e expectations of your friends and your
country? Amusements youth requires: it were vain, it were cruel, to
prohibit them. But, though allowable as the relaxation, they are most
culpable as the business, of the young, for they then become the gulf of
time and the poison of the mind; they weaken the manly powers; they sink
the native vigour of youth into contemptible effeminacy.

BLAIR.

* * * * *

THE RIVER JORDAN.

[Illustration]

The river Jordan rises in the mountains of Lebanon, and falls into the
little Lake Merom, on the banks of which Joshua describes the hostile
Kings as pitching to fight against Israel. After passing through this
lake, it runs down a rocky valley with great noise and rapidity to the
Lake of Tiberias. In this part of its course the stream is almost
hidden by shady trees, which grow on each side. As the river approaches
the Lake of Tiberias it widens, and passes through it with a current
that may be clearly seen during a great part of its course. It then
reaches a valley, which is the lowest ground in the whole of Syria, many
hundred feet below the level of the Mediterranean Sea. It is so well
sheltered by the high land on both sides, that the heat thus produced
and the moisture of the river make the spot very rich and fertile. This
lovely plain is five or six miles across in parts, but widens as it
nears the Dead Sea, whose waters cover the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah,
destroyed for the wickedness of their inhabitants.

* * * * *

ON JORDAN'S BANKS.

On Jordan's banks the Arab camels stray,
On Sion's hill the False One's votaries pray--
The Baal-adorer bows on Sinai's steep;
Yet there--even there--O God! thy thunders sleep:

There, where thy finger scorch'd the tablet stone;
There, where thy shadow to thy people shone--
Thy glory shrouded in its garb of fire
(Thyself none living see and not expire).

Oh! in the lightning let thy glance appear--
Sweep from his shiver'd hand the oppressor's spear!
How long by tyrants shall thy land be trod?
How long thy temple worshipless, O God!

BYRON.

* * * * *

FORTITUDE.

Without some degree of fortitude there can be no happiness, because,
amidst the thousand uncertainties of life, there can be no enjoyment of
tranquillity. The man of feeble and timorous spirit lives und