KATE LAWRENCE.

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VILLAGE SOUNDS.

Sweet was the sound, when oft at evening’s close, Up yonder hill the village murmur rose; There as I passed with careless steps and slow, The mingling notes came softening from below; The swain responsive to the milkmaid sung:  The sober herd that lowed to meet their young; The noisy geese that gabbled o’er the pool: The playful children just let loose from school; The watch-dog’s voice that bayed the whispering wind, And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind,—­ These all in sweet confusion sought the shade, And filled each pause the nightingale had made.

GOLDSMITH.

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BUDDHISM.

The Buddhist duty of universal love enfolds in its embraces not only the brethren and sisters of the new faith, not only our neighbors, but every thing that has life.

T. W. RHYS DAVIDS.

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As a mother, even at the risk of her own life, protects her son, her only son, so let a man cultivate good-will without measure toward all beings.  Let him cultivate good-will without measure, unhindered love and friendliness toward the whole world, above, below, around.  Standing, walking, sitting, or lying, let him be firm in this mind so long as he is awake; this state of heart, they say, is the best in the world.

Metta Sutta.

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He who lives pure in thought, free from malice, contented, leading a holy life, feeling tenderly for all creatures, speaking wisely and kindly, humbly and sincerely, has the Deity ever in his breast.  The Eternal makes not his abode within the breast of that man who covets another’s wealth, who injures living creatures, who is proud of his iniquity, whose mind is evil.

Dhammapada.

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FROM THE ASOKA INSCRIPTIONS.

The discontinuance of the murder of human beings and of cruelty to animals, respect for parents, obedience to father and mother, obedience to holy elders, these are good deeds.—­No.  IV.

And now the joyful chorus resounds again and again that henceforward not a single animal shall be put to death.—­No.  V.

In a summary of the inscriptions by Arthur Lillie, in “Buddhism and Early Buddhism,” he says, they require also, for the benefit of both beast and men, “that gardens be cultivated everywhere of healing shrubs and herbs.”

[The inscriptions were written on “rocks, temples, and monuments” in India for the instruction of the people, by order of the Emperor Asoka, who lived about 250 years before Christ.]

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OLD HINDOO.

God is within this universe, and yet outside this universe; whoever beholds all living creatures as in Him, and Him the universal Spirit, as in all, henceforth regards no creature with contempt.