Page 168 - Third Book of Reading Lessons

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READING LESSONS. 167
8. "But if the ithless thirst of change,
Or slow consuming sloth should move thee, Then dread those countless es that range,
Terri c in the air above thee.
ey cannot pierce this radiant sphere,
While ith l hands that ame shall cherish, But w o .thee, iflumb'ring here,
Thou leave its saving light to perish."
9. Upwa' rd I look'd, with shuddering awe, And in the growing gloom that bound us,
Full many a dismal shape I saw,
Slow winging in the air around us :
Grim-visaged death, and erce despair, Hard unbelief, with aspect sneering;
And ruin, with a righted stare, Disastrous through the mist appearing.
10. Heart-stricken at the djre l sight, Awhile I stood appall'd in spirit,
But cheer'd by that celestial light,
I took my lonely station near it:
Dissolving on the agrant air,
No more I saw that rm be 1e me, But by the sweetness breathing there,
I lt her in uence still was o'er me.
11. Awhile I kept, with watch l heed, My task of duty and of pleasure;
Exact, at noon and eve, to e' d
That holy ame, with ample measure;
Those smiling walks, and various owers, Each day I hail'd with bosom nder,
Nor e'er beyond those happy bowers, Indulged the idle thought to wander.
G. GRIFFIN.