Their sharpness, ere he is aware. When thoughts Of the last bitter hour come like a blight Over thy spirit, and sad images Of the stern agony, and shroud, and pall, To Nature's teachings, while from all around- In all his course; nor yet in the cold ground, Thy image. Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim To mix for ever with the elements To be a brother to the insensible rock, The oak And to the sluggish clod, which the rude swain That make the meadows green; and, poured round all, Are but the solemn decorations all Of the great tomb of man. The golden sun, Or lose thyself in the continuous woods The flight of years began, have laid them down "So shalt thou rest-and what if thou withdraw The youth in life's green spring, and he who goes To that mysterious realm, where each shall take Thou go not like the quarry-slave at night Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed NOTES. 1 Thanatopsis-"A Vision of Death." 2 Barcan Desert-The African Sahara 3 The Oregon--A river falling into the Pacific in North Western America. It was an utter solitude when the poem was written. To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, To smooth the ice, or add another hue To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish, THE HERITAGE.-JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL. MR. LOWELL was born at Boston, Massachusetts, in 1819; studied law and graduated at Harvard University. He is one of the first humorists of the day, as shown in his Biglow Papers," but he is also a thoughtful, serious poet, and his prose writings show him to be a man of wide culture and great elegance of mind. He is still alive. WHAT doth the poor man's son inherit? Stout muscles and a sinewy heart, A hardy frame, a hardier spirit; A heritage, it seems to me, What doth the poor man's son inherit? A heritage, it seems to me, A king might wish to hold in fee. What doth the poor man's son inherit? A fellow-feeling that is sure To make the outcast bless his door ;— A heritage, it seems to me, A king might wish to hold in fee. O rich man's son! there is a toil That with all other level stands; But only whiten, soft white hands ;- Worth being rich to hold in fee. O poor man's son! scorn not thy state; In merely being rich and great: Toil only gives the soul to shine, And makes rest fragrant and benign ; A heritage, it seems to me, Worth being poor to hold in fee. Both heirs to some six feet of sod, ANCIENT EGYPT. 1. THE banks of the River Nile have been the home of a civilized race from the earliest ages. Before there was such a place as Rome, and before even Greece, which was still older than that city, had begun to have a history, the cities of Egypt were filled with busy crowds; its pyramids rose in grandeur; its temples stood as they do to-day, and all the arts and industries of life had made it their home. 1 1 2. It is not certain whether the Egyptians came from Western Asia, like the European races, or down the long course of the Nile, from Ethiopia, or whether they were not the original inhabitants of the country. On the earliest paintings they appear dusky or red in complexion, with European features; on those of a later age, they have more of the negro type, as if the original race had mixed with the black population of the interior, and on those of the most flourishing period of the Egyptian empire, they have the sallow tint and the peculiar outline of face marking the races known as Semitic,2 of whom the Jews are an example. 3. Their religious notions were in many respects striking. The sun was their chief god, and was worshipped at different hours under different names. All the other gods were inferior to him, and most of them held their rank according to their place in his service. 4. The human soul was believed to have beamed forth from this supreme god-the sun-and to return to him, for judgment, in the Hall of Truth after death. If its life on earth had been good, it was carried in the ship of the sun to the abodes of bliss, but if it had lived wickedly it was sent back to the earth, to enter the body of some animal or degraded man. Some of the gods were represented with human heads, but many had the heads of birds or beasts. Thus the gods of the sun had hawks' heads, others, the head of a ram, or of a crocodile, an ibis, or a jackal. 5. But besides statues of the gods, they had sacred animals in which they supposed the spirit of the gods dwelt. Thus the bull was sacred to the sun at one place, and to the moon at another; apes were sacred to the moon; the dog, the wolf, the cat, the crocodile, to other gods. These creatures were kept in the enclosures of the temples, and terrible lamentations were made when any of them died. Every honour was paid to them during life, and they were carefully embalmed after death. |