could it happen that young men, who have had precisely the same opportunities, should be continually presenting us with such different results, and rushing to such opposite destinies? 2. Difference of talent will not solve it, because that dif ference is very often in favor of the disappointed candidate. You will see issuing from the walls of the same college, nay, sometimes from the bosom of the same family, two young men, of whom one will be admitted to be a genius of high order, the other scarcely above the point of mediocrity; yet you will see the genius sinking and perishing in poverty, obscurity, and wretchedness; while, on the other hand, you will observe the mediocre plodding his slow but sure way up the hill of life, gaining steadfast footing at every step, and mounting, at length, to eminence and distinction, an ornament to his family, a blessing to his country. 3. Now, whose work is this? Manifestly their own. They are the architects of their respective fortunes. The best seminary of learning that can open its portals to you can do no more than to afford you the opportunity of instruction but it must depend, at last, on yourselves, whether you will be instructed or not, or to what point you will push your instruction. 4. And of this be assured, I speak from observation a certain truth: THERE IS NO EXCELLENCE WITHOUT GREAT LABOR. It is the fiat of fate, from which no power of genius can absolve you. 5. Genius, unexerted, is like the poor moth that flutters around a candle till it scorches itself to death. If genius be desirable at all, it is only of that great and magnanimous kind, which, like the condor of South America, pitches from the summit of Chimborazo, above the clouds, and sustains itself at pleasure in that empyreal region with an energy rather invigorated than weakened by the effort. 6. It is this capacity for high and long-continued exertion, this vigorous power of profound and searching investigation, this careering and wide-spreading comprehension of mind, and these long reaches of thought, that, "Pluck bright honor from the pale-faced moon, Or dive into the bottom of the deep, And pluck up drowned honor by the locks;" this is the prowess, and these the hardy achievements, which are to enroll your names among the great men of the earth. DEFINITIONS.-1. Mŏr'al, relating to duty or obligation. Arehi-těets, builders, makers. Děs'ti-ny, ultimate fate, appointed condition. 2. Căn'di-date, one who seeks after some honor or office. Gēn'ius (pro. jēn’yus), a man of superior intellectual powers. Mēdi-Ŏe'ri-ty, a middle state or degree of talents. Mē'di-ō-ere (pro. mē di-ō-kr), a man of moderate talents. 3. Re-spective, particular, own. 4. Ab-solve', set free, release from. Fiat, a decree. 5. Con'dor, a large bird of the vulture family. Em-pуr'e-al, relating to the highest and purest region of the heavens. 6. Ca-reer ́ing, moving rapidly. Prow'ess (pro. prou ́es), bravery, boldness. NOTES.-5. Chimborazo (pro. chim-bo-rä ́zo), is an extinct volcano in Ecuador, whose height is 20,517 feet above the sea. 6. The quotation is from Shakespeare's "King Henry IV," Part I, Act 1, Scene 3. LXXII. THE OLD HOUSE-CLOCK. 1. OH! the old, old clock of the household stock, Its hands, though old, had a touch of gold, 'Twas a monitor, too, though its words were few, Yet they lived, though nations altered; And its voice, still strong, warned old and young, When the voice of friendship faltered: "Tick! tick!" it said, "quick, quick, to bed: For ten I've given warning! Up! up! and go, or else you know, You'll never rise soon in the morning!" 2. A friendly voice was that old, old clock, And blessed the time with a merry chime, But a cross old voice was that tiresome clock, When the dawn looked gray o'er the misty way, "Tick! tick!" it said, "quick out of bed: For five I've given warning; You'll never have health, you'll never have wealth Unless you're up soon in the morning!" 3. Still hourly the sound goes round and round, While tears are shed for bright days fled, "Tick! tick!" it said, "to the churchyard bed, Up! up! and rise, and look at the skies, And prepare for a heavenly morning!" LXXIII. THE EXAMINATION. Daniel Pierce Thompson (b. 1795, d. 1868) was born at Charlestown, Massachusetts, but soon removed with his father to Vermont, where he lived until twenty years of age, on a farm. His means of schooling were most limited, but he was very ambitious and seized every opportunity. By his own efforts he earned enough money to carry him through Middlebury College, where he graduated in 1820. He then went to Virginia as private tutor, and while there was entered at the bar. He shortly returned to Vermont, and opened a law office in Montpelier. In time he was elected a Judge, and later Secretary of State. From his college days Mr. Thompson was a writer for the various magazines. Among his novels may be mentioned "Locke Amsden, the Schoolmaster," "May Martin, or the Money Diggers," "The Green Mountain Boys," and "The Rangers, or the Tory's Daughter." 1. "HAVE you any questions to ask me in the other branches, sir?" asked Locke. "Not many," replied Bunker. "There is reading, writing, grammar, etc., which I know nothing about; and as to them, I must, of course, take you by guess, which will not be much of a guess, after all, if I find you have thought well on all other matters. Do you understand philosophy?" 2. "To what branch of philosophy do you allude, sir?" "To the only branch there is." "But you are aware that philosophy is divided into different kinds; as, natural, moral, and intellectual." "Nonsense! philosophy is philosophy, and means the study of the reasons and causes of the things which we see, whether it be applied to a crazy man's dreams, or the roasting of potatoes. Have you attended to it?" "Yes, to a considerable extent, sir." 3. "I will put a question or two, then, if you please. What is the reason of the fact, for it is a fact, that the damp breath of a person blown on a good knife, and on a bad one, will soonest disappear from the well-tempered blade?" "It may be owing to the difference in the polish of the two blades, perhaps," replied Locke. 4. "Ah! that is an answer that don't go deeper than the surface," rejoined Bunker, humorously. "As good a thinker as you evidently are, you have not thought on this subject, I suspect. It took me a week, in all, I presume, of hard thinking, and making experiments at a blacksmith's shop, to discover the reason of this. It is not the polish for take two blades of equal polish, and the breath will disappear from one as much quicker than it does from the other, as the blade is better. It is because the material of the blade is more compact or less porous in one case than in the other. 5. "In the first place, I ascertained that the steel was made more compact by being hammered and tempered, and that the better it was tempered the more compact it would become; the size of the pores being made, of course, less in the same proportion. Well, then, I saw the reason I was in search of, at once. For we know a wet sponge is longer in drying than a wet piece of green wood, because the pores of the first are bigger. A seasoned or shrunk piece of wood dries quicker than a green one, for the same reason. 6. "Or you might bore a piece of wood with large gimlet-holes, and another with small ones, fill them both with water, and let them stand till the water evaporated, and the difference of time it would take to do this would make the case still more plain. So with the blades: the vapor lingers longest on the worst wrought and tempered one, because the pores, being larger, take in more of the wet particles, and require more time in drying." 7. "Your theory is at least a very ingenious one," observed Locke, "and I am reminded by it of another of the natural phenomena, of the true explanation of which I have not been able to satisfy myself. It is this: what makes the earth freeze harder and deeper under a trodden |