But, brothers, who up reason's hill
Advance with hopeful cheer,
Oh loiter not those heights are chill,
As chill as they are clear;

And still restrain your haughty gaze,

The loftier that ye go,

Remembering distance leaves a haze

On all that lies below.

NOTE.-R. M. MILNES, now Lord Houghton, is both a poet and politician of eminence. He has written "Palm Leaves,' "Poems

of many Years," and works founded upon his travels in Greece and other parts of the continent; as well as a life of the poet Keats.

EXERCISES.-I. Give the subject matter of this poem in prose. 2. Illustrate its truth from the foregoing lessons. 3. Paraphrase the first two stanzas.

In a former book you were shown that right acting leads, as a rule, to happiness; while wrong doing produces, as commonly, misery in some form or degree. It does not, however, always happen that the peace and happiness which flow from goodness can be easily traced from one to the other; nor, on the other hand,

can we always see clearly how trouble and misery are the result of sin and folly.

These moral consequences, as we call them, are often remote, and may have many persons and events intervening between them and their causes. Thus, a child at home or a pupil at school is idle and disobedient. The parents or teacher, after many efforts to correct the evil, at last, perhaps, gives up in despair. The child is now left for a time to his own idle inclinations. At first view, this may appear to show the reverse of our rule. An increased amount of liberty and opportunity for self-gratification instead of misery are the first results of the wilful persistence in wrong.

For a time, this is so. But we must follow the individual's career for a longer period, and then what do we find? Very commonly this. The idleness of the child has prevented him from obtaining a good education; this again limits him to the lower kinds of employment. Then, perhaps, an opportunity offers of obtaining some good, but the obtaining it is made to depend upon the possession of a good character. But, alas! neither the parent nor the teacher can honestly give him such a character, and so the chance is lost for ever.

In fact, experience proves in thousands of cases, that men and women suffer on, from year to year, and even to the very end of life, the sad results of some early career of sin and folly. Happily, the contrary picture is equally common. We often see the fruits of right and good acting spring up, long after the act itself has passed quite out of memory.

This and much more of the same kind that might be said, will, we hope, be enough to convince every

reader that the conduct of a child at home, in school, or in the playground, is full of importance on account of its bearing on his after-life. The immediate reward or punishment of our doings is a small matter compared with the more remote, but equally certain, consequences.

This being so, the question arises,-how shall any young person know what is right and what is wrong? That is, how may a child learn to act so as to secure happiness and avoid misery?

We admit that these are questions not so easy to answer as may at first sight appear. We know moreover that in different parts of the world and in different ages they have had different answers; and even now all English people would not answer them exactly in the same way. Still, when we have a task to perform we ought not to evade it because it is difficult, for that is cowardice. Let us, then, bravely accept the question. In answering, we shall endeavour to say only so much as all admit.

In the first place, then, we find ourselves in possession of a power which we call our reason, which will frequently be able to decide what we ought or ought Let us take a case. You all know the fable

not to do.
about the boys and the frogs.

The pelted frogs are,

by the moralist, made to say that while throwing stones was fun to the boys, it was death to the frogs, and therefore ought not to be done. The reason of every one of us admits the force of the plea.

Again, some of you are fond of jam tarts and mince pies; but you have found perhaps that when these take the place of homely bread and cheese, and beef, you suffer from sickness and headache. Reason says,

do not risk a long day's pain for the sake of a few minutes' gratification of your palate. The same principle applies to drink. The drunkard's reason tells him that his intemperance is surely making him pay a very heavy price for a very poor kind of enjoyment. If he listens to reason he will become sober, and so avoid adding to his punishment.

But we are also conscious of another voice within us beside that of reason, which we call our conscience. This, even in our earliest years, rapidly passes sentence upon our actions. Thus, before a child can reason safely, it has a moral sense, or, as we may say, a monitor within, which prompts the child to obey its parents; and which, so to speak, whispers "Naughty" when it is tempted to tell an untruth, to inflict unnecessary pain, or to take what belongs to another.

But although conscience is thus always ready to pass sentence upon conduct, yet this power may become either warped or deadened. Some men, acting quite conscientiously, have yet done very wrong deeds. One such tells us candidly that when persecuting, even to the death, others for holding a faith that he then called "heresy," he did so thinking that thereby he was doing God service,—that is, doing right.

We see, then, that while both reason and conscience, those higher and better parts of our nature, bear an important part in guiding the actions of our lives, yet, at the same time, neither of them can be taken as a guide that is sure to be right at all times and under all circumstances. Where then is such a guide to be found? We answer by an illustration.

A wise and good parent sees that it will be for the advantage of his son that he should for a while sojourn in a distant, sea-severed country. In the execution of

I

this plan, the father provides a strong and well appointed ship. She is supplied with a brave and hardy crew. A mariner's compass is put on board, and a skilful pilot is appointed. All is ready, when the son addresses his father somewhat thus :

-

"Sire, the much loved home that I have hitherto enjoyed has taught me to confide in your wise and generous forethought for my welfare. I cannot therefore doubt your goodness or your wisdom in thus bidding me to cross the ocean for a new home. That you have amply provided for my wants on the voyage is also plainly seen; but may I not know whither I am bound, and something of the course to be steered to reach the desired haven? The compass may be true, and the pilot faithful, diligent, and skilful; but may we not also have a chart, showing the port to which we are bound, the course we should pursue, the shoals and banks on which we may be lost, and the deep waters, where we may spread sail, and make in safety for the haven of rest?"

The father smiled as he handed his son a roll, and said, “You have done well, my son, in asking for full instructions for your voyage. Consult this at all times and especially in cases of doubt and peril. The way is here so plainly laid down, that if you are honestly bent upon going in the right track, you will have no difficulty in finding it. Be true to these my charts, and to this my pilot, and all will be well."

The greater part of the inhabitants of the civilized world think the Bible is such a chart. The Mohammedans think that they have a safe guide in the Koran; while the Hindoos have a like faith in their Vedas or other sacred books. EXERCISES.-I. Define,-Produces, remote, disobedient, fre