The moss-covered bucket, which hung in the well.
2. That moss-covered vessel I hail as a treasure; For often, at noon, when returned from the field, I found it the source of an exquisite pleasure, The purest and sweetest that nature can yield.
How ardent I seized it, with hands that were glowing, And quick to the white-pebbled bottom it fell; Then soon, with the emblem of truth overflowing, And dripping with coolness, it rose from the well: The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket, The moss-covered bucket arose from the well.
3. How sweet from the green mossy brim to receive it, As poised on the curb it inclined to my lips!
Not a full blushing goblet could tempt me to leave it, Though filled with the nectar that Jupiter sips.
And now, far removed from the loved situation, The tear of regret will intrusively swell, As fancy reverts to my father"s plantation, And sighs for the bucket which hangs in the well; The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket, The moss-covered bucket, which hangs in the well.
_Samuel Woodworth_.
LESSON LI
THE VALUE OF TIME
The value of time has pa.s.sed into a proverb,--"Time is money." It is so because its employment brings money. But it is more. It is knowledge. Still more, it is virtue.
Time is more than money. It brings what money cannot purchase. It has in its lap all the learning of the past, the spoils of antiquity, the priceless treasures of knowledge. Who would barter these for gold or silver? But knowledge is a means only, and not an end. It is valuable because it promotes the welfare, the development and the progress of man. And the highest value of time is not in knowledge, but in the opportunity of doing good.
Time is opportunity. Little or much, it may be the occasion of usefulness. It is the point desired by the philosopher where to plant the lever that shall move the world. It is the napkin in which are wrapped, not only the talent of silver, but the treasures of knowledge and the fruits of virtue. Saving time, we save all these.
Employing time to the best advantage, we exercise a true thrift. To each of us the pa.s.sing day is of the same dimensions, nor can any one, by taking thought, add a moment to its hours. But, though unable to extend their duration, he may swell them with works.
It is customary to say, "Take care of the small sums, and the large will take care of themselves." With equal wisdom may it be said, "Watch the minutes, and the hours and days will be safe." The moments are precious; they are gold filings, to be carefully preserved and melted into the rich ingot.
Time is the measure of life on earth. Its enjoyment is life itself.
Its divisions, its days, its hours, its minutes, are fractions of this heavenly gift. Every moment that flies over our heads takes from the future, shortening by so much the measure of our days.
The moments lost in listlessness, or squandered in dissipation, are perhaps hours, days, weeks, months, years. The daily sacrifice of a single hour during a year comes at its end to thirty-six working days, an amount of time ample for the acquisition of important knowledge, and for the accomplishment of great good. Who of us does not each day, in many ways, sacrifice these precious moments, these golden hours?
Seek, then, always to be usefully occupied. Employ all the faculties, whether in study or in manual labor, and your days shall be filled with usefulness.
LESSON LII
THE STUDY OF CIVICS
Few people have the time to undertake a thorough study of civics, but everyone ought to find time to learn the princ.i.p.al features of the government under which he lives. We should know also of the way in which our government came into existence, and how this government is administered to-day. Such knowledge is necessary for the proper discharge of the duties of citizenship.
All kinds of political questions are discussed daily in the newspapers and voted on at times at the polls, and it is the duty of every man to try to understand them. For if these questions are not intelligently settled, they will be settled by the ignorant, and the result will be very bad.
Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. People sometimes think that, because our national government is called a republic, and we have free schools and free libraries and other such free inst.i.tutions, our liberty is forever secure. Our government is indeed a wonderful structure of political skill, and generally runs so very smoothly that we almost think it will run of itself. Beware!
In order that the government of the nation, of the state, of the city or the town shall be properly administered, it is necessary that every citizen be watchful to secure the best officers for its government.
USEFUL INFORMATION
The great obelisk in Central Park, New York, is one of the most noted monoliths in the world. It was quarried, carved and erected about the time of Abraham, to commemorate the deeds of an ancient Pharaoh. Five hundred years later the conquering Sesostris, the bad Pharaoh of the Bible, carved on its surface the record of his famous reign.
Now Sesostris, or Rameses II, reigned one thousand years before the Trojan war, so that all the symbols now seen on the obelisk were already very old in the days of Priam, Hector and Ulysses. The Roman poet Horace says that there were many brave men before Agamemnon, but there was no Homer to put their valiant deeds in verse. Sesostris was an exception. He escaped oblivion without the aid of Homer, and the figures upon the hard granite of Cleopatra"s Needle tell us even now, after more than thirty-five centuries, of the reign of that remarkable king.
LESSON LIII
THE SEA AND ITS USES
It is a common thing in speaking of the sea to call it "a waste of waters." But this is a mistake. Instead of being a waste and a desert, it keeps the earth itself from becoming a waste and a desert.
It is the world"s fountain of life and health and beauty, and if it were taken away, the gra.s.s would perish from the mountains, the forests would crumble on the hills. Water is as indispensable to all life, vegetable or animal, as the air itself. This element of water is supplied entirely by the sea. The sea is the great inexhaustible fountain which is continually pouring up into the sky precisely as many streams, and as large, as all the rivers of the world are pouring into the sea.
The sea is the real birthplace of the clouds and the rivers, and out of it come all the rains and dews of heaven. Instead of being a waste and an inc.u.mbrance, therefore, it is a vast fountain of fruitfulness, and the nurse and mother of all the living. Out of its mighty breast come the resources that feed and support the population of the world. We are surrounded by the presence and bounty of the sea.
It is the sea that feeds us. It is the sea that clothes us. It cools us with the summer cloud, and warms us with the blazing fires of winter. We make wealth for ourselves and for our children out of its rolling waters, though we may live a thousand leagues away from its sh.o.r.e. Thus the sea, though it bears no harvest on its bosom, yet sustains all the harvest of the world. If like a desert itself, it makes all the other wildernesses of the earth to bud and blossom as the rose. Though its own waters are as salt and wormwood, it makes the clouds of heaven drop with sweetness.
The sea is a perpetual source of health to the world. Without it there could be no drainage for the lands. It is the scavenger of the world.
The sea is also set to purify the atmosphere. Thus the sea, instead of being a waste of waters, is the very fountain of life, health and beauty.
LESSON LIV
WONDERLAND
Many of you have read of the remarkable geysers of Iceland and the more remarkable ones in New Zealand, of grand canons in Arizona, of deep mountain gorges in Colorado, of stupendous falls in Africa, of lofty mountains covered with snow in Europe, of elevated lakes in South America, of natural bridges in Virginia; but who has ever conceived of having all these wonders in one spot of the earth, and forever free as a great National Park, visited each summer by thousands of native and foreign travelers?
Travelers report that this corner of the earth seems to be not quite finished by the great Creator. Through all this region volcanic action has been exceedingly vigorous. The effect of fire upon the rocks is plainly visible and widely spread. Whole mountains of volcanic rock exist. Floods of lava everywhere abound. The last feeble evidence of this gigantic force is to be seen in the hot springs on Gardiner River and on many other streams, and in the strange action of the geyser basins.
There are sixteen important geysers in this section, and innumerable inferior ones. One geyser is called the "Giantess." It throws a great ma.s.s of water to a small height, surging and splashing in all directions. One of the most noted geysers is called the "Castle Geyser," because of its size and general appearance. The opening of the geyser tube is circular, and about three feet in diameter.
When this geyser is about to spout, a rumbling is heard as of thousands of tons of stones rolling round and round. Louder and louder grows the noise and disturbance, till it has thrown out a few tons of water and obtained apparent relief.
These are warnings to the observers to retreat to a safe distance. In a few moments the geyser increases in noise, the earth even trembles, and then a great column of water is hurled into the air.
Another geyser is "Old Faithful," so called because he plays regularly every sixty-five minutes. The crater is quite low, and contains an opening which is only the widening of a crack extending across the whole mound. On the summit are a number of beautiful little pools, several feet deep, filled with water so clear that a name written in pencil on a piece of stone and placed at the bottom of the deepest pool is seen as clearly as if held in the hand. Another remarkable fact is, that the water does not efface the name, even after months of submersion.
Old Faithful begins with a few feeble jets. Soon every spasm becomes more powerful, till with a mighty roar, up comes the water in a great column. This rises to the height of one hundred and thirty feet for the s.p.a.ce of about five minutes. After the column of water sinks down there is a discharge of steam.
The "Beehive Geyser" is named after the shape of its cone. The water and steam issue from the opening in a steady stream, instead of in successive impulses, as in the two mentioned above. No water falls back from this geyser, but the whole ma.s.s appears to be driven up into fine spray or steam, which is carried away as cloud, or diffused into the atmosphere.
The names of some of the other well-known geysers are the "Giant,"