14.  “But temptation succeeds temptation, and one compliance prepares us for another; we, in time, lose the happiness of innocence, and solace our disquiet with sensual gratifications.  By degrees we let fall the remembrance of our original intention, and quit the only adequate object of rational desire.  We entangle ourselves in business, immerge ourselves in luxury, and rove through the labyrinths of inconstancy till the darkness of old age begins to invade us, and disease and anxiety obstruct our way.  We then look back upon our lives with horror, with sorrow, and with repentance; and wish, but too often vainly wish, that we had not forsaken the paths of virtue.

15.  “Happy are they, my son, who shall learn, from thy example, not to despair, but shall remember that though the day is past, and their strength is wasted, there yet remains one effort to be made; that reformation is never hopeless, nor sincere endeavors ever unassisted; that the wanderer may at length return after all his errors; and that he who implores strength and courage from above, shall find danger and difficulty give way before him.  Go now, my son, to thy repose:  commit thyself to the care of Omnipotence; and when the morning calls again to toil, begin anew thy journey and thy life.”

Definitions.—­1.  Car-a-van sa-ry, a kind of inn in the East, where caravans (or large companies of traders) rest at night. 5.  Me-an’ders, windings, turnings. 6.  Cir-cum-vo-lu’tions, windings or flowings around. 7.  De-vi-a’tions, wanderins from one’s course. 9.  Ex-pi-ra’tion, death. 11.  Pal-li-a’tion, concealment of the most blamable circumstances of an offence. 12.  Mit-i-ga’tion, abatement, the act of rendering less severe. 14.  Ad’e-quate, fully sufficient.  Lab’y-rinth, a place full of winding passages.

CXIV.  A SUMMER LONGING.

George Arnold (b. 1834, d. 1865) was born in New York, but removed with his parents to Illinois while yet an infant.  There he passed his boyhood, being educated at home by his parents.  In 1849 the family again removed to Strawberry Farms, Monmouth County, N.J.  When eighteen years old he began to study painting, but soon gave up the art and devoted himself to literature.  He became a journalist of New York City, and his productions include almost every variety of writings found in the literary magazines.  After his death, two volumes of his poems, “Drift:  a Seashore Idyl,” and “Poems, Grave and Gay,” were edited by Mr. William Winter.

1.  I must away to the wooded hills and vales,
     Where broad, slow streams flow cool and silently
   And idle barges flap their listless sails. 
   For me the summer sunset glows and pales,
     And green fields wait for me.

2.  I long for shadowy founts, where the birds
     Twitter and chirp at noon from every tree;
   I long for blossomed leaves and lowing herds;
   And Nature’s voices say in mystic words,
     “The green fields wait for thee.”