Become our elements, these piercing fires
As soft as now severe, our temper changed
Into their temper, which must needs remove
The sensible of pain."

So does man pass on his way, from youth to manhood, from manhood till the
shadow of death falls upon him; and while his moral and physical structure
adapts itself to the incessant vicissitudes of his being, he imagines
himself the same. The same in sunshine and in tempest--in the temperate
and the torrid zone--in sickness and in health--in joy and sorrow--at
school and in the camp or senate--still, still he is the same. His
passions change, his pleasures alter; what once filled him with rapture,
is now indifferent, it may be loathsome. The friends of his youth are his
friends no longer--other faces are around him--other voices echo in his
ears. Still he is the same--the same, when chilling experience has taught
him its bitter lesson, and when life in all its glowing freshness first
dawned upon his view. The same, when "vanity of vanities" is graven upon
his heart--as when his youthful fancy revelled in scenes of love, of
friendship, and of renown. The same, when cold, cautious, interested,
suspicious, guilty--as when daring, reckless, frank, confiding, innocent.
Still the dream continues, still the vision lasts, until some warning yet
unknown--the tortures of disease, or the loss of the very object round
which his heartstrings were entwined, anguish within, and desolation
without--stir him into consciousness, and remind him of that fast
approaching change which no illusion can conceal. Such is the pliability
of our nature, so varied are the modes of our being; and thus, through the
benevolence of Him who made us, the cause which renders our keenest
pleasures transient, makes pain less acute, and death less terrible.

It follows from this, that in youth positive attainment is a matter of
little moment, compared with the habits which our instructors encourage us
to acquire. The fatal error which is casting a blight over our plans of
education, is to look merely to the immediate result, totally disregarding
the motive which has led to it, and the qualities of which it is the
indication; yet, would those to whom the delicate and most responsible
task of education is confided, but consider that habits of mind are formed
by inward principle, and not external action, they would adopt a more
rational system than that to which mediocrity owes its present triumph
over