My native country! thee- Let music swell the breeze, Our fathers' God! to thee,- To thee we sing: Long may our land be bright Protect us by thy might, Great God, our King! LESSON XLVI. Pitcairn's Island.-ELLIS. THIS island is situated in 25° south latitude, and 130° west longitude. When the murderous quarrels between the mutineers of the Bounty and the natives of Tubuai, obliged the former, in 1789 and 1790, to leave that island, they proceeded to Tahiti. Those who wished to remain there, left the ship, and the others stood out to sea in search of some unfrequented and uninhabited spot of the ocean, that might afford them subsistence and concealment. Proceeding in an easterly direction, they reached Pitcairn's island, and could scarcely have desired a place more suited to their purpose. Here they drew the Bounty on shore, removed the pigs, goats and fowls to the land, and, having taken every thing on shore that they supposed would be useful, set fire to the vessel. The party consisted of twenty-seven persons, viz. ten Englishmen, six Tahitians, and eleven women; or, according to another account, of nine Englishmen and twelve women. In a sheltered and elevated part of the island, they erected their dwellings, deposited in the earth the seeds and young plants which they had brought from Tahiti, and commenced the cultivation of the yam, and other roots, for their subsistence. New troubles awaited them. The wife of Christian, the leader of the mutineers, died; and he is said to have seized, by force, the wife of one of the Tahitians. Revenge or jealousy prompted the Tahitian to take the life of Christian, who was shot while at work in his garden, about two years after his arrival. The English and the Tahitians seemed bent on each other's destruction. Six Englishmen were killed, and Adams, now the only survivor of the crew, was wounded. Every Tahitian man was put to death. The history of the mutineers is truly tragical. The children of these unhappy men have been trained up with the most indefatigable care, and attention to morals, by John Adams, who, with his interesting family around him, remained undiscovered and unvisited, for nearly twenty years, when captain Folger, in the ship Topaz, of Boston, touched at the island, and, after maintaining a friendly intercourse with them for two days, prosecuted his voyage. No further information respecting them transpired until 1814, when captain Staines, in a British ship, unexpectedly came in sight of the island. Canoes were soon perceived coming off from the shore; and it is not easy to conceive the astonishment of the commander and his officers, when those on board hailed them in the English language. The surprise of the young men in the canoe, who were the sons of the mutineers, when they came on board an English man-of-war, was scarcely less than that of their visitors. The frankness with which they replied to the questions of the captain, evinced the unsophisticated manner in which they had been brought up; and their account of their belief in the most important doctrines, and practice of the great duties of religion, reflected the highest honor on their venerable instructor. When they sat down to breakfast, without any formal show of devotion, but with a simplicity and earnestness that alone astonished and reproved those around them, they knelt down and implored "permission to partake in peace of what was set before them ;" and, at the close of their repast, resuming the same attitude, offered a fervent prayer of thanksgiving for the indulgence they had received." The captains of the Briton and Tagus went on shore, and were met on the brow of the hill by Adams's daughter, who, after the first emotions of surprise had subsided, led them to the beautiful little village, formed on an oblong square, with trees of various kinds irregularly interspersed. "The houses," captain Staines adds, "were small; but regular, convenient, and of unequalled cleanliness." After a very affecting interview with John Adams (who appeared about sixty years of age), and with his rising community, who, with tears and entreaties, begged them not to take their father from them, the captains returned to their ships, and sent to these interesting people such useful articles as they could spare. There were forty-eight persons on the island at this time. This small island is fertile, though water is not abundant. As soon as their circumstances became known, a supply of agricultural implements and tools was sent from Calcutta. Bibles and prayer-books were also forwarded by the directors of the London Missionary Society. They were gladly received by Adams, and gratefully acknowledged. LESSON XLVII. The Sunday School.-MRS. SIGOURNEY. GROUP after group are gathering,—such as pressed Where holy thoughts in infant hearts are bred, Oft with a chastened glance, in modulation sweet. Yet some there are upon whose childish brows And ye, blest laborers in this humble sphere, Come forth to gird the weak, untutored mind,— LESSON XLVIII. Howard, the Philanthropist. JOHN HOWARD was born in England, in 1726. His father dying when he was young, he was bound apprentice to a wholesale grocer in London, but, when he was nearly twenty-one years old, he purchased the remaining term for which he was indentured, and indulged his taste by making a tour in France and Italy. In 1756, he commenced a voyage to Lisbon, to view the effects of the recent earthquake. The vessel in which he sailed being taken, he was consigned to a French prison. The hardships which he saw and suffered, first roused his attention to the subject of prisons. When he reached England, he made known the information which he had gained, and his efforts were well received. At Cardington, where he then resided, he gratified his benevolent feelings in building cottages for the peasantry, founding schools for gratuitous instruction, and executing other plans in aid of poor people. In 1773, he served in the office of sheriff for the county of Bedford. In attending to the necessary duties of this station, the subject of prison discipline came under his notice; and, finding many bad things existing in the management of jails, he resolved to devote his time to an examination of the means for correcting them. With this view, he visited most of the English county jails, and houses of correction, and, in March, 1774, he laid the result of his inquiries before the house of commons, for which he received a vote of thanks. In 1775 and 1776, he visited many of the prisons on the continent of Europe, as well as those of Scotland and Ireland. In 1778, he repeated his visit to the continent, and extended his tour as far as Italy. After his return, he made a fresh survey of the prisons throughout the British empire, to which he added an examination of the public hospitals. The results of his inquiries he repeatedly communicated to the public. In 1781 and 1782, he made a tour through the northern parts of Europe, including Denmark, Sweden, Russia and Poland. In 1783, he visited Spain and Portugal, and, having again examined the prisons of his own country, he published an account of his tour as an appendix to his former works. A new subject now engaged his attention, namely, the management of lazarettos, and the means of preventing the communication of the plague and other contagious diseases. In order to get accurate information, he went to Smyrna, where he knew that the plague prevailed, for the purpose of proceeding to Venice with a foul bill of health, that he might be subjected to all the regulations of quarantine in the lazarettos, and thus become experimentally acquainted with them. On his return home, through Vienna, he was introduced to the emperor, Joseph II. In 1789, he published an account of the lazarettos in Europe. In the same year, he returned to the continent, passing through Germany to Moscow and Petersburg. The greatest respect was every where paid to him; prisons and hospitals were thrown open before him, as to a friendly monitor and public benefactor. He took up his residence at Cherson, a town on the Black sea. A malignant fever prevailing there, he |