YOUNG GENTLEMEN'S DEPARTMENT. DONT BE DISCOURAGED. Don't be Discouraged, if in the outset of life things do not go on smoothly. It seldom happens that the hopes we cherish of the future are realized. The path of life, in the prospect, appears smooth and level enough, but when we come to travel it, we find it all up hill, and generally rough enough. The journey is a laborious one, and whether poor or wealthy, high or low, we shall find it so, to our disappointment if we have built on any other calculation. To endure what is to be endured with as much cheerfulness as possible-and to elbow our way as easily as we can through the great crowd, hoping for little yet striving for much, is perhaps the true plan. But Don't be discouraged, if occasionally you slip down by the way, and your neighbors tread over you a little; in other words, don't let a failure or two dishearten you-accidents happen: miscalculations will sometimes be made; things will turn out differently from our expectations, and we may be sufferers. It is worth while to remember that fortune is like the skies in April, sometimes cloudy and sometimes clear and favorable; and as it would be folly to despair of again seeing the sun, because to-day is stormy, so it is unwise to sink into despondency, when fortune frowns, since, in the common course of things, she may be surely expected to smile again. And again, Don't be discouraged, if you are deceived in the people of the world, they are very rotten at the core. From sources such as these you may be most unexpectedly deceived; and you will naturally feel sore under such deceptions; but to these you must become used; if you fare as most people do, they will lose their novelty before you grow gray, and you will learn to trust men cautiously, and examine their characters closely, before you them great opportunities to injure you. allow Don't be discouraged, under any circumstances.-Go steadily forward. Rather consult your own conscience, than the opinions of men, though the last is not to be disregarded. Be industrious; be frugal; be honest. deal in perfect kindness with all who come in your way exercising a neighborly and obliging spirit in your whole intercourse; and if you do not prosper as rapidly as any of your neighbors, depend upon it you will be as happy. PUBLIC SPEAKING. Oratory furnishes the best means of arriving at civil and political distinction. A man, however great his genius, and however useful and thorough his knowledge may be, will never attract attention without this art. It is, indeed, not necessary that a man should be born an orator. Nature can certainly do much to facilitate the practice of the art; but there has never yet been an eminent speaker without severe study and constant application. The greatest orator that ever harangued freemen acquired this art only by the most unwearied and long-continued efforts. The intelligent study of Demosthenes, as in every respect the best pattern, has always led to great results. His example teaches to speak with propriety and elegance, and his speeches exhibit all the requisites of truly popular eloquence. Concise with the greatest perspicuity, perspicuous with the greatest accuracy, accurate with the greatest purity of language, he instantly arrests the attention, persuades by the invisible power of argument, assisted by all the graces of manner, and thundered out with flashes of genius. It is for this reason that distinguished statesmen of every age and country have studied his works and honored his memory. The national glory of Great Britain rests, in no small degree, on the refined taste and classical education of her politicians; and the portion of her oratory acknowledged to be the most energetic, bears the greatest resemblance to the spirit of Demosthenes. Among the continental neighbors of England, especially among the Germans, there are fervent admirers of Demosthenes who read and illustrate his orations with enthusiasm. They feel the rush of his noble spirit in their closets and lecture-rooms, and pour it forth upon their youthful hearers, in whose minds it excites congenial feelings; but it soon evaporates for want of nutriment from practical life. In a country where this vivifying principle pervades the whole nation, and forms its very soul, the impulse imparted by the judicious study of such an orator would not be lost; it would call forth genius, and guide it to excellence-an effect which all the books ever written upon oratory and delivery are incapable of producing. Time and circumstances, which exert a most powerful influence over every country, would raise this practice beyond mere imitation, and stamp an original character upon the eloquence grounded on this basis. All true greatness has always been the same in every civilized nation, and what is deemed great by all civilized nations is a safe criterion of genuine greatness. Written for the Monthly Repository and Library of Entertaining Knowledge. RECREATION. Recreation seems necessary for young people in order to repair the wasted spirits after they have been exhausted by severe study or intense application to business. And although the studies and employments of females are not so severe as those of men, yet as their natures are more delicate they also stand in need of some kind of relaxation or amusement. But they should be very careful in the choice of their recreations, that they do not adopt such as dissipate the mind, corrupt the principles or injure the health. When the weather is pleasant, riding or walking in the open air, with a suitable companion is very agreeable. In winter, to spend an occasional hour in conversation on suitable subjects with a choice selection of friends is very instructive to the mind and refreshing to the spirits. A mixed company of virtuous persons, where the seriousness of age balances the vivacity of youth, and the presence of gentlemen checks the too great liveliness of the ladies, and the cheerfulness of the fair awakens the most pleasing sensations in the hearts of the other sex is to be preferred. Gentlemen of refinement will never give pain to the finer sensibilities of the ladies; and ladies, whose manners have been cultivated, will always make themselves agreeable to those with whom they associate. The instructions of wisdom will always check the thoughtless ness of folly, and the sallies of wit will not fail to season the most sober debate. The inquisitiveness of youth will draw largely upon the stores of age, and the counsels of maturity, if regarded, will secure the safety and welfare of youth. When these enjoyments cannot easily be obtained, music vocal or instrumental, in concert or alone, is a very pleasing substitute, but dancing, card-playing, and theatrical amusements are so injurious to the health and the temper, and the principles of morality, that no christian can with safety indulge in them. The great object therefore in amusement or recreation ought ever to be the improvement of the health, the mind and the heart; and whatever injures either the one or the other ought to be laid aside by persons whose bodies are the temples of the Lord, and whose souls are capable of infinite and eternal happiness or wo. G. THE ALPINE HORN. The Alpine Horn is an instrument constructed with the bark of the cherry tree, like a speaking trumpet, and is used to convey sounds to a great distance. When the last rays of the sun gild the summit of the Alps, the shepherd who dwells highest on those mountains, takes his horn and calls aloud, "Praised be the Lord!" As soon as he is heard, the neighboring shepherds leave their huts and repeat those words. The sounds last many minutes, for every echo of the mountains and grotto of the rocks repeat the name of God. How solemn the scene! Imagination cannot picture to itself any thing more sublime; the profound silence that succeeds, the sight of those stupendous mountains, upon which the vault of heaven seems to rest, every thing excites the mind to enthusiasm-In the mean while the shepherds bend their knees, and pray in the open air, and soon after retire to their huts to enjoy the repose of innocence. VOL II Day fades apace; its broad red glow On every snow-wreathed mountain-peak = Dark are the clouds that late were roll'd And all the hills their cold gray hue: And throws his last and brightest ray hush! 'tis a sweet and solemn sound And grateful hearts are framed to prayer, And distant cities catch the sound, "Praised be the Lord fear not to sleep,-- A VILLAGE FUNERAL. There are perhaps few circumstances more striking to the observant and thoughtful mind, than a village funeral. The feelings are wrought up to a survey of our own mortality-the feeble tenure by which existence is held, and the certainty of death. The bell, as it pours the knell of the departed upon the listening ear, speaks with its iron voice agamst the folly of resting our whole hopes upon this frail and transitory existence-like vain bubbles upon the troubled ocean, born from the commotions of the deep, and doomed to vanish into air at the rush of every curling billow, and the booming of every surge. It has a monitory lesson to impart, which should serve to withhold the maddening plans of ambition, and the dreams of youth-to allay the thirst for glory, and sadden the smile on the cheek of Youth. These are a few of the effects which should impress the spirit when we return from that spot where a fellow being has sought his final resting place in the earth, and gone to sleep upon its bosom, never to awaken until the trump of God shall tremble upon the ear of a staled universe. The thought |