cross the Atlantic to New York after twenty days' steady sail; but it would take that ship, moving constantly at the rate of ten miles an hour, more than a thousand years to reach the sun.

And yet, at this vast distance, the sun, by his power of attraction, serves as the great regulator of the planetary motions, bending them continually from the straight line in which they tend to move, and compelling them to circulate around him, each at nearly a uniform distance, and all in perfect harmony.

We shall afterward explain the manner in which the gravity of the sun acts in controlling the planetary motions. For the present, let us content ourselves with reflecting upon the wonderful force which the sun must put forth to bend out of their courses into circular orbits such a number of planets, some of them more than a thousand times larger than the earth.

Were a ship of war under full sail, we can easily imagine what a force it would require to turn her from her course by a rope attached to the bow,— especially were it required that the force should remain stationary-and the ship be so held as to be made to go round the force as round the center. Somewhat similar to this, but on a much grander

scale, is the action which is exerted on the earth in its journey around the sun.

By an invisible influence, which we call gravitation, the sun turns all the planets out of their course, and bends them into a circular orbit round himself, though they are all many millions of times more ponderous than the ship, and are moving many thousand times more swiftly.

Spell and pronounce :— stupendous, achieved, interval, orbit, machinery, controlling, velocity, piston, gravitation, similar, conception, invisible.

Synonyms. - comprehend—apprehend; conceive; understand; contain; include; embrace; comprise; imply. controlling - restraining; ruling; governing; directing; checking; curbing; overpowering; counteracting. achieve — accomplish; effect; fulfill; complete; execute; perform; realize; obtain.

Explain :-"Ship of war," "under full sail," and "triumphs of art."

LESSON III.

myr'i adş, great numbers.

ā'phis, a plant-louse.

di vĕr'să fied, having various

forms.

gra tū'i tous, free; given without a recompense.

ru'mi nāte, to chew over again. Inʼfi nite ly, without limits.

THE HAPPINESS OF ANIMAL LIFE.

This world is a happy world after all. The air, the earth, the water teem with delighted existence. In a spring noon or a summer evening, on whichever side I turn my eyes, myriads of happy beings crowd upon my view. The insect youth are on the wing. Swarms of new-born flies are trying their

pinions in the air. Their sportive motions, their wanton mazes, their gratuitous activity, their continual change of place, testify their joy, and the exultation they feel in their lately discovered faculties.

A bee, amongst the flowers in spring, is one of the most cheerful objects that can be looked upon. Its life appears to be all enjoyment; so busy and so pleased; yet it is only a specimen of insect life with which we are better acquainted than that of others. The whole winged insect tribe, it is probable, are equally intent upon their proper employments.

But the atmosphere is not the only scene of enjoyment for the insect race. Plants are covered with aphides, greedily sucking their juices, and constantly, as it would seem, in the act of sucking. It cannot be doubted that this is a state of gratification. What else should fix them so close to the operation and so long? Other species are running about with an alacrity in their motions which carries with it every mark of pleasure. Large patches of ground are sometimes covered with these brisk and sprightly creatures.

If we look to what the waters produce, shoals of the fry of fish frequent the margins of rivers, of lakes, and of the sea itself. They are so happy they do not know what to do with themselves. Their attitudes, their vivacity, their leaps out of the water, their frolics in it, all conduce to show their excess of spirits, and are simply the effects of that excess.

The young of all animals appear to receive pleasure simply from the exercise of their limbs and bodily faculties, without reference to any end