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Always speak the truth without disguise; strictly keep your promises; and do not meddle with what does not concern you.” Another time, he said that he had learned his wisdom from the blind, who will believe nothing but what they hold in their hands meaning that he always examined things, and took great pains to find out the truth.

4. Being once sent, with some other slaves, to fetch fruit, his companions ate a great deal of it, and then said it was he who had eaten it; on which he drank warm water to make himself sick, and thus proved that he had no fruit in his stomach; and the other slaves, being obliged to do the same, were found out.

5: Another story of him is, that, his master having given him a kind of melon, called the coloquin'tida, which is one of the bitterest things in the world, Lokman immediately ate it all up, without making faces, or showing the least dislike. His master, quite surprised, said, "How was it possible for you to swallow so nauseous' a fruit?" Lokman replied, "I have received so many sweets from you, that it is not wonderful that I should have swallowed the only bitter fruit you ever gave me." His master was so much struck by this generous and grateful answer, that he immediately rewarded him by giving him his liberty.

6. At this day," to teach Lokman" is a common saying in the East, to express a thing impossible. It is said, too, that he was as good as he was wise; and, indeed, it is the chief part of wisdom to be good. He was particularly remarkable for his love to God, and his reverence of His holy name. He is reported to have lived to a good old age; and, many centuries after, a tomb in the little town of Ramlah, not far from Jerusalem, was pointed out as Lokman's. AIKIN.

YOU

40. LAZY PEOPLE.

OU may see him, if you are an early riser, setting off, at peep of dawn, on a fishing expedition. He winds through the dreary woods, yawning portentously, and stretching as if

2

1Nauseous (na'shus), disgusting; causing sickness of the stomach.— Expedition (eks pe dish' un), a march or voyage; an enterprise.—3 Portent' ous ly, showing that something is about to happen.

he were emulous' of the height of the hickory-trees. Dexterously swaying his long rod, he follows the little stream till it is lost in the bosom of the woodland lake; if unsuccessful from the bank, he seeks the frail skiff, which is the common property of laborious idlers like himself, and, pushing off shore, sits dreaming under the sun's wilting beams, until he has secured a supply for the day. Home again—an irregular meal at any time of day— and he goes to bed with the ague ; but he murmurs not, for fishing is not work.

2. Then come the whortleberries; not the little, stunted, seedy things that grow on dry uplands and sandy commons; but the produce of towering bushes in the plashy' meadow; generous, pulpy berries, covered with a fine bloom; the "blaeberry" of Scotland; a delicious fruit, though of humble reputation, and, it must be confessed, somewhat enhanced3 in value by the scarcity of the more refined productions of the garden. We scorn thee not, O bloom-covered neighbor! but gladly buy whole bushels of thy prolific' family from the lounging Indian, or the still lazier white man. We must not condemn the gatherers of whortleberries, but it is a melancholy truth that they do not get rich.

3. Baiting for wild bees beguiles the busy shunner of work into many a wearisome tramp, many a night-watch, and many a löst day. This is a most fascinating chase, and sometimes excites the very spirit of gambling. The stake seems so small in comparison with the possible prize-and gamblers and honeyseekers think all possible things probable-that some, who are scarcely ever tempted from regular business by any other disguise of idleness, can not withstand a bee-hunt.

4. A man whose arms and ax are all-sufficient to insure a comfortable livelihood for himself and his family, is chopping, perhaps, in a thick wood, where the voices of the locust, the cricket, the grasshopper, and the wild bee, with their kindred, are the only sounds that reach his ear from sunrise till sunset. He feels lonely and listless; and, as noon draws on, he ceases from his hot toil, and, seating himself on the tree which has just

1Em' u lous, rivaling; desirous to excel.-2 Plåsh' y, watery.-3 Enhånced', increased.—' Pro lif' ic, fruitful; bringing forth in abundance.

fallen beneath his ax, he takes out his lunch of bread and butter, and, musing as he eats, thinks how hard his life is, and how much better it must be to have bread and butter without working for it.

5. His eye wanders through the thick forest, and follows, with a feeling of envy, the wingèd inhabitants of the trees and flowers, till at length he notes among the singing throng some halfdozen of bees. The lunch is soon dispatched; a honey-tree must be near; and the chopper spends the remainder of the daylight in endeavoring to discover it. But the cunning insects scent the human robber, and will not approach their home until nightfall. So our weary wight plods homeward, laying plans for their destruction.

6. The next morning's sun, as he peeps above the horizon,' finds the bee-hunter burning honey-comb and old honey near the scene of yesterday's inkling.2 Stealthily does he watch his line of bait, and cautiously does he wait until the first glutton that finds himself sated with the luscious feast sets off in a "beeline”—“like ǎrrow darting from the bow"-blind betrayer of his home, like the human inebriate. This is enough. The spoiler asks no more; and the first moonlight night sees the rich hoard transferred to his cottage, where it sometimes serves, almost unaided, as food for the whole family, until the last drop is consumed.

7. One hundred and fifty pounds of honey are sometimes found in a single tree, and it must be owned the temptation is great; but the luxury is generally dearly purchased, if the whole cost and consequences be counted. To be content with what supplies the wants of the body for the present moment, is, after all, the characteristic rather of the brute than of the man; and a family accustomed to this view of life, will grow more and more idle and thriftless, until poverty and filth, and even beggary, lose all their terrors. It is almost proverbial among farmers, that bee-hunters are always behindhand.

CAROLINE M. KIRKLAND.

'Ho ri' zon, a line that bounds the sight where the earth and sky appear to meet. Ink' ling, hint; desire.-3 In è' bri ate, one intoxicated; a drunkard.' Char ac ter is' tic, mark of character.

41. THE WORTH OF HOURS.

1. BELIEVI

ELIEVE not that your inner eye
Can ever in just measure try

The worth of Hours as they go by;

2. For every man's weak self, alas!
Makes him to see them, while they pass,
As through a dim or tinted glass:
3. But if in earnest care you would
Mete out to each its part of good,
Trust rather to your after-mood.

4. Those surely are not fairly spent,
That leave your spirit bow'd and bent
In sad unrest and ill-content:

5. And more, though free from seeming harm,
You rest from toil of mind or arm,
Or slow retire from pleasure's charm,-
6. If then a painful sense comes on
Of something whōlly lost and gone,
Vainly enjoy'd, or vainly done,—

7. Of something from your being's chain
Broke off, nor to be link'd again
By all mere memory can retain,—

8. Upon your heart this truth may rise,—
Nothing' that altogether dies
Suffices man's just destinies !3

'Nothing (nůth' ing).—2 Suffices (suf fiz' ez), satisfies; to be enough. Des' ti nies, necessities; final end.- Mèed, a reward; that which is given on account of merit.

11. Esteeming sorrow, whose employ
Is to develop' not destroy,

Far better than a barren joy.

R. M. MILNE.

42. THE SABBATH IN NEW ENGLAND.

HE observance of the Sabbath began with the Puritans,2 as

Tie ohi duan w of a great portion of their descendants, on Saturday night. At the going down of the sun on Saturday, all temporal' affairs were suspended; and so zealously did our fathers maintain the letter, as well as the spirit of the law, that, according to a vulgar tradition in Connecticut, no beer was brewed in the latter part of the week, lest it should presume to work on Sunday.

2. It must be confessed, that the tendency of the age is to laxity; and so rapidly is the wholesome strictness of primitive times abating, that, should some antiquary,' fifty years hence, in exploring his garret rubbish, chance to cast his eye on our humble pages, he may be surprised to learn, that, even now, the Sabbath is observed, in the interior of New England, with an almost Ju da'ical severity.

3. On Saturday afternoon an uncommon bustle is apparent. The great class of procrastinators are hurrying to and fro to complete the lagging business of the week. The good mothers, like Burns's matron, are plying their needles, making "auld claes look amaist as weel's the new;" while the domestics, or help (we prefer the national descriptive term), are wielding, with might and main, their brooms and mops, to make all tidy for the Sabbath.

4. As the day declines, the hum of labor dies away, and, after

4

'De vel' op, uncover; lay open to view.-2 Pu'ri tans, those desirous of purer forms of worship; reformers.- Têm' po ral, belonging to this life or world, or to the body only. Sus pênd' ed, stopped.- Zeal' ously, earnestly. Låx'i ty, looseness; carelessness of duty.- An' ti qua- . ry, one who is well acquainted with things that took place in old times. -- Ju da' ic al, pertaining to the Jews. The Jews are noted for the strict manner in which they observe the Sabbath.- Pro crås' ti na tors, persons who delay things to a future time; delayers.