Page 44 - Third Book of Reading Lessons

RE DING LESSONS. 43
3. The leaves de away, and leave the parent stem desolate: but, in a w short months, they will bud and bloom again. Other leaves, as gay as those were, will supply their place, and clothe the rest with as bright a green. And is it not so with the heard We are separated from those who are now most dear to us, or they de away into the tomb; new interests are excited, new iendships contracted, and every rmer image is e aced and rgotten.
4. My eye now rested on the venerable pile of building be re me : it seemed but as yesterday since the master of that stately mansion stood at the gate to welcome my arrival; and now, where was he?­ Gone-and r ever ! The accents of his voice were never again to be heard; my eye was to behold him no more.
5. As these thoughts passed through my mind, a slight breeze r a moment agitated the naked branches: it helped to complete the work of desola­ tion, and several of the still remaining leavs were wafted to my et. How indiscriminately were here mingled the pride of the rest, the majestic oak, the trembling aspen, the graceful poplar, with all the tribe of in rior shrubs ! Here lay all that remained of their once-gay liage-one undistinguishable mass o decay; with no mark to point out to which they had originally belonged. And shall not death, the great leveller, reduce us to the same state of equali­ ty? The great, the noble, the learned, the beauti l,
when they lay down their heads in the grave-what are they more than the mean, the lowly, and the worthless? They leave a name behind them for a short time, and then how soon are the best beloved rgotten!