Law and order are forgotten: violence and rapine are abroad: the golden
cords of society are loosed.
The temples are profaned: the soldier's curse resounds in the house of
God: the marble pavement is trampled by iron hoofs: horses neigh beside
the altar.
Blue wreaths of smoke ascend through the trees, and betray the
half-hidden cottage: the eye contemplates well-thatched ricks, and barns
bursting with plenty: the peasant laughs at the approach of winter.
[The following passages ending with a colon are to be
read with the voice suspended:]
Do not flatter yourselves with the hope of perfect happiness: there is
no such thing in the world.
A boy at school is by no means at liberty to read what books he pleases:
he must give attention to those which contain his lessons; so that, when
he is called upon to recite, he may be ready, fluent, and accurate, in
repeating the portion assigned him.
As we perceive the shadow to have moved along the dial, but did not
perceive its moving; and it appears that the grass has grown, though
nobody ever saw it grow: so the advances we make in knowledge, as they
consist of such minute steps, are perceivable only by the distance gone
over.
When the proud steed shall know why man restrains his fiery course, or
drives him o'er the plains; when the dull ox, why now he breaks the
clod, is now a victim, and now Egypt's god: then shall man's pride and
dullness comprehend his actions', passions', being's use and end.
Jehovah, God of hosts, hath sworn, saying: Surely, as I have devised, so
shall it be; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand.
George, you must not laugh at me; I will not bear it. You forget what
you are about when you ridicule me: I know more than you do about the
lessons.
I never heard a word about it before, said George, yesterday: who told
you about it, Charles?
I never heard one word of it before, said my uncle Toby, hastily: how
came he there, Trim?
Thou shalt pronounce this parable upon the King of Babylon; and shalt
say: How hath the oppressor ceased?
It is not only in the sacred fane that homage should be paid to the Most
High: there is a temple, one not made with hands; the vaulted firmament:
far in the woods, almost beyond the sound of city-chime, at intervals
heard through the breezeless air.