ying at the side of a stream, who became his model. He painted
him kneeling, with his hands clasped in prayer. The picture was prized
as a very beautiful one. Years passed away, and the artist became an old
man. He had often thought of painting a counterpart, the picture of
guilt, as a companion to the other; and at last he executed it. He went
to a neighboring prison, and there selected the most degraded and
repulsive man he could find. His body and eye were wasted; vice was
visible in his very face. But what was the artist's surprise when, on
questioning the man as to his history, he found that it was he who, as a
lovely boy, had kneeled for him as the model of Innocence! Evil habits
had gradually changed him, not only in heart and mind, but in face and
form.

817

All habits gather by unseen degrees.
As brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas.

--_Dryden: Ovid._

818

Old habits are hard to break; new habits are hard to make.

819

Taste may change; our inclinations never change.

820

Habits are soon assumed--acquired--but when we strive to strip them
off,--if of long standing--'tis being flayed alive!

--_Cowper._

821

To stop the hand, is the way to stop the mouth.
(If a man will not work, neither shall he eat.)

--_Chinese._

822

ELOQUENCE OF THE HANDS.

The hands are, by the very instincts of humanity, raised in prayer;
clasped in affection; wrung in despair; pressed on the forehead when the
soul is "perplexed in the extreme;" drawn inward, to invite; thrust
forth objectively, to repel; the fingers point to indicate, and are
snapped in disdain; the palm is laid upon the heart, in invocation of
subdued feeling, and on the brow of the compassioned in benediction. The
expressive capacity of the hands was never more strikingly displayed
than in the orisons (prayer) of the deaf and dumb. Their teacher stood
with closed eyes, and addressing the Deity by those signs made with the
fingers which constitute a language for the speechless. Around him were
grouped more than a hundred mutes, following with reverent glances every
motion. It was a visible, but not an audible, worship.

823

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL HAND.

A dispute arose among three ladies as to which had the most beautiful
hands. One sat by a stream, and dipped her