y the common
dangers of a present existence, and the uncertainties of a future one;
as presenting, wherever we meet them, claims on our sympathy and
assistance.

Those who adopt the last method are interested in human beings, not so
much by _present_ attractions as by their capabilities as intelligent,
immortal beings; by a high belief of what every mind may attain in an
immortal existence; by anxieties for its temptations and dangers, and
often by the perception of errors and faults which threaten its ruin.
The first two modes are adopted by the great mass of society; the last
is the office of those few scattered stars in the sky of life, who look
down on its dark selfishness to remind us that there is a world of light
and love.

To this class did _He_ belong, whose rising and setting on earth were
for "the healing of the nations;" and to this class has belonged many a
pure and devoted spirit, like him shining to cheer, like him fading away
into the heavens. To this class many a one _wishes_ to belong, who has
an eye to distinguish the divinity of virtue, without the resolution to
attain it; who, while they sweep along with the selfish current of
society, still regret that society is not different--that they
themselves are not different. If this train of thought has no very
particular application to what follows, it was nevertheless suggested by
it, and of its relevancy others must judge.

Look into this school room. It is a warm, sleepy afternoon in July;
there is scarcely air enough to stir the leaves of the tall buttonwood
tree before the door, or to lift the loose leaves of the copy book in
the window; the sun has been diligently shining into those curtainless
west windows ever since three o'clock, upon those blotted and mangled
desks, and those decrepit and tottering benches, and that great arm
chair, the high place of authority.

You can faintly hear, about the door, the "craw, craw," of some
neighboring chickens, which have stepped around to consider the dinner
baskets, and pick up the crumbs of the noon's repast. For a marvel, the
busy school is still, because, in truth, it is too warm to stir. You
will find nothing to disturb your meditation on character, for you
cannot hear the beat of those little hearts, nor the bustle of all those
busy thoughts.

Now look around. Who of these is the most interesting? Is it that tall,
slender, hazel-eyed boy, with a glance like a falcon, whose elbows rest
on his book