hear the officers as they told me where the ropes lay; but the fearful alternative I have mentioned caused me to hesitate, until I, being so much lighter than the vessel, found myself fast drifting to leeward.

16. I then resolved to make the attempt and swim for the nearest float; and, loosening the lashings, waited until the grating rested on the crest of the advancing wave. Measuring the distance with my eye, I let go the grating, and swam, with the energy of despair, till the rope was within my grasp. No sooner did they feel my clasp tighten the floating rope, than twenty vigorous arms hauled in with steady motion. I passed the end of the rope around my body, and was soon lifted over the bulwarks, feeling profoundly grateful for my almost miraculous escape from a watery grave.

I

XCVI.-GOD SEEN IN NATURE.

MARKED the Spring as she passed along,

With her eye of light and her lip of song;

While she stole in peace o'er the green earth's breast;
While the streams sprang out from their icy rest;

The buds bent low to the breeze's sigh,

And their breath went forth in the scented sky;
When the fields looked fresh in their sweet repose,
And the young dews slept on the new-born rose.

2. The scene was changed. It was Autumn's hour;
A frost had discolored the summer bower;
The blast wailed sad, 'mid the withered leaves;
The reaper stood musing by gathered sheaves;
The mellow pomp of the rainbow woods
Was stirred by the sound of the rising floods;

And I knew by the cloud, by the wild wind's strain,
That Winter drew near, with his storms, again.

3. I stood by the ocean; its waters rolled

In their changeful beauty of sapphire and gold;
And day looked down with its radiant smiles,

Where the blue waves danced round a thousand isles;

The ships went forth on the trackless seas,

Their white wings played in the joyous breeze;

Their prows rushed on 'mid the parted foam,

While the wanderer was wrapped in a dream of home.

4. The mountain arose, with its lofty brow,

While its shadow was sleeping in vales below;
The mist, like a garland of glory, lay

Where its proud heights soared in the air away;
The eagle was there, on his tireless wing,
And his shriek went up like an offering;
And he seemed in his sunward flight to raise
A chant of thanksgiving, a hymn of praise.

5. I looked on the arch of the midnight skies,
With its blue and unsearchable mysteries;
The moon, 'mid an eloquent multitude
Of unnumbered stars, her career pursued;
A charm of sleep on the city fell;
All sounds lay hushed in that brooding spell;
By babbling brooks were the buds at rest;
And the wild bird dreamed on her downy nest.

6. I stood where the deepening tempest passed;
The strong trees groaned in the sounding blast;
The murmuring deep with its wrecks rolled on;
The clouds o'ershadowed the mighty sun;
The low reeds bent by the streamlet's side,
And the hills to the thunder-peal replied;
The lightning burst forth on its fearful way,
While the heavens were lit in its red array!

7. And hath MAN the power, with his pride and his skill, To arouse all nature with storms at will?

Hath he power to color the summer cloud?
To allay the tempest, when hills are bowed?

Can he waken the Spring with her festal wreath?
Can the sun grow dim by his lightest breath?
Will he come again, when death's vale is trod?
Who, then, shall dare murmur, There is no God!"
W. G. Clark.

THE

XCVII.-THE POWER OF HABIT.

"How use doth breed a habit in a man.”

Shakespeare.

HE two men were summoned into the presence of the pasha. "I shall now decide upon the merits of your stories," observed he. "Sit down there, both of you, and agree between yourselves which of you will begin."

2. "May it please your highness, you will never be able to listen to this man Ali," observed Hussan; "You had better send him away."

"May your highness be preserved from all evil," replied Ali, "but more especially from the talking of Hussan, which is as oppressive as the hot wind of the desert."

"I have not sent for you to hear you dispute in my presence, but to listen to your stories. Ali, begin your story."

3. "Well, your highness, it was about thirty years ago, you know, that I was a little boy, you know. Well, your highness, you know❞—

“I don't know, Ali; how can I know until you tell me?" observed the pasha.

4. "Well, then, your highness must know, that ever since I was born I have lived in the same street; and thirty years, you know, is a long period in a man's life. My father was a gardener; and people of

his condition, you know, are obliged to get up early, that they may be in time for the market, where, you know, they bring their vegetables for sale."

5. "This is all very true, I dare say," observed the pasha; "but you will oblige me by leaving out all those you know's, which I agree with your comrade Hussan to be very tedious."

“That's what I have already told him, your highness. Ali,' says I, if you can only leave out your you know's,' says I, 'your story might be amusing; but,' says I".

6. "Silence with your says I's," exclaimed the pasha; "have you forgotten the bastinado? there seems to be a pair of you. Ali, go on with the story, and remember my injunction.

7. "Well, your highness, one morning he rose earlier than usual, as he was anxious to be first in the market with some onions, which, you know, are very plentiful; and having laden his donkey, he set off at a good round pace for the city. There, you know, he arrived at the market-place a little after the day had dawned, when, you know,"

8. "Did you not receive my orders to leave out you know? Am I to be obeyed or not? Now, go on, and if you offend again, you shall have the bastinado till your nails drop off."

9. "I shall observe your highness's wishes," replied Ali. "A little after the day had dawned, you—no, he, I mean, observed an old woman sitting near one of the fruit-stalls, with her head covered up with an old dark blue capote; and as he passed by, you-she, I mean, held out one of her fingers and said: Ali Baba,' for that was my father's name, 'listen to good advice; leave your laden beast and

follow me.' Now, my father, you know, not being inclined to pay any attention to the old woman, replied, you know"

10. "Take him out," exclaimed the pasha, in a rage; "give him one hundred blows of the bastinado; put him on a donkey, with his face turned toward the tail, and let the officer who conducts him through the town proclaim, 'Such is the punishment awarded by the pasha to him who presumes to say that his highness knows, when, in fact, he knows nothing.'

11. The guards seized upon the unfortunate Ali; and, as he was dragged away, Hussan cried out, "I told you so; but you would not believe me." "Well," replied Ali, "I've one comfort; your story's not told yet. His highness has yet to decide which is best."

12. After a few minutes' pause, to recover his temper, the pasha addressed the other man: "Now, Hussan, you will begin your story; and observe that I am in rather an ill humor."

"How can your highness be otherwise, after the annoyance of that bore, Ali? I said so; 'Ali,' says I,”—

Go on with your story," repeated the pasha, angrily.

13. "It was about two years ago, your highness, when I was sitting at the door of the fruit-shop, that a young female, who seemed above the common class, came in, followed by a porter. 'I want some melons,' says she. I have very fine ones, so walk in,' says I; and I handed down from the upper shelf

four or five melons.

14. "Now,' says I, 'young woman, you'll observe