English pressed forward. A cry went forth among the Norman troops that the Duke William was killed. Duke William took off his helmet in order that his face might be distinctly seen, and rode along the line before his men. This gave them courage.

4. As they turned again to face the English, some of their Norman horses divided the pursuing body of the English from the rest, and thus all that foremost portion of the English army fell, fighting bravely. The main body still remaining firm, heedless of the Norman arrows, and with their battle-axes cutting down the crowds of horsemen when they rode up like forests of young trees, Duke William pretended to retreat. The eager English followed. The Norman army closed again, and fell upon them with great slaughter.

5. "Still," said Duke William, "there are thousands of the English firm as rocks around their king. Shoot upward, Norman archers, that your arrows may fall upon their faces!" The sun rose high and sank, and the battle still raged. Through all the wild October day the clash and din resounded in the air. In the red sunset, in the white moonlight, heaps upon heaps of dead men lay strewn, a dreadful spectacle, all over the ground.

6. King Harold, wounded with an arrow in the eye, was nearly blind. His brothers were already killed. Twenty Norman knights, whose battered armor had flashed fiery and golden in the sunshine

all day long, and now looked silvery in the moonlight, dashed forward to seize the royal banner from the English knights and soldiers, still faithfully collected round their blinded king. The king received a mortal wound and dropped. The English broke and fled as the Normans rallied, and the day was lost.

7. Oh, what a sight, beneath the moon and stars, when lights were shining in the tents of the victorious Duke William-which was pitched near the spot where Harold fell—and he and his knights were carousing within! and soldiers with torches going slowly to and fro without sought for the corpse of Harold among the piles of dead; and the warrior worked in golden thread and precious stones lay low, all torn and soiled with blood; and the three Norman Lions kept watch over the field. Charles Dickens.

A LEAP FOR LIFE.

I. OLD Ironsides at anchor lay
In the harbor of Mahon;

A dead calm rested on the bay,
The waves to rest had gone;
When little Hal, the captain's son,
A lad both brave and good,
In sport up shroud and rigging ran,
And on the main truck stood!

2. A shudder shot through every vein,
All eyes were turned on high:
There stood the boy, with dizzy brain,
Between the sea and sky;

No hold had he, above, below,
Alone he stood in air;

To that far height none dared to go,
No aid could reach him there.

3. We gazed, but not a man could speak,
With horror all aghast ;

In groups, with pallid brow and cheek,
We watched the quivering mast;
The atmosphere grew thick and hot,
And of a lurid hue;

As riveted unto the spot,

Stood officers and crew.

4. The father came on deck; he gasp'd,
"O God, Thy will be done!"
Then suddenly a rifle grasp'd
And aim'd it at his son.

"Jump far out, boy, into the wave,
Jump, or I fire," he said,

"That only chance your life can save;
Jump, jump!" The boy obey'd.

5. He sunk-he rose-he lived-he movedAnd for the ship struck out:

On board we hail'd the lad beloved
With many a manly shout.

His father drew, in silent joy,
Those wet arms round his neck,
And folded to his heart his boy,

Then fainted on the deck.

Walter Colton.

WAR AND PEACE.

I. A PEACEFUL intercourse with the nations of the earth points to that inspiring day which philosophers have hoped for, which poets have seen in their bright dreams of fancy, and which prophecy has seen in holy vision-when men shall learn war no more. Who can contemplate a state of the world like this and not feel his heart exult at the prospect? And who can doubt that, in the hand of an omnipotent Providence, a free and unrestricted commerce shall prove one of the greatest agents in bringing it about?

2. I am against war, because peace--peace is preeminently our policy. Our great mission as a people is to occupy this vast dominion-there to level forests, and let in upon their solitude the light of day; to clear the swamps and morasses, and redeem them to the plow and the sickle; to spread over hill and dale the echoes of human labor, and human happiness and contentment; to fill the land with cities and towns; to unite its opposite extremities by turnpikes and railroads;

to scoop out canals for the transmission of its products, and open rivers for its internal trade.

3. If we can preserve peace, who shall set bounds to our prosperity or to our success? With one foot planted on the Atlantic and the other on the Pacific, we shall occupy a position between the two old continents of the world-a position eminently calculated to secure to us the commerce and the influence of both. If we abide by the counsels of common sense, if we succeed in preserving our constitutional liberty, we shall then exhibit a spectacle such as the world never saw.

4. I know that this one great mission is encompassed with difficulties; but such is the inherent energy of our political system, and such its expansive capability, that it may be made to govern the widest space. If by war we become great, we cannot be free; if we will be both great and free,

our policy is peace.

J. C. Calhou

THE MOCKING-BIRD'S SONG.

I. EARLY on a pleasant day,

In the poet's month of May,
Field and forest looked so fair,

So refreshing was the air,
That in spite of morning dew,

Forth I walked where tangling grew