165

The reindeer requires considerable training to prepare him for sledge traveling, and he always demands an experienced driver. Sometimes, when the animal is ill broken, and the driver inexpert, the deer turns round and rids himself of his burden by the most furious assaults; but such instances of resistance are exceptions. He is ordinarily so docile that he scarcely needs any direction, and so persevering that he toils on, hour after hour, without any refreshment, except a mouthful of snow, which he hastily snatches. To the Laplanders this animal is a substitute for the horse, the cow, the sheep, and the goat: the milk affords them cheese; the flesh, food; the skin, clothing; the horns, glue; the bones, spoons; the tendons, bow-strings, and when split, thread. A rich Laplander has sometimes more than a thousand reindeer.

For Declamation or Reading.

THE MORNING AFTER THE BATTLE OF LEXINGTON.* (APRIL 19, 1775.)

HEN day came, it came in all the beau

W

ty of an early spring.

The trees were bud

ding; the grass growing rankly a full month before the season; the blue-bird and

the robin gladdening the genial time, and calling forth the beams of the sun, which on that morning shone with the warmth of summer; but distress and horror gathered over the inhabitants of the peaceful town. There, on the green, lay in death the gray haired and the young; the grassy field was red "with the innocent blood of their brethren slain," crying unto God for vengeance from the ground.

Seven of the men of Lexington were killed, nine wounded a quarter part of those who stood in arms on the green. These are the village heroes, who were

From the new volume of the History of the United States, by the Hon. George Bancroft.

spirit that they were of a race divine. They gave their lives in testimony to the rights of mankind, bequeathing to their country an assurance of success in the mighty struggle which they began. Their names are had in grateful remembrance, and the expanding millions of their countrymen renew and multiply their praise, from generation to generation. They fulfilled their duty not from the accidental impulse of the moment; their action was the slowly-ripened fruit of Providence and of time.

The light that led them on was combined of rays from the whole history of the race: from the traditions of the Hebrews in the gray of the world's morning; from the heroes and sages of republican Greece and Rome; from the example of Him who laid down his life on the cross for the life of humanity; from the religious creed which proclaimed the divine presence in man, and on this truth as in a life-boat floated the liberties of nations over the dark flood of the middle ages; from the customs of the Germans, transmitted out of their forests to the councils of Saxon England; from the burning faith and courage of Martin Luther; from trust in the inevitable univer

sality of God's sovereignty, as taught by Paul of Tarsus and Augustine, through Calvin and the divines of New England; from the avenging fierceness of the Puritans, who dashed down the mitre on the ruins of the throne; from the bold dissent and creative self-assertion of the earliest statesmen who made and the philosophers emigrants to Massachusetts; from the who expounded the revolution of England; from the liberal spirit and analyzing infrom the cloud of witnesses of all the ages quisitiveness of the eighteenth century; to the reality and the rightfulness of human

freedom. All the centuries bowed themselves from the recesses of a past eternity, to cheer in their sacrifice the lowly men who proved themselves worthy of their forerunners, and whose children rise up and call them blessed.

Heedless of his own danger, Samuel Adams, with the voice of a prophet, exclaimed, "O, what a glorious morning is this!" for he saw that his country's independence was rapidly hastening on, and, like Columbus in the tempest, knew that the storm did but bear him the more swiftly toward the undiscovered world.

EARLY TENDENCIES.

THE faculties of young children resemble a troop of raw recruits in the field of battle, who have not yet learned to comprehend their relative positions, or to obey instinctively the commands of their officers. Each is full of his own activity and ardor, but the strength and well-directed force resulting from united exertion is wanting; the consequence is irregularity of action, and rapid defeat. A simple but beautiful little anecdote, in illustration of this point, occurs to me, which, while it serves to prove the truth of the remark, will show how easily judicious treatment can overcome the irregular activity of certain faculties, necessary in themselves, and highly useful when under the control of the superior sentiments.

The mother herself related the fact to me, as follows: One day, happening to leave some change on the table, near which her little girl, four years old, was playing, on returning to the room she missed the money. It immediately occurred to her

that the child had taken it up to play with, and accordingly she asked her where the money was. The child denied that she had touched it, but in a manner that betrayed some uneasiness. The lady, however, took no notice of this, and rang for the servant, who said she had not been in the room since her mistress left it. The mother, now feeling certain that her daughter

had the money, and seeing something folded in her apron, requested her, in a gentle manner, to show her what she had there. The child turned away, saying she had been picking some stones up in the garden.

How did the mother act? She wisely led the little girl into an adjoining room, where they might be quite alone, and then firmly but quietly unfolded the tightly-clasped hands, and discovered the money. How difficult, in such a not uncommon case, to act wisely! namely,

to prove to the child the greatness of the fault, and yet avoid the appearance of severity. The mother thus touchingly surmounted the trial: instead of betraying anger, instead of upbraiding or inflicting punishment, she sank into a chair and burst into tears. The child, instantly overcome by this direct appeal to her feelings of attachment and her highest sentiments, rushed broken-hearted into her mother's arms, and hid her tears of shame and repentance in her bosom. The impression thus made has never been effaced, and the child is for ever rescued from a tendency which, however slight in the first instance, might, if often repeated, have become a direct habit.

RULES FOR HOME EDUCATION.

1. FROM your children's earliest infancy, inculcate the necessity of instant obedience.

2. Unite firmness with gentleness. Let your children always understand that you mean exactly what you say.

3. Never promise them any thing unless

167

4. If you tell a little child to do something, show him how to do it, and see that it is done.

5. Always correct your children for wilfully disobeying you, but never punish them in anger.

6. Never let them perceive that they can vex you, or make you lose your self-command.

7. If they give way to petulance and temper, wait till they are calm, and then gently reason with them on the impropriety of their conduct.

8. Remember that a little present punishment, when the occasion arises, is much more effectual than the threatening of a greater punishment, should the fault be renewed.

is developed at the earliest period, the most easily affected, and consequently swayed by good or evil influences.

During youth, therefore, the age of faith, when the wild and wondrous, the terrible, as well as all that is brightly fair, of the seen or the unseen world, is simply and at once believed, it is most important that the food of the mind should be both pure and invigorating.

And this influence upon the mind of youth is not a mere passing one; it will continue scarcely less powerful when that mind has attained the vigor of manhood, and become familiar with the realities of the world. Too often, indeed, the cold, calculating spirit engendered by too exclusive a devotion to the accumulation of wealth will partly sear and harden in the mind

10. On no account allow them to do at one time what you have forbidden under the like circumstances at another.

11. Teach them that the only sure and easy way to appear good is to be good.

12. Accustom them to make their little recitals with perfect truth.

13. Never allow of tale-bearing.

14. Teach them that self-denial, not selfindulgence, is the appointed and the sure method of securing happiness.

15. Guard them against the indulgence

of an angry and resentful spirit.

If these simple rules were reduced to daily practice by parents and guardians, how much misery would be prevented, how many in danger of ruin would be saved, and how largely would the happiness of a thousand domestic circles be augmented!

POETRY FOR THE YOUNG.

IN all real education the cultivation of the imagination forms a most important, if not an essential part; and this cultivation is more readily carried on by a gradual introduction to poetry than by any other means. The imagination of a child is, of

lief;" giving to every thing but its bare market value; and thus faith will waver, and love for the unseen grow dead, or altogether cease.

But still, where the imagination has in early life been rightly and not unduly affected by poetry, its influence will be more or less felt for good, even through years of mere worldly, selfish life, and contend nobly for what is pure and worthy of belief.

All young persons learn to repeat poetry with much greater ease than prose; and a single verse of a simple ballad, once committed to memory, may lie dormant in the mind for years, and yet at length awake and come back with all its original freshness upon the imagination. A single strain only may at first recur; but gentle thoughts and associations will one by one steal in, and the partial, the casual, or forgotten acquaintance will be renewed, and the poem of early years will be, as it were, the poet's hand of welcome and friendly greeting.

Probably, among all the lessons in which children are drilled, there are none which lodge so firmly in the memory as the forms of language which they acquire in reading poetry. How important, then, that our

A PERILOUS ESCAPE.

Ir is related by Captain Back that, not many years ago, a canoe was pursuing its way quietly down one of the streams which flow into Hudson's Bay. It was approaching one of the many portages with which these streams abound, and the bowman and the steersman were standing erect at stem and stern, casting quick glances ahead and on either side, as they neared the waterfall which obstructed their passage.

The approach to the landing-place was somewhat difficult, owing to a point of rocks which projected into the stream, in the direction of the fall, and round which point it was necessary to steer with some dexterity, in order to avoid being drawn into the strong current. The fearless guides, however, had often passed the place in former years in safety, and accordingly dashed at the point with reckless indifference, their paddles flinging a circle of spray over their heads, as they changed them from

side to side, with graceful but vigorous rapidity.

The swift stream carried them quickly round the point of danger, and they had almost reached the quiet eddy near the landing-place, when the stem of the canoe was caught by the stream, which in an instant whirled them out from the shore, and carried them downward with fearful rapidity. Another moment, and the gushing waters dragged them, despite their most frantic efforts, to the verge of the waterfall, which thundered and foamed among frightful chasms and rocks many feet below.

The stem of the canoe overhung the abyss, and now the voyageurs plied their paddles with the desperation of men who felt that their lives depended on the exertions of that terrible minute. For a second or two the canoe remained stationary, and seemed to tremble on the brink of destruction; and then, inch by inch, it began slowly to ascend the stream. The danger was past!