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BLESSING ON THE YOUNG IMPlored.

branches shivered off, and driven through the air in every direction, with immense velocity. Every tree and shrub that withstands the shock, is stripped of its boughs and foliage. Plants and grass are laid flat to the earth. Luxuriant spring is in a moment changed to dreary winter. This direful tragedy ended, when it happens in a town, the devastation is surveyed with accumulated horror: the harbour is covered with wrecks of boats and vessels; and the shore has not a vestige of its former state remaining. Mounds of rubbish and rafters in one place; heaps of earth and trunks of trees in another; deep gullies from torrents of water; and the dead and dying bodies of men, women and children, half buried, and scattered about, where streets but a few hours before were, present to the miserable survivors a shocking conclusion of a spectacle to be folLowed by famine, and, when accompanied by an earthquake, by mortal diseases.

BLESSING ON THE YOUNG IMPLORED.

BESTOW, O Lord, upon our youth
The gift of saving grace;
And let the seed of sacred truth
Fall in a fruitful place.

Grace is a plant, where'er it grows,
Of pure and heavenly root;
But fairest in the youngest shows,
And yields the sweetest fruit.

Ye careless ones, O hear betimes
The voice of sovereign love!

Your youth is stain'd with many crimes,
But mercy reigns above.

True, you are young, but there's a stone~
Within the youngest breast,

Or half the crimes which you have done,
Would rob you of your rest.

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As yet the trembling year is unconfirm❜d,
And winter oft at eve resumes the breeze,
Chills the pale morn, and bids his driving sleets
Deform the day.-

THE great operations of nature during this month seem to be, to dry up the superabundant moisture of February, thereby preventing the roots and seeds from rotting in the earth, and gradually to bring forward the process of evolution in the swelling buds; while, at the same time, by the wholesome severity of chilling blasts, they are kept from a premature disclosure, which would expose their tender contents to injury from the yet unsettled season. The winds of March, boisterous and vehement to a proverb, are to be regarded, however, as particularly useful to vegetation; for those years generally prove most fruitful, in which the pleasing appearances of spring are most retarded. The importance of a dry season, for getting the seed early and favourably into the ground, is expressed in the old proverb,

A bushel of March dust is worth a king's ransom.

The mellow note of the thrush, singing perched on the naked bough of some lofty tree, and the cooing of the ring-dove in the woods, are heard from the beginning of the month of March. The rooks also are now

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68

APPEARANCES OF NATURE IN MARCH,

in motion, building and repairing their nests; and it is highly amusing to observe the tricks and artifices of this thievish tribe, some to defend, and others to plunder the materials of their new habitations. These birds are accused of doing much injury to the farmer, by plucking up the young corn, and other springing vegetables; but some are of opinion, that this mischief is fully repaid by their diligence in devouring the grubs of various insects, which, if suffered to come to maturity, would occasion much greater damage. For this purpose they are frequently seen following the plough, or settling in flocks on newly turned up lands. In the month of March, those birds which took refuge in our temperate climate, from the rigour of the northern winters, begin to leave us, and return to the countries where they were bred. The redwing, fieldfare, and woodcock are of this kind, and retire to spend their summer in Norway, Sweden, and other parts of the north of Europe. Frogs, which during winter lie in a torpid state at the bottom of ponds or ditches, now enlivened by the warmth of spring, rise in vast numbers to the surface of the water, and make themselves heard to a surprising distance by their croakings. Those small but beautiful fish called smelts, or 'sparlings, proceed, up the rivers in this month in order to spawn; but they are of so tender a nature, that the least mixture of snow-water in the river drives them back to the sea. One of the most agreeable tokens of our approach of spring is, that about the middle of the month of March, bees venture out of their hives. These admirable and useful insects appear to be possessed of uncommon foresight of the weather; so that their appearance in the morning may be reckoned a sure token of a fair day. As their food is the sweet juice to be found in the nectaries of flowers, their coming abroad is a certain sign that flowers are now to be met with. The gardens are adorned with the yellow and purple crocus; and towards the end of the month, primroses peep out beneath the hedges, while the most fragrant of all flowers, the violet, discovers itself by the perfume that it imparts to the surrounding air. The peach, the nectarine, the almond, apricot, and cherry trees, come into full bud during this

VIRTUE PREFERABLE TO KNOWLEDGE.

69

month; the sallow enlivens the hedges with its catkins full of yellow dust; and the leaves of the honey suckle are nearly expanded. In the latter part of the month of March the equinox happens, when the day and night are of equal length all over the globe; or ra ther when the sun is an equal time above and below the horizon for the morning and evening twilight make apparent day considerably longer than the night This takes place again in September. The former is called the vernal, the latter the autumnal equinox.

VIRTUE PREFERABLE TO KNOWLEDGE.

SCIENCE, as a proper knowledge of the things that belong to the present life, is so far from being blameable, considered in itself, that it is good and ordained of God. But purity of conscience and holiness of life must ever be preferred before it; and because men are more solicitous to learn much than to live well, they fall into error, and receive little or no benefit from their studies. But if the same diligence were exerted to eradicate vice, and implant virtue, as is applied to the discussion of unprofitable questions, and the vain strife of words, so much daring wickedness would not be found among the common ranks of men, nor so much licentiousness disgrace those who are eminent for knowledge. Assuredly, in the approaching day of universal judgment, it will not be so much inquired, what we have read, as what we have done; not how eloquently we have spoken, but how holily we have lived. Tell me, where is now the splendour of those learned doctors and professors, whom, while the honours of literature were blazing round them, you knew so well and so highly reverenced? Their benefices are possessed by others, who scarcely have them in remembrance: the tongue of fame could speak of no name but theirs while they lived, and now it is utterly silent about them; so suddenly passeth away the glory of human attainments! Had these men been as solicitous to be holy, as they were to be learned, their stu

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THE BANIAN TREE.

dies might have been blest with that honour which cannot be sullied, and that happiness which cannot be interrupted. But many are disappointed in their hopes both of honour and happiness, by seeking them in the pursuit of "science falsely so called," and not in the knowledge of themselves, and the love and service of God; and choosing rather to be great in the eyes of men, than meek and lowly in the sight of God, they become vain in their imaginations, and their memorial is written in the dust. He is truly good, who hath great charity. He is truly great, who is little in his own estimation, and rates at nothing the summit of worldly honour. He is truly wise, who counts all earthly things but as dross that he may win Christ. And he is truly learned, who hath learned to abandon his own will, and to do the will of God.

THE BANIAN TREE.

THE Banian tree, or Burr Tree, claims a particular attention. It is considered as one of the most curious and beautiful of nature's productions in the genial climate of India. Each tree is in itself a grove, and some of them are of an amazing size, as they are continually increasing, and, contrary to most other animal and vegetable productions, seem to be exempted from decay: for every branch from the main body throws out its own roots, at first in small tender fibres, several yards from the ground, which continually grow thicker; until, by a gradual descent, they reach its surface; where, striking in, they increase to a large trunk, and become a parent tree, throwing out new branches from the top. These in time suspend their roots, and, receiving nourishment from the earth, swell into trunks, and shoot forth other branches; thus continuing in a state of progression so long as the first parent of them all supplies her sustenance. A banian tree with many trunks, forms the most beautiful walks, vistas, and cool reeesses, that can be imagined. The leaves are large, soft, and of a lively green. The fruit is a small fig;

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