3. Set before you, as the chief object to be obtained, an end that is superior to any on earth,—a desirable end, A PERFECT END. Labor to accomplish a work which shall survive unchanged and beautiful, when time shall have withered the garland of youth, when thrones of power and monuments of art shall have crumbled into ashes; and, finally, aim to achieve something, which, when these our mutable and perishing voices are hushed forever, shall live amid the songs and triumphs of IMMORTALITY.
4. Well will it be for you, if you have a guide within, which will aid you in every issue which will arm you in every temptation, and comfort you in every sorrow. Consult, then, that Volume whose precepts will never fail you. Consult it with a deep aspiration after the true and good, and it shall illuminate your understanding with divine realities.
5. Open your soul, and it shall breathe into it a holy influence, and fill all its wants. Bind it close to your heart; it will be a shield against all the assaults of evil. Read it in the lonely hour of desertion; it will be the best of companions. Open it when the voyage of life is troubled'; it is a sure chart. Study it in poverty'; it will unhoard to you inexhaustible riches. Commune with it in sickness'; it contains the medicine of the soul. Clasp it when dying'; IT IS THE CHARTER OF IMMORTALITY.
QUESTIONS.—1. What ought we not to forget? 2. How ought the world to be regarded? 3. How ought we to act and labor? 4. What ought we to consult?
[!-- Marker --] LESSON LXIV.
IN TREP' ID, brave; heroic.
BE TO' KEN ED, showed; indicated.
E LAS' TIC, springy; agile.
AT' TI TUDE, posture; position.
UN' DER GROWTH, shrubbery.
CON FRONT', stand before.
CA TAS' TRO PHE, disaster; calamity.
DE TER' RED, hindered; prevented.
HUR' RI CANE, violent tempest.
BUF' FET ING, beating with the hands.
ATH LET' IC, strong; powerful.
MI RAC' U LOUS, wonderful.
TRE MEN DOUS, terrible; frightful.
DES' PE RATE, rash; furious.
IN VOL' UN TA RY, spontaneous.
CAT' A RACT, waterfall.
RE SUS' CI TATE, revive; bring to life.
CH AR' AC TER IZ ED, distinguished.
THE INTREPID YOUTH.
1. It was a calm, sunny day in the year 1750; the scene, a piece of forest land in the north of Virginia, near a noble stream of water. Implements of surveying were lying about, and several men reclining under the trees, betokened, by their dress and appearance, that they composed a party engaged in laying out the wild lands of the country.
2. These persons had apparently just finished their dinner. Apart from the group, walked a young man of a tall and compact frame, and moved with the elastic tread of one accustomed to constant exercise in the open air. His countenance wore a look of decision and manliness not usually found in one so young, for he was apparently little over eighteen years of age. His hat had been cast off, as if for comfort, and he had paused, with one foot advanced, in a graceful and natural attitude.