change? Have you funds there? No man can be at peace who knows not but he is even now insolvent. Then start with your affairs upon a new basis placing the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness first, and all other things shall be added unto you. DISCIPULUS. THE PARENT. A. had been educated in a religious family, but had lived an irreligious man, until he was married. He settled, a merchant, among the green hills of Vermont, and was happy in the Society of his chosen companion. The period that brought A. into the relation of a Parent, was an eventful one in his life. As he held his little boy in his arms, and parental affection, now for the first time, began to kindle up a glow in his bosom, he said to himself, "Here is an immortal being committed to my care, and it is my duty to train him up in the nurture of the Lord. If I am faithful to him, he may shine among the stars of God, but if not, it had been better for him, that this day of his birth had never shone upon him. But how can I discharge this new duty? How can I lead him in a path that I have never trod myself? How can I recommend to him, a Saviour, whom I do not love, or teach him to pray, when I do not pray myself? How can I help him on towards heaven, while I am going the other way?" Thus was he convinced of his utter disqualification for the discharge of the duties of his new relation. He loved the boy, and could not bear to think of being the means of his ruin. He tried to pray for him, but could not. He soon saw that his first business was to give up himself, and then his child to God, to lead in the way he would have his child enter. RELIGION. 1. Like snow that falls where water glides, And but a moment stay, Like stars that gild the night, 2. Religion's ray, no clouds obscure; Though tempests round him roll, SCENES OF NAVAL WARFARE. "As the day dawned, we discovered four sail in the wind's eye, and close in shore. The wind was light, and all sail was made in chase. We gained very little on them for many hours, and towards evening, it fell calm. The boats were then ordered to pursue them, and we sat off, diverging a little from each other's course, or, as the French would say, deployée, to give a better chance of falling in with them. I was in the gig with the master, and, that being the best running boat, we soon came up with one of the feluccas. We fired musketry at her; but, having a light breeze, she would not bring-to. We then took good aim at the helms-man, and hit him. The man only shifted the helm from his right hand to his left, and kept on his course. We still kept firing at the intrepid fellow, and I felt it was like wilful murder, since he made no resistance, but steadily endeavored to escape. The "At length we got close under the stern, and hooked on with our boat-hook. This the Spaniards unhooked, and we dropped a stern, having laid our oars in; but the breeze dying entirely away, we again pulled along side, and took possession. poor man was still at the helm, bleeding profusely. We offered him every assistance, and asked why he did not surrender sooner. He replied that he was an old Castilian. Whether he meant that an earlier surrender would have disgraced him, or that he contemplated, from his former experience, a chance of escape, to the last moment, I cannot tell. Certain it is that no one ever behaved better; and I felt that I would have given all that I possessed, to have healed the wounds of this patient, meek and undaunted old man, who uttered no complaint, but submitted to his fate with a magnanimity which would have done credit to Socrates himself. He had received four musket balls in his body, and of course survived his capture but a very few hours. "We found to our surprise, that this vessel, with the three others, one of which was taken by another of our boats, were from Lima. They were singlemasted, about thirty tons burthen, twelve men each, and were laden with copper, hides, wax, and cochineal, and had been out five months. They were bound to Valentia, from which they were only six days sail when we intercepted them. Such is the fortune of war! man, after a voyage of incredi ble labor and difficulty, would in a few hours, have embraced his family, and gladdened their hearts with the produce of honest industry, and successful enterprise; when, in a moment, all their hopes were blasted by our legal murder and robbery, and our prize-money came to our pockets with the tears, if not the curses, of the widow and the orphan! This gallant "From some information which the captain obtained in the prize, he was induced to stand over the Balanic Islands. We made Ivica, and stood past it; then ran from Palma Bay in the island of Majorca; here we found nothing, to our great disappointment, and continued our course round the island. "An event occurred here, so singular as scarcely to be credible; but the fact is well attested, as there were others who witnessed it beside myself, The water was smooth, and the day remarkably fine; we were dis tant from the shore, more than a mile and a quarter, when the captain, wishing to try the range of the main-deck guns, which were long eighteen-pounders, ordered the gunner to elevate one of them, and fire towards the land. The gunner asked whether he should point the gun at any object. A man was seen walking on the white sandy beach, and as there did not appear to be the slightest chance of hitting him, for he only looked like a speck, the captain desired the gunner to fire at him; he did so, and the man fell. A herd of bullocks at this moment was seen coming out of the woods, and the boats were sent with a party to shoot some of them for the ship's company. "When we landed, we found that the ball had cut the poor man in two; and what made the circumstance more particularly interesting, was, that he was evidently a man of consequence. He was well dressed, had on black breeches and silk stockings: he was reading Ovid's Metamorphoses, and still grasped the book, which I took out of his hand. "We have often heard of the miraculous powers ascribed to a chance shot, but never could we have supposed that this unlucky ball could have gone so far, or done so much mischief. We buried the remains of the unfortunate gentleman in the sand, and having selected two or three bullocks out of the herd, shot them, skinned and divided them into quarters, loaded our boat, and returned on board. the hand of the deceased, and from his neck, a small miniature of a beautiful female. The brooch in his shirt, I also brought away: and when I brought an account to the captain, of what had happened, I offered him these articles. He returned them all to me, to keep them till I could see any of the friends of the deceased, and appeared so much distressed at the accident, that we never mentioned it afterwards; and in the course of the time we were together, it was nearly forgotten. The articles remained in my possession unnoticed for many years." NAVAL OFFICER. "I had taken the book out of lant." James White lived in his native town till he was thirteen years old. At that age his parents desired that he might enjoy more means of improvement, than he possessed at home; and it was soon determined that he should go to a neighboring Academy, His parents were pious, and had taught him to reverence God. And he felt that though he was far from home, still the eyes of God were upon him, and that he had duties to discharge while at school. He was accordingly faithful in his attendance upon all the exercises of the Academy. At the appointed time of prayer, and at every recitation, he was punctually in his place. Moreover he faithfully devoted that time to study which the laws of the Academy required. He felt that it was his duty to improve his mind, and treasure up knowledge; and he aimed at this in all his studies. Of course, he always appeared well at recitation. I do not mean that he was the first in his class; for there were many others who were above him both in respect to intellectual endowments and the acquisition of knowledge which they had made. It was not his object to shine and attract attention, but to As the hands passed on to the great organ, and moved in open chords. ↑ Harsh and dissonant, minor and imperfect chords, on the lower part of the organ, with the thundering of the Sub-Base. A sudden change from minor to major, and from dissonant to consonant chords. The full organ in all its splendor. gain solid information; and he was soon known to his teachers as a conscientious and an industrious boy. And they loved him. Because he was thus studious at his books, it may be thought that he was dull at play. But this is far from the truth; his hard study gave him an appetite for play, and there was not a boy in school who engaged in sport with more zest than James; his whole soul was in it. There was no one who could knock a ball, and pitch a quoit farther than he; and when at sunset they bathed in the stream, there was none who could dive deeper, or swim longer in the bosom of the river. James was kind and affectionate towards all; and was therefore generally beloved. His intimate friends however were few. Every one did not suit him; but when he found a companion whose thoughts and feelings were like his own, he gave him his heart with all its affections; and his attachment for that individual was strong and lasting. With him he was frank, open-hearted; to him he freely made known all his thoughts and feelings, upon any subject. He delighted in social conversation with this friend. It gave him more enjoyment than the noise and merriment of sport; and often, while others were engaged in boisterous fun, he and a friend were in some retired walk, seeking amusement and improvement as they went. Sometimes a gilded bug attracted their attention, and afforded them subject for talk ; —and again a bird from a neighboring bough pouring forth liquid notes of song, filled them with pleasure. Oftentimes, too, in their evening walks, the twinkling stars, the brilliant moon, and the white fleecy clouds, reminded them of God the Creator of all. And as they talked of these things, they felt a calmness and peace that was refreshing to them. George Collins was one of these intimate friends to whom James was very much attached. They had been at the Academy together for about two years, when one Friday about the middle of the term, their teacher told the class that he was obliged to leave town, and that there would be no recitation the next day. James was rather pleased with the news; for he had felt the need of some recreation for several days. It was late in the spring. When he rose in the morning, a thick fog covered the earth. The ground was damp, and the grass wet, with the heavy mist. Every thing appeared gloomy, and indicative of a rainy day; and James was sad and low-spirited. By eight o'clock, however, this heavy covering of fog began 1 |