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excuse. Let us now glance at a second common form of apology for wrong-doing.

Few teachers but have heard, when complaint has been made of a breach of school law, words to this effect: "Well, if I have done so and so, I am not worse than others; everybody does the same." This excuse, like the one just examined, sometimes covers an untruth. For when pressed to say exactly what it means, the delinquent frequently has to confess that the "others " and "everybody" mean only one here and there. But grant the statement true. Ring it, and is the coin one whit better than the last? If all others are bad and false, is there not the greater need for one to be true and good? Suppose a ship's crew drunken and helpless, and as a consequence, the vessel and crew, save one, are lost; would the owner accept the plea of that saved onc when he urges that though all were disabled by drink, he was no worse than the rest? Certainly not. The reply is obvious: "The lost ones did wrong, and have paid the penalty; you too did wrong, and must likewise suffer in some shape." Indeed, the one sober and faithful servant might have taken the helm and saved the ship. As no one can be forced, except by an act of tyranny, to conform his moral acting to that of others, so neither can we in reason allow the practice of those about us as a valid plea for doing what reason, conscience, or law forbids.

"But these are children's excuses," you say, and add, "Let us hear what grown-up people have to say for themselves when they do wrong." Now, although we think it well, as a rule, for people to mind their own business, and hence might say that as this is a youth's book we have no need to trouble ourselves with this question at

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all: yet, as the child is father to the man," and you will, in the ordinary course of things, ere long be in the ranks of the men and women of the time, we will take just one of the excuses sometimes put forward on behalf of the wrong-doing of adults that cannot be used for children. In the main, however, let it be remembered that the excuses are common to all ages and classes, only slightly modified in their application.

Some act of folly or violence or deed of brutality has been committed. The facts are perhaps too notorious to be denied. What plea can be advanced on behalf of the offender? We too frequently hear this: "Oh, it is very sad but he would never have done it had he been sober." But does not common sense (reason) immediately suggest the question, Why was he not sober? The drinking away his reason, in the first place, was his own act, and therefore it and the crimes arising from it lie alike at his door. An illustration may perhaps make this still plainer.

A parent is travelling with his little blind daughter through a rugged and dangerous waste. Night is fast falling upon them, and their home is yet very far distant. As they are pushing forward, a friendly voice bids the man beware of ravines and precipices that lie about and before him, and even offers him a lantern by which to guide his steps. The man rejects the kind offer, and onward he goes, heedless of all danger. Nay, more: he now takes out his handkerchief and deliberately blindfolds himself; and again walks onward, with his unsuspecting child by his side. For a brief space their footsteps are heard; but ere long they cease, and a few low moans and a feeble cry to the now helpless father tell the issue. Was that man guiltless? And what of

the plea, "I could not see where I was leading the child I was blindfolded"? It vanishes before the response, "You refused the proffered light! You blindfolded yourself!"

EXERCISES.-I. Define,-Transgressors, material, confronted, experience, familiar, genuine, dismissed, involuntarily, and modified. 2. Give the first common excuse mentioned, and say how it is met. 3. Give the second apology, and show its value. 4. Narrate the last incident given in this lesson, and apply it.

VICTORIA'S TEARS.

Heir, one who comes to a title
or property by descent.
Reined, held in by reins.
Stricken, struck down.

Tyrants, those who, having the
power, override the rights of
others.

Majesty, dignity, greatness.
Decked, dressed out.
Mourners, those who sorrow.
Heralds, those who proclaim
royal orders.

Sceptre, the staff held by a king as
a mark of his authority.

"O MAIDEN! heir of kings!
A king has left his place!
The majesty of Death has swept
All other from his face !
And thou upon thy mother's breast

No longer lean adown,

But take the glory for the rest,

And rule the land that loves thee best!"
She heard and wept-

She wept to wear a crown!

They decked her courtly halls ;

They reined her hundred steeds;

They shouted at her palace gate,

"A noble Queen succeeds!"

Her name has stirred the mountain's sleep,
Her praise has filled the town,

And mourners God had stricken deep Looked hearkening up, and did not weep. Alone she wept,

Who wept to wear a crown!

She saw no purple's shine,

For tears had dimmed her eyes;
She only knew her childhood's flowers
Were happier pageantries!

And while her heralds played their part
Those million shouts to drown-
"God save the Queen!" from hill to mart-
She heard through all her beating heart,
And turned and wept,-
She wept to wear a crown!

God save thee, weeping Queen!
Thou shalt be well beloved!
The tyrant's sceptre cannot move,
As those pure tears have moved!
The nature in thine eyes we see
That tyrants cannot own-
The love that guardeth liberties !
Strange blessing on the nation lies
Whose sovereign wept-
Yea, wept to wear its crown!

God bless thee, weeping Queen,
With blessing more divine!
And fill with happier love than earth's
That tender heart of thine!

That when the thrones of earth shall be

As low as graves brought down,

A pierced hand may give to thee

The crown which angels shout to see!
Thou wilt not weep

To wear that heavenly crown!

NOTES. ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING, whose writings, under her personal name of Barrett, had made her well known before her marriage with the poet Robert Browning, was born in London about 1809. Her chief works are, "A Vision of Poets," "Lady Geraldine's Courtship," and "Aurora Leigh," and show her to possess all the essentials of the genuine poet.

It is said that when news of the death of William IV. was carried to his niece, the Princess Victoria, then in her 19th year, by which event she succeeded to the English crown, the feeling of affection and responsibility overriding all others found expression in a flood of tears. This inspired the woman poet thus to write of her soonto-be-crowned monarch. How true it is that "One touch of nature makes the whole world kin!"

EXERCISES.-I. Define,-Steeds, succeeds, pageantries, guardeth, liberties, and sovereign. 2. Paraphrase the first two stanzas. 3. Mention the fact upon which this poem is founded, and add the points of character which it displays.

HABITS.

Considered, thought about care-
fully.
Photograph, a true picture taken
by light.

Remnant, the part left.

Genial, with warm and kindly feeling.

Portrait, a picture drawn from life.

Imposition, something laid upon another to be borne or done.

Legislator, one who gives laws.

Principle, a moral ground of

action.

Career, a course passed over.
Evasion, the getting away slyly.
Delinquent, one who neglects a
duty.

Attention, the giving the mind to
any subject.

Atonement, agreement obtained through the action of another. Motive, that which prompts an action.

Acquired, gained for one's self.

of the excuses most com

Having considered some monly made for the neglect of duty or the doing of wrong, we will now give some attention to a subject of

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