Less aged than the hoary trees and rocks

Around them; and there have been holy men
Who deemed it were not well to pass life thus.
But let me often to these solitudes
Retire, and in thy presence reassure
My feeble virtue. Here its enemies,

The passions, at thy plainer footsteps shrink
And tremble and are still. O God! when thou
Dost scare the world with tempests, set on fire
The heavens with falling thunderbolts, or fill,
With all the waters of the firmament,

The swift dark whirlwind that uproots the woods
And drowns the villages; when, at thy call,
Uprises the great deep and throws himself
Upon the continent, and overwhelms

Its cities who forgets not, at the sight
Of these tremendous tokens of thy power,
His pride, and lays his strifes and follies by?
Oh, from these sterner aspects of thy face
Spare me and mine, nor let us need the wrath
Of the mad unchained elements to teach
Who rules them. Be it ours to meditate,
In these calm shades, thy milder majesty,
And to the beautiful order of thy works
Learn to conform the order of our lives.

architrave (är ́kì trāv): literally, the chief beam; that which rests on the columns. - instinct: alive. - without a witness: see Acts xiv. 17.

PSALM VIII

O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.

Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou 5 mightest still the enemy and the avenger.

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

10 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the 15 air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.

O Lord our Lord how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

PSALM XIX

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firma20 ment sheweth his handywork.

Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out

through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the 5 end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.

The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the 10 commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judg ments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by 15 them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.

Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then 20 shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.

where their voice: in the revised versions "where the meaning clearer.

From the Bible

is omitted, making

25

5

10

15

20

GOD'S PRESENCE IN NATURE

THOMAS MOORE

THOMAS MOORE (1779-1852) was an Irish poet noted for the melody of his lyrics. His most famous poem is "Lalla Rookh."

Thou art, O God! the life and light
Of all this wondrous world we see :
Its glow by day, its smile by night,
Are but reflections caught from thee.
Where'er we turn, thy glories shine;
And all things fair and bright are thine.

When day with farewell beam delays

Among the opening clouds of even,
And we can almost think we gaze

Through golden vistas into heaven,
Those hues that make the sun's decline
So soft, so radiant, Lord, are thine.

When night, with wings of starry gloom,
O'ershadows all the earth and skies,
Like some dark, beauteous bird, whose plume
Is sparkling with unnumbered eyes,
That sacred gloom, those fires divine,
So grand, so countless, Lord, are thine.

even: evening.

RUNNING THE GAUNTLET

JAMES FENIMORE COOPER

JAMES FENIMOre Cooper (1789-1851) was the first American author to write stories of adventure. His thirty-two novels are of uneven merit. Of the eight which are considered his best, six are tales of pioneer and Indian life; The Pilot and The Red Rover are stories of the sea.

NOTE. Duncan Heyward, a young officer in the colonial army during 5 the French and Indian War, is in disguise in a camp of hostile Indians. Suddenly a fearful uproar is heard, and men, women, and children rush out of their lodges to greet a band of returning warriors.

There yet lingered sufficient light in the heavens to exhibit those bright openings among the tree tops, where 10 different paths left the clearing to enter the depths of the wilderness. Beneath one of them a line of warriors issued from the woods and advanced slowly toward the dwellings.

When at the distance of a few hundred feet from the lodges the newly arrived warriors halted. Their plaintive 15 and terrific cry, which was intended to represent equally the wailings of the dead and the triumph of the victors, had entirely ceased. One of their number now called aloud in words that were far from appalling, though not more intelligible to those for whose ears they were intended 20 than their expressive yells. It would be difficult to convey a suitable idea of the savage ecstasy with which the news thus imparted was received. The whole encampment in a moment became a scene of the most violent bustle and