Page 131 - Third Book of Reading Lessons

130 THIRD BOOK OF
only of his ther, but of all those by whom he was surrounded. There is none of us, perhaps, who, on looking around in the circle of his acquaintance, may not x his,thoughts upon some sweet and placid characters, to whom innocence and candour appear so natural an inheritance, that one could almost imagine they had been exempted, by some special grace, omthe_ consequencesofman'soriginaltrans­ gression. Such was the character of the young prince Usna, and the charm of ea y innocence was not lost, as it too often happens, in the progress of years and education. In him, as time rolled away, the head was not a gainer at the heart's ex.pense, nor was love overlaid by intellect. To judge om the continual serenity that shone in his features, and the a ectionate smile which never ceased to play around them, one would have supposed that he belonged to a world and a society where all was amiable, and where suspicion and unkindness were things unknown and unheard of. As to vice, his rank and the vigi­ lance of his instructors secured him om the conta­ gion of its coarser examples, and its interior senti­ ments seemed as strange to his mind, as its practice to his eyes.
2. Usna bad a young iend, the son of a neigh­ bouring chieftain, who was the constant companion of his sports and studies, and a special object of his a ection. Similarity of ages, tastes, and inclinations, had produced in them its wonted in uence, and made them, in a manner, necessary to each other. The ,I young Moirni entered, with all the pliancy of iend­ ship, into all the pursuits and pleasures of his young iend, and seemed as if none would have an interest r him in which Usna did not bear a part. Usna had not seen him now r some days, and e oyed,