In the lexicon of youth, which Fate reserves
For a bright manhood, there's no such word as fail.
Bulwer.

It is better for a city to be governed by a good man than by good laws. Aristotle.

Of all bad things by which mankind are cursed, Their own bad tempers surely are the worst.

Cumberland.

A man has no more right to say an uncivil thing than to act one, no more right to say a rude thing to another than to knock him down. -Johnson.

He who is good at making excuses is seldom good for anything else. - Franklin.

All that a man gets by lying is that he is not believed when he tells the truth.

Waste of wealth is sometimes retrieved, waste of health seldom; but waste of time never.

The imprudent man reflects on what he has said, the wise man on what he is going to say.

Count that day lost whose low-descending sun
Views from thy hand no worthy action done.

Honor and shame from no condition rise;
Act well your part; there all the honor lies.

- Pope.

SHORT SELECTIONS.

'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view And clothes the mountain with its azure hue. Campbell

Learn the luxury of doing good. — Goldsmith.

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Habit, if not resisted, soon becomes necessity. — St. Augustine.

To err is human; to forgive divine. — Pope.

We give advice by the bucket, but take it by the grain. Alger.

One of the sublimest things in the world is plain truth. Bulwer.

He who waits to do a great deal of good at once will never do anything. -Johnson.

He liveth long who liveth well,
All else is life but flung away,

He liveth longest who can tell

Of true things truly done each day.

The longest life is but a parcel of moments.

Truth crushed to earth will rise again,
The eternal years of God are hers;
But, Error, wounded, writhes in pain,
And dies among his worshippers.

Profanity never did any man the least good. No man is richer, happier, or wiser for it. It recommends no one to society; it is disgusting to refined people and abominable to the good.

An idler is a watch that wants both hands,
As useless if it goes as when it stands.

Oh, many a shaft at random sent,

Cowper.

Finds mark the archer little meant!

And many a word at random spoken,

May soothe, or wound, a heart that's broken.

Scott.

What is it to be a gentleman? It is to be honest, to be gentle, to be generous, to be brave, to be wise, and, possessing all these qualities, to exercise them in the most graceful outward manner. — Thackeray.

Our grand business is, not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand. Carlyle.

A

SELECTIONS FOR HIGH SCHOOL

GRADES.

I.

THE GLADNESS OF NATURE.

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.

Is this a time to be gloomy and sad,

When our mother Nature laughs around, When even the deep blue heavens look glad,

And gladness breathes from the blossoming ground?

There are notes of joy from the hang-bird and wren, And the gossip of swallows through all the sky; The ground-squirrel gayly chirps by his den,

And the wilding bee hums merrily by.

The clouds are at play in the azure space,

And their shadows at play in the bright green

vale,

And here they stretch to the frolic chase,

There's a dance of leaves in that aspen bower,

There's a twitter of winds in that beechen tree, There's a smile on the fruit, and a smile on the flower, And a laugh from the brook that runs to the sea.

And look at the broad-faced sun, how he smiles
On the dewy earth that smiles in his ray,
On the leaping waters and gay young isles;
Ay, look! and he'll smile thy gloom away.

II.

THE PEOPLE'S SONG OF PEACE.

JOAQUIN MILler.

THE grass is green on Bunker Hill,
The waters sweet in Brandywine;
The sword sleeps in the scabbard still,
The farmer keeps his flock and vine;
Then, who would mar the scene to-day
With vaunt of battlefield or fray?

The brave corn lifts in regiments
Ten thousand sabres in the sun;

The ricks replace the battle-tents,

The bannered tassels toss and run.
The neighing steed, the bugle blast,
These be but stories of the past.