e summer's fragrance lingers on the wind,
And green fields wait for me.

CXV. FATE.

Francis Bret Harte (b. 1839,--) was born in Albany, N.Y. When seventeen
years old he went to California, where he engaged in various employments.
He was a teacher, was employed in government offices, worked in the gold
mines, and learned to be a compositor in a printing office. In 1868 he
started the "Overland Monthly," and his original and characteristic poems
and sketches soon made it a popular magazine. Mr. Harte has been a
contributor to some of the leading periodicals of the country, but
principally to the "Atlantic Monthly."

1. "The sky is clouded, the rocks are bare;
The spray of the tempest is white in air;
The winds are out with the waves at play,
And I shall not tempt the sea to-day.

2. "The trail is narrow, the wood is dim,
The panther clings to the arching limb;
And the lion's whelps are abroad at play,
And I shall not join in the chase to-day."

3. But the ship sailed safely over the sea,
And the hunters came from the chase in glee;
And the town that was builded upon a rock
Was swallowed up in the earthquake shock.

CXVI. THE BIBLE THE BEST OF CLASSICS.

Thomas S. Grimke (b. 1786, d. 1834). This eminent lawyer and
scholar was born in Charleston, S.C. He graduated at Yale College
in 1807. He gained considerable reputation as a politician, but is
best known as an advocate of peace, Sunday schools, and the
Bible. He was a man of deep feeling, earnest purpose, and pure
life.

1. There is a classic the best the world has ever seen, the noblest that
has ever honored and dignified the language of mortals. If we look into
its antiquity, we discover a title to our veneration unrivaled in the
history of literature. If we have respect to its evidences, they are found
in the testimony of miracle and prophecy; in the ministry of man, of
nature, and of angels, yea, even of "God, manifest in the flesh," of "God
blessed forever."

2. If we consider its authenticity, no other pages have survived the lapse
of time that can be compared with it. If we examine its authority, for it
speaks as never man spake, we discover that it came from heaven in vision
and prophecy under the sanction of Him who is Creator of all things, and
the Giver of every good and perfect gift.

3. If we reflect on its truths, they are lovely and spotless, sublime and
holy as God himself, unchangeable as his nature