ence shattered the vision. He was fresh from of the Israelites, and scoffed at the vision of his Putney library thirsting for books. He Moses. He sailed the shoreless sea of suspifound associates to whom books were a drug. cion a purposeless skeptic. Oxford, with her He had hoped to listen in breathless admiration distinguished theology, did nothing to purify to the brilliant conversations of the illustrious his morals. In such a state chance threw in his living about the illustrious dead, and he list- way Middleton's Free Inquiry. He followed it ened to boisterous controversies about Tipton up with Bossuet's Exposition and Protestant Slasher and the Spider. He had expected to Variations. He became a confirmed Roman hear dignified doctors discuss the politics of Catholic. He ascribes the victory of converAristotle. He saw only clamorous commoners sion to Bousset, although in later years he had grow furious over an Oxford shire election. He candor enough to confess that he was chiefly expected to sit in the great hall hung with green swayed by the arguments of Parsons. But to and listen to senior fellows declaiming in the whomsoever of her priests the conversion is noble Latin tongue. In reality he heard only due, the Roman Church can boast that the toasts that shocked his loyalty, and obscene sto- great master of Roman history once sat as a ries that jarred upon his ear. He had fondly humble devotee at her feet. Once converted, dreamed in the old Putney days, of venerable Gibbon did nothing by halves. He had been a men who would gently lead the novice by the lavish sybarite. He became a moral bundle of hand, as the first great martyr had done at the sack-cloth and ashes. He was devout like the Academy. Alas! he saw professors yawn and apostles. He emulated the austerity of Dungape in coffee-rooms like surfeited boors, and stan and the zeal of Loyola. He crossed his divines and doctors sleep over a sermon or leer breast before the Virgin. He invested the fictiduring a prayer. To such scenes Gibbon rapid- tious relics of martyrs with the splendors of an ly adapted himself. With the nonchalence of imagination already feverish with the passion of an expert he violated rules and committed ex- religion. His conversion he published to the cesses in the face and eyes of professors too stu- world. Baker, the Jesuit Chaplain of the Sarpid or indifferent to behold. He was swept in- dinian Embassy, gently led the neophyte into to the feverish round of fast London life, and the inner mysteries of communion. This is the doctors, bolstered up with fat salaries and only one of a million instances of the utterly stagnant with indolence, heeded not the flush fearless devotion of the much scandalized order prodigal who was wasting a double allowance of Jesuits. According to Blackstone, to incline on a flirtation at Bath. But all this came to a an Englishman to the Papal See was unmitigatsudden end, and Gibbon turned from the disa-ed treason. But the indomitable priest, in a pation of London to the contemplation of reli- strange land, in the face of almost certain angion. Dr. Middleton published his "Free In- nihilation, braved the severity of the English quiry." And it stung Gibbon like an arrow. law and the chance of death at the merciless Gibbon had never enjoyed religious culture. It hand of an English mob, that he might add one is true he had disputed with Miss Porten the more disciple to that unending throng whose vague mysteries of her church. But the simple- matin prayers kept march with the sun round minded woman knew no arguments and always the globe. In a letter to his father, Gibbon fell sublimely back upon her unquestioning proclaimed his conversion with much the same faith. She believed the miracles, the mediation spirit which tempted the martyrs to sing hosanand the judgment. But she knew not why and nahs in the Smithfield flames. He announced she did not care to know. Sufficient to her himself as a martyr to that church which he was it, that in her lowly life she had experienc- knew was older than Oxford or Westminster, ed the tenderness, the chastening and the joy. and which he believed would exist when Oxford Beyond the lids of her Bible was a rayless blank, and Westminster were no more. He was a proWithin its lids was a splendid light that shone selyte who conceited that on earth or in history from the very gateways of the Celestial City. no man had made such sacrifice of interest or Directly her opposite was Gibbon. From the such surrender of affection. And Oxford did realm of faith he was an exlle, wandering up everything to increase his sense of self-immolaand down like the restless lover of Evangeline. lation. She turned upon the converted ComShe was all belief, he was all unbelief. She moner with the old fury with which she had trusted. He doubted. She felt a divine pres- persecuted Chillingworth and Boyle. Magdalen ence with her as she dreamily lingered over the College could be indulgent to young rakes who Sermon on the Mount. He derided the passage disliked Terrence and relinquished the Oxford

cap for the soft embrace of a London harlot. not very difficult to determine, whether under But she never would be indulgent to men who different culture he might not have loved her honestly repudiated the doctrine of miraculous better than either. As it was, he loved the land gifts. She could be indulgent to men who lov- of Voltaire and the contracted territory of the ed Fielding better than Plato and the Ascot Swiss. He was far happier talking infidelity at Turf better than cloisters and hall. But she the table of D'Olback than in listening to stufors wore all charity for the unlucky devotee pid debates in the House of Commons, or drillwho worshipped relics and bought masses for ing the Kentish militia. He was French in the dead. The indolent, the reckless, the frivo- every grain and seam of his mind. He had lous Gibbon might receive her smile. But Gib- Voltaire's satire and Voltaire's skepticism. He bon the apostate, the neophyte, should never had Pascal's memory and moroseness. And in break bread at her board. She summarily dis- every thing he did or said or wrote, or wherever missed him. A collegiate Letter du Cachet sent he was, always and until the unexpected termihim home from college forever. Here endeth nation of his days, it is easy to trace the mystithe romance of Gibbon's boyhood. The quiet cal influence of those old days of his boyhood, logic of a Swiss Protestant clergyman after-when he cried himself to sleep upon the benches wards weaned him from the Great Heresy. A at Kingston School. man had better be a good Romanist than an in

Success.

G. M. D.

fidel and a scoffer. Therefore it was worse with From the Vermont School Journal and Family Visitor. Gibbon, who, ceasing to believe in one system of religion, jeered at them all. M. Pavilliard might win him from the Church of Rome, but he was unable to enfold him in the arms of her great rival. Here endeth the romance of Gibbon's younger days. Such contrasts, such lights and shadows were the extremes of human experiences. The deep gloom of his home, the rush and gaiety of Oxford, the gentleness of Miss Porten, the roughness of Kingston School, the deep charity and open-heartedness of Dr. Francis, the hateful intolerance of the Magdalen doctors. Gibbon's life justifies the trite maxim, "the boy is father to the man." Outwardly he altered very much.

SUCCESS, in any enteprise, is not the result of chance, neither is it the result of fortuitous circumstances; but depends wholly upon wellmatured plans, careful adjustment of suitable means to compass the end proposed, together with patient, persevering effort.

The noble deeds which men do, the great names which they acquire, and their real success in everything which they undertake, always have great purposes for their antecedents. No man ever becomes great,-great as a statesman, orator, soldier or scholar- great in any department of human knowledge, who has not the ability of clearly conceiving, carefully inWhoever examines the profuse dress, the in-vestigating, wisely planning and adapting all solent bearing, the sensual features, which the the details which may have any bearing upon memorable genius of Sir Joshua Reynolds has the object he proposes to accomplish; and above preserved for us, will be unable to discover the all, success in any enterprise which gives charoutlines of the weary-eyed, sad young man acter and fame to a man, depends largely upon who entered Switzerland on the 30th of June, a determined will in the execution. That young in the year of our Lord one thousand seven man who sits waiting for the wheel of fortune hundred fifty-four. Inwardly, Gibbon was the to make the revolution which he fondly hopes same at fifteen as at forty, studious, cynical, will make him, is doomed to a sad disappointintensely selfish, high-handed, imperious. The ment. He never will be made, and he never deep lines which his teachers carved in his char-will make himself until he clearly perceives the acter only deepen with age. And the boy's ex- means necessary to be used and intelligently perience is visible in the movements of the man. determines that he will succeed. If he sneered at Christianity, we may well imFailures in all undertakings, as might reasonagine it to be only a fling at Oxford, which he ably be expected, are consequent upon recklesscordially hated till his dying day. If he wrote ly proceeding without well matured plans, defibitter sentences to Dr. Priestly and Dr. White, nite purposes and a determined, energetic will. it was more to gratify a spite against the old Multitudes of men who labor hard enough to Magdalen professors, than to vindicate a theory. insure success, wholly fail for the very reason England he never loved with the heartiness and that success is an impossible result to their moloyalty of Hampden or Pitt. It is a question dus operandi. Either their purposes are not

well defined, their means inadequate, their plans Teachers, you have chosen a profession in impracticable or they fail to push their efforts which you may place the seal of your own infar enough to reach any legitimate conclusion tellectual and moral power upon the world, so in regard to the possibility of success. How that the voice of ages shall echo your name. many such men can be found in almost every As you have but a single probation on earth, community, whose whole lives are thus spent make it your definite purpose to write your for naught, literally for naught, and yet they names, " by deeds of kindness, love and merare among the busiest, most hurried and inde- cv," on the hearts of your pupils, who will rise fatigable in their efforts to succeed. Such men up to call you blessed, when your tongues have are not generally deficient in energy, but it is become silent and your hearts pulseless forever. sadly misdirected or otherwise wasted. Zeal Be it your noble task to arouse the slumbering they have, but it is not according to knowledge. genius and moral worth which lie buried on all We come to the conclusion, therefore, that our hills and mountains and in all our valleys. no man can reasonably hope to succeed in any Fully develop the outcropping treasures of department of human effort, unless he proposes priceless thought, of noble feelings, of pure and some definite purpose and has an intelligent generous aspirations, which will exist forever understanding of the manner in which and the unknown-which, without your efforts, will means by which he may arrive at the most de- never be called forth to adorn human nature, sirable results. He must also possess an iron to bless and save the world.

Some hearts now pregnant with celestial fire;
Hands that may the helm of government guide,
Or wake to ecstacy the sacred lyre."
Onward, then, teacher, in thy heaven-ap-

will which knows no defeat, but gallantly. Perhaps on these sequestered hills reside plunging into the thickest of the contest, bears onward the banner of success until complete victory crowns his effort. Thus Napoleon became a great general. The splendid train of victories which marked his wonderful career was consequent upon great purposes, a clear pointed mission. Raise thy standard and nerve comprehension of facts and circumstances and thyself for the most brilliant successes on life's arena. If God has given thee intellectual and moral power, invest it all in the cause of truth than probable that the Athenian ears would and duty, and great shall be thy reward.

a powerfully energetic will. Thus Demosthenes became the prince of orators.

defects of his vocal organs.

It is more

For the Schoolmaster.
Etymology.

I hardly know how to consider this topic, it

never have listened to the stirring strains of his matchless eloquence had not his early settled purpose to become an orator enabled him to persevere until he had fully overcome or was able to control the almost insuperable natural is so comprehensive. I may begin by saying Thus, too, Luther what is no doubt observed by most teachers of became the great reformer. The mighty ener-grammar, that the space of printed matter in gies of his undaunted mind were aroused grammar books is much too large for the subagainst the prevailing errors of the church.ject. It seems to be the aim of some book-wriConstrained by the love of truth, he hurled his ters to bring under the subject of which they anathemas with all the force of invincible treat, everything in any way related to it, whethstrength against the serried ranks of opposing er it be appropriate for the digestion of young multitudes, dividing and scattering the enemies learners or inappropriate. Perhaps no fact is of the true militant church, and waved his vic-more significant on this question than that one torious banner over the legions of his vanquish of our popular grammarians has introduced a ed foes in the days that crowned his well nigh doomed head with fadeless laurels. But one of the most striking examples of success in mod The topic of Etymology actually ern times is Fulton. Clearly conceiving that steam, as a mighty agent, could be applied to occupies only forty pages, and yet I know not navigation, he set himself to work in order to of any important fact or doctrine that is not demonstrate the fact. For months and years fully enough stated for the benefit of a learner. he persevered in his labors, amidst the jeers And learners, and young learners, too, are chiefand scorn of multitudes, until his complete suc- ly the class which is most concerned in Etymocess put to shame all his opposers and made his logy as taught in grammar. name and fame immortal.

complete epitome of the general subject into the closing portion of his book, where it is not only briefly but also clearly presented in a very few chapters.

Having said so much on the commendable

brevity of a certain book, the inference I would

At 1 P. M. the Unitarian Church was crowdhave to follow is, that whatever is not pertinent ed with a large and intelligent audience to listo the object is injurious. The main end and ten to an address from Marshal Conant, Esq., design accomplished by Etymology (I think I former Principal of the School. The members am not wrong) is to teach pupils to parse. If of the Association, with invited guests, afterthere be any other design it is surely not attain-ward repaired to the elegant and spacious ed, for this is all pupils in Etymology or just Town Hall to discuss the merits of a fine colout of it are able to do in the premises. If they lation. Stirring speeches were there made by can do anything else outside of the recitation Geo. B. Emerson, Esq., of the Board of Educaof the text, anything, I mean, that follows di- tion, J. J. Ladd, Esq., of the High School, rectly upon their study of it, I do not know Providence, Hon. Wm. M. Rodman, B. G. Norwhat it is. throp, Agent of the Board of Education of I think I shall not be understood to say that Mass., and others. There was a powerful eleparsing is useless. Parsing is a beneficial exer- ment of patriotism pervading all the remarks, cise. It is true analysis. And the reader may which must bear favorably upon those who remember that I have never disapproved of that. were present. An earnest and speedy prosecuBut parsing and analysis both are not more the tion of the war was the unanimous sentiment of all. Several young men from the Normal sum of grammar study than scattering seed is the harvest of a farmer, though one may be School have already enlisted under the recent productive of the other when rightly bestowed. call for soldiers of the loyal army.—Eve. Press.

It is a poor result for much labor, to have accomplished no more of what the book professes to show, in studying a school grammar book through, than simply to have learned how to analyze. It is a miserable reward for the diligent study of a whole treatise to be able to pull easy sentences to pieces and to set the fragments under a dozen or less of heads, while no skill has been imparted sufficient to enable a student to write a dozen consecutive sentences of good English.

Now, good reader, do not despise parsing and analysis, but weigh duly the conclusion I reach as you read it now:- Were the drift of grammatic literature to tend towards parsing and analysis, and only mainly towards such an end, and were all set aside for the present from books that does not tend in that direction, then these two branches of grammar at least would be well learned. Then, were there to be, during such a study of language, proper direction given to such powers of sentence-building as all pupils have in general, the objects of grammar would be gained. HENRY CLARK.

Going Home.

A CHILD'S POEM.

"WILL you come with me, my pretty one?"
I asked a little child,-

"Will you come with me and gather flowers? "
She looked on me and smiled.
Then, in a low, sweet, gentle voice,
She said, "I cannot come,

I must not leave this narrow path,
For I am going home."

"But will you not?" I asked again;
"The sun is shining bright,
And you might twine a lily-wreath

To carry home at night;
And I could show you pleasant things
If you would only come:"
But still she answered as before,
"No; I am going home."

"But look, my child: the fields are green.
And 'neath the leafy trees
Children are playing merrily,
Or resting at their ease.
Does it not hurt your tender feet
This stony path to tread ?"
"Sometimes; but I am going home!"
Once more she sweetly said.

"My father bade me keep this path,
Nor ever turn aside;

The road which leads away from him

Is very smooth and wide;
The fields are fresh and cool and green
Pleasant the shady trees;

But those around my own dear home
Are lovelier far than these.

"I must not loiter on the road,

For I have far to go;

And I should like to reach the door
Before the sun is low.

I must not stay; but will you not

Oh, will you not come, too? My home is very beantiful,

And there is room for you."

I took her little hand in mine;
Together we went on;
Brighter and brighter o'er our path
The blessed sunbeams shone.
At length we saw the distant towers.
But ere we reached the gate,

The child outstripped my lingering feet,
Too overjoyed to wait.

And, as she turned her radiant face

Once more to bid me come,

I heard a chorus of glad songs,
A burst of "Welcome Home!

"

-Friends' Review.

Macaulay.

DR. MILAN, in his memoir of the late Lord Macaulay, just published, alluding to his parliamentary career and love of letters, says:

cumulating treasures-memory which disdained nothing as beneath it, and was never perplexed or burdened by its incalculable possessions. As a curious instance of his range and activity of reading, among the books which he took with him to India were the many huge volumes of St. Chrysostom's works. Their still almost pure and harmonious Greek, and their importance in the history of religious opinion, (always a subject of deep interest,) carried him through a task which has been achieved by a few professional theologians. As an illustration of his powers of memory, he has said, and he was a most unboastful man, that if Milton's great poem were lost, he thought that he could accurately commit to writing at least all the first books of Paradise Lost.""

A QUESTION OF AUTHORSHIP.-The Home Journal, speaking of the "Address to the American Flag," asserts for Fitz Greene Halleck a portion of its authorship. It says: "The following lines were written by Joseph Rodman Drake : • Flag of the free heart's hope and home! By angels' hands to valor given, Thy stars have lit the welkin dome,

And all thy hues were born in heaven.'
"And the following lines were added to the
same poem by Fitz Greene Halleck :

Forever float that standard sheet;
Where breathes the foe but falls before us,
With freedom's soil beneath our feet,

And freedom's banner streaming o'er us" The editors of this paper undoubtedly speak from personal knowledge, they having been intimately acquainted with both authors.—Ez.

"But throughout this period of his life, the great inward struggle was going on within his mind between the ambition of public usefulness, of parliamentary and official distinction, and the love of letters, which will rarely brook a rival on the throne, the still higher ambition, as he thought, of adding some great work to the treasures of English thought and English literature. In the office at Whitehall, or the Horse Guards, on the benches of the House of Commons, amid the applauses or admiring silence of the House, his heart was in his library and among his books. He yearned for a place not so much among the great parliamentary WHAT IS HEAT LIGHTNING ?—Prof. Henry, leaders and the famous statesmen of the landwho is good authority, says the flashes of lightthe Chathams, Burkes, Foxes- -as among the ning often observed on a summer evening, unimmortal writers in verse and prose― the Milaccompanied by thunder, and popularly known tons, Clarendons, Addisons, Gibbons. The as "heat lightning," are merely the light from auditory which he coveted was that vast ex-discharges of electricity from an ordinary thunpanding world throughout which the English der cloud, beneath the horizon of the observer, language is spoken; the fame, that which will reflected from clouds, or perhaps from the air only die with the death of English letters. itself, as in the case of twilight. Mr. Brooks, Throughout the whole time of his absence from one of the directors of the telegraph line beEngland, on his voyage to India and on his re- tween Pittsburg and Philadelphia, informs us turn, in India, so far as leisure would allow, that on one occasion, to satisfy himself on this and during his parliamentary and official ca- point, he asked for information from a distant reer, he was still, with his indefatigable indus-operator during the appearance of flashes of this try, heaping up stores of knowledge-stores kind in the distant horizon, and learned that which could not overload his capacious and re they proceeded from a thunder storm then tentive memory-memory whose grasp and raging 250 miles eastward of his place of obserself-command seemed to expand with its ac-vation,