Lessons for the Heart, by the authors of " The
Odd Volume," is a pleasant and interesting selection of striking anecdotes, traits of heroism, and short true stories of virtuous action or patient endurance, occasionally intermingled with pieces of a humorous kind. They are set in the usual framework; an old gentleman telling the tales as a recreation after school-hours, the juvenile auditors making their comments upon them, and the discussions which arise, serving to settle the merit of the actors, or to point the moral of the lesson. The object of the compilers is to improve young persons, by exciting the attention or touching the feelings; and the little book seems well adapted to accomplish its purpose. One feature of the volume deserves mention—the instances are sometimes selected from contemporary occurrences, and a man is pronounced heroic before his end. Such is the interesting tale of " A Hero in humble Life :" it narrates the exploit of JAMES MAXWELL, who saved the lives of all on board a steamer on fire, and irretrievably ruined his constitution by the achieve- ment; and who appears to have been left, with but scanty aid from public indifference, to struggle as he best might with a large family and ill-health.
Previous page
