LESSON EIGHTY-SIXTH.

Tenderness of Heart.

There is a little fragile flower
That, low bending on its stem,
Is scarcely known beyond the bower,
Where, all unconscious of its power,
It ever glows in dewy gem.

It once arose in tow'ring pride,
And courted every passing gale,
Exulting threw its odors wide,
Alluring to its gaudy side

The dwellers of its native vale.

But while it showed its tinsel glare,
At early dawn, or pensive even,
Not thinking that the world could bear
Another flower so sweet and fair-

'T was withered by the "breath of Heaven."

Now, from its root this flow'ret grows,
But, trembling at the gentlest breeze,
It scarce around a fragrance throws,
Unlike the lily or the rose,

With not a tint to charm or please.

Yet when by tempests, gath'ring gloom,
Its leaflets from its stalk are riven,

Oh! then it shows a varied bloom,
And breathes abroad a rich perfume-

'Tis nourished by the "breath of Heaven."

For then it feels, with grateful glow,
The same Almighty Power,

That sunk its earlier beauties low,-
But suffered from its root to grow

An humbler, sweeter flower.

And oft it droops its lowly head,

And breathes a fragrance to the sky,
When those its former beauties led
To gaze upon its tints of red,

Pass now neglectful by.

But what's this renovated flower,

That heavenward can its sweets impart?
And yet, confined in lonely bower,
Is sweetest in the darkest hour?
Oh! it is Tenderness, of Heart.

LESSON EIGHTY-SEVENTH.

Columbus in Jamaica.

Columbus having attempted, in the year 1503, to plant a colony in America, but having failed in the enterprise, in consequence of the hostility of the Indians, he left that region and sailed for Hispaniola. But, by the violence of a storm, he was obliged to run his ships ashore at Jamaica. In his distress at this island, he sent some of the hardiest of his men to Hispaniola, to represent his calamitous situation to the governor, and to solicit vessels to carry him and his people away.

He remained, however, at Jamaica eight months, without the least intelligence from his messengers, or assistance from the governor. The natives becoming exasperated at the delay of the Spaniards, the burden. of whose support was intolerable, the inventive genius of Columbus had recourse to an admirable device to regain his authority.

Assembling the principal Indians around him, he caused them to understand, that the God whom he served, provoked at their refusal to support the objects of his favorite regard, intended to inflict on them a

speedy and severe judgment, of which they would soon see manifest tokens in the heavens; for, on that night, the moon would withhold her light, and appear of a bloody hue, as an omen oftheir approaching destruction. His menacing prediction was ridiculed; but its actual accomplishment, at the precise time foretold, struck the barbarians with terror. This eclipse of the moon, which he had happily foreseen by his skill in astronomy, established his character as a prophet. The affrighted Indians brought him instantly a plenty of provisions; they fell at his feet, and besought him, in the most suppliant manner, to intercede with the Great Spirit, to avert the threatened calamity.

Apparently moved by their entreaties, he consoled them; but charged them to atone for their past transgressions by their future generosity. The eclipse went off; and from that day the natives were superstitiously cautious of giving offence to the Spaniards.

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LESSON EIGHTY-EIGHTH.

Spirit of Man.

Who knoweth the spirit of man, that goeth upward? Eccl. iii. 21.

Say'st thou, that, when this light has fled,
The spring of mental life is dead?
Say 'st thou, that, when this cheek is pale,
The spirit's ardent glow shall fail?
Say'st thou, the soul returns to clay,
When these poor pulses cease to play?

Then let us mourn, if hope expires
When this frail lamp resigns its fires;
If man, so fashioned like a god,
Must never burst the prisoning sod,
With maniac sorrow let us rave,
And, shrinking, rend his marble grave.

Dash then away the fruitless tear,
And rush in pleasure's mad career;
To mirth devote this niggard span,
This little dateless life of man;

Mock self-control, grave wisdom spurn,
And, heedless, seek the destined urn.

Ah, skeptic! why wilt thou essay
To rend the balm of life away?
To plant with goads the path of toil,
To strew with thorns a barren soil,
To shroud with cold and rayless gloom,
Our weary journey to the tomb?

Think'st thou the power that spread the skies,
So just, beneficent, and wise,

Hath man's unbounded powers bestowed,
Merely for earth's fallacious good?
Oh, pause! a spirit answers, No,
For boundless joy, or boundless wo.

Look up, and let thy doubtful eye
Sparkle at immortality;

Rend from thy soul its abject chain,
Thy "Maker in thy mind retain,"

And bid it love that hope sublime,

Which soars o'er mists and wrecks of time.

LESSON EIGHTY-NINTH.

Settlement of Virginia.

While the foundation of a new settlement was laid in the north, the Virginian colony was making rapid progress in the south. Eleven ships, which had sailed the preceding year from England, arrived at Virginia, with twelve hundred and sixteen persons for

settlement. Nearly one thousand colonists were settled there, previous to this accession.

One of the methods adopted for the increase of their number, if not the most delicate, was perhaps the most politic. The enterprising colonists being generally destitute of families, Sir Edward Sandays, the treasurer, proposed to the Virginian company to send over a freight of young women, to become wives for the planters.

The proposal was applauded; and ninety girls, young and uncorrupt, were sent over in the ships that arrived this year; and, the year following, sixty more, handsome, and well recommended to the company for their virtuous education and demeanor.

The price of a wife, at first, was one hundred pounds of tobacco; but, as the number became scarce, the price was increased to one hundred and fifty pounds, the value of which in money, was three shillings per pound. This debt for wives, it was ordered, should have the precedency of all other debts, and be first recoverable.

Besides the transportation of reputable people, the king commanded the treasurer and council of the Virginian company, to send to Virginia a hundred dissolute persons, to be delivered to them by the knight marshal; and they were accordingly sent over, as servants. The early custom of transporting vicious and profligate people to that colony, as a place of punishment and disgrace, though designed for its benefit, yet became, ultimately, prejudicial to its growth and prosperity.

This part of America was visited by the English in the year 1584, and derived its name from the following circumstance. On the return of the visiters, they gave such splendid descriptions of the beauty and fertility of the country, and of the mildness of the climate, that Elizabeth, delighted with the idea of occupying so fine a territory, bestowed on it the name of Vir