rautF. i.iTERATUP.i:. 



'Ji^ 



Jo siifler greatly, lie coulil not enter any other institution, for lie had no 

 Certificate of honorable dismission, of course — his education was incom- 

 plete and he had no diploma. His father and friends were greatly dis- 

 pleased, his rivals took advantage of his error to injure his character, 

 and his own conscience smote him painfully. He had made every repara- 

 tion for the mischief he could, by forwarding «^150 to the treasurer of 

 the college (to rebuild the temple,) but still the di-sgrace of his expul- 

 sion was almost insupportable. He fully justified the Faculty, and did 

 not, like many a youth righteously punished, declare himself innocent 

 and try to injure the institution. Guilty young men may sometimes 

 succeed in persuading their over indulgent papas and mamas to believe 

 them innocent, but no body else does even though they swear to it ve- 

 hemently. 1 know a few such now — every body knows them to be guil- 

 ty, but their fond parents cannot think that their dear boy could ever 

 have done this naugrhtv deed. 



INFLUENCE OF POLITE LITERATURE ON THE HEART. 



It is universally admitted that polite literature improves the under- 

 standing, enlivens the imagination, and furnishes the memory with use- 

 ful knowledge. Its beneficial tendency on the mind is denied by none, 

 whilst its influence on the heart by some is regarded as less favorable, 

 and by others, as altogether injurious. Theygrant tliat it enables men to 

 think more profoundly, reason correctly and express themselves beau- 

 tifully, but they deny that it is calculated to contribute to moral culture. 



There may have been, and still are persons, who, through an ex- 

 cessive fondness for the liberal arts, and especially the beautiful imagery 

 and glowing pictures of the Greek and Latin authors, are induced, to 

 neglect devotional reading, and thus deprive the heart of its necessary 

 and daily food ; but this is the efiect of an excessive attachment to a 

 good thing, and not the proper influence of its lawful use. 



We might permit the beauties of nature, the glowing heavens, the 

 smiling flowers, the magnificent forest, the splendor of green fields and 

 the golden harvest, so to engross our attention, as absolutely to forget 

 their great and glorious Author; but would this prove that an intelligent 

 view of the beauties of nature, as they are spread around us in a thous- 

 and glowing forms, is not calculated to excite religious emotions and fo 

 direct our hearts in gratitude to the Deity > By an industrious study of 

 polite literature, we procure among other advantages, a good taste, i. e., 

 a tender, quick, and true perception of the beautiful, the correct and the 

 harmonious, on the one hand, and the defective, the weak, and incon- 



