For she has treasures greater far
Than east or west unfold:
And her reward is more secure
Than is the gain of gold.

She guides the young with innocence
In pleasant paths to tread ;
A crown of glory she bestows
Upon the hoary head.

According as her labours rise,
So her rewards increase;
Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
And all her paths are peace.

THE BEGINNING OF EVIL.

By envious Cain we're taught
How murder may begin,

And how one angry, jealous thought,

May lead to greater sin.

Our evil actions spring

From small and hidden seeds:

At first, we think some wicked thing,
Then practise wicked deeds.

Cain once, perhaps, might start
At what he soon might be ;
But they who trust an evil heart,
May prove as vile as he,

With many a fair pretence
It tempts us further on ;

And hides the dreadful consequence
Till life and bope are gone.

Oh! for a holy fear

Of ev'ry evil way,

That we may never venture near
The path that leads astray.

Wherever it begins,

It ends in death and wo;
And he who suffers little sins,
A sinner's doom shall know.

THE PRECIOUS GIFT OF HEALTH.

How gracious is my God!

If he denies me wealth,

He gives me still a greater gift—
The precious gift of health.

My health I would devote

To spread his praise abroad,
And would my infant pow'rs employ
To serve and please my God.

How many children are

On beds of grief and pain!

They hope and wait for health and ease,
But hope and wait in vain.

Oh! may I ne'er forget

My God so good and kind;
But serve him with my ev'ry pow'r
Of body and of mind.

THE CHILD'S COMPLAINT.

WHY should I love my sport so well,
So constant at my play,

And lose the thoughts of heav'n and hell,
And then forget to pray?

What do I read my Bible for,
But, Lord, to learn thy will?
And shall I daily know thee more,
And less obey thee still?

How senseless is my heart, and wild!

How vain are all my thoughts!

Pity the weakness of a child,

And pardon all my faults.

Make me thy heav'nly voice to hear,
And let me love to pray;
Since God will lend a gracious ear
To what a child can say.

BLESSINGS OF PIETY.

How blest is he who ne'er consents

By ill advice to walk,

Nor stands in sinners' ways, nor sits

Where men profanely talk ;

But makes the perfect law of God
His practice and delight;
Devoutly reads therein by day,
And meditates by night.

Like some fair tree, which fed by streams,
With timely fruit doth bend,

He still shall flourish, and success
His just designs attend.

Ungodly men and their attempts
No lasting rest shall find;
Untimely blasted, and dispers'd
Like chaff before the wind.

For God approves the just man's waysTo happiness they tend ;

But all the paths which sinners tread,

In shame and ruin end.

FILIAL GRATITUDE.

RECEIVE my body, humble bed,
Soft pillow, O receive my head!
I thank my parents kind,

Who comforts such as these provide :
Their precepts still shall be my guide,

Their love I'll keep in mind,

My hours mispent this day I rue,
My good things done, how very few!
Forgive my faults, O Lord?
This night, if in thy grace I rest,
To-morrow I shall rise refresh'd,
To keep thy holy word.

DUTIFUL JEM.

THERE was a poor widow, she liv'd in a cot,
And scarcely a blanket to warm her she'd got,
Her windows were broken her walls were all bare
And the cold winter wind often whistled in there.

Poor Susan was old, and too feeble to spin,

Her forehead was wrinkled, her hands they were thin,
And she must have starv'd, as so many have done,
If she had not been bless'd with a good little son.

But he lov'd her well—like a dutiful lad,
He thought her the very best friend that he had,
And now to neglect or forsake her he knew
Was the most wicked thing he could possibly do.

For he was quite healthy, and active, and stout,
While his poor mother hardly could hobble about,
And he thought it his duty and greatest delight,
To work for her living, from morning to night.

So he went ev'ry morning, as gay as a lark,

And work'd all day long in the fields till 'twas dark;