Earth and her waters, and the depths of air- In all his course. Nor yet in the cold ground, Thy image. Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim Yet not to thy eternal resting-place Shalt thou retire alone; nor couldst thou wish Are but the solemn decorations all Of the great tomb of man. The golden sun, And millions in those solitudes, since first So shalt thou rest; and what if thou shalt fall The youth in life's green spring, and he who goes So live, that, when thy summons comes to join The innumerable caravan that moves To the pale realms of shade, where each shall take His chamber in the silent halls of death, Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night, Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch LESSON LXIII. PHYSICAL EDUCATION. THAT is undoubtedly the wisest and best regimen, which takes the infant from the cradle, and conducts him along, through childhood and youth, up to high maturity, in such a manner as to give strength to his arm, swiftness to his feet, solidity and amplitude to his muscles, symmetry to his frame, and expansion to his vital energies. It is obvious, that this branch of education comprehends, not only food and clothing, but air, exercise, lodging, early rising, and whatever else is requisite to the full development of the physical constitution. The diet must be simple, the apparel must not be too warm, nor the bed too soft. Let parents beware of too much restriction in the management of their darling boy. Let him, in choosing his play, follow the suggestions of nature. Let them not be discomposed at the sight of his sand hills in the road, his snow forts in February, and his mud dams in April: nor when they chance to look out in the midst of an August shower, and see him wading, and sailing, and sporting along with the water fowl. If they would make him hardy and fearless, they must let him go abroad as often as he pleases, in his early boyhood, and amuse himself by the hour together, in smoothing and twirling the hoary locks of winter. Instead of keeping him shut up all day with a stove, and graduating his sleeping room by Fahrenheit, they must let him face the keen edge of a north wind, when the mercury is below cipher, and, instead of minding a little shivering and complaining when he returns, cheer up his spirits and send him out again. In this way, they will teach him that he was not born to live in a nursery, nor to brood over the fire; but to range abroad, as free as the snow and the air, and to gain warmth from exercise. I love and admire the youth who turns not back from the howling wintry blast, nor withers under the blaze of summer; who never magnifies "mole-hills into mountains;" but whose daring eye, exulting, scales the eagle's airy crag, and who is ready to undertake any thing that is prudent and lawful, within the range of possibility. Who would think of planting the mountain oak in a green-house? or of rearing the cedar of Lebanon in a lady's flower-pot? Who does not know, that, in order to attain their mighty strength and majestic forms, they must freely enjoy the rain and the sunshine, and must feel the rocking of the tempest? LESSON LXIV. TO A SISTER, ON THE DEATH OF AN ONLY SON. GENTLY, sister! thy beauteous child Heeds not thy bitter weeping; How sadly now his brilliant eye The death-drops on his forehead lie, But yet a smile is on thy boy, Thy heart alone its anguish knows, Yet listen, sister! while I lave The swelling tide of sorrow, For rests thy babe within its grave And then, no more its form we see, |