A solemn thought is suggested by this event. Gen. Harrison has lived a long life, and has often been in the midst of seeming peril. He has often been in battle with savages and with the British soldiery. He has often trodden the forest amid all the dangers and vicissitudes that beset the traveller there. He has spent many days of toil in the field, laboring as a farmer. In all these situations and conditions--from youth to age--he has enjoyed the protecting care of Providence. But at last he was elevated to a great office; he became the occupant of a palace; he was the hope of a great nation; he was surrounded with friends, with mighty men, with skilful physicians, with tender nurses--with the great, the good, the prayerful--but all in vain. His time had come--the arrow was sped from the bow, and no human arm could stay its flight. And this should warn us all to consider well the lesson conveyed by this event--which is, that life and death are in the hands of God. He can protect us everywhere--in the cottage or the log-cabin, in the forest or the field; or he can take us away in the midst of power and pomp and riches. Let us therefore be ever prepared for the decisions of his wisdom. THE APRIL SHOWER, A SONG. THE WORDS AND MUSIC COMPOSED FOR MERRY’S MUSEUM. [Illustration: Music] Patter, patter, let it pour, Patter, Patter, let it roar, Down the steep roof let it rush, Down the hill side let it gush, ’Tis the wlecome April shower Which will wake the sweet May flower. Patter, patter, let it pour! Patter, patter, let it roar! Let the gaudy lightning flash-- Let the headlong thunder dash-- ’Tis the welcome April shower, Which will wake the sweet May flower. Patter, patter, let it pour! Patter, patter, let it roar! Soon the clouds will burst away-- Soon will shine the bright spring day, Soon the welcome April shower Will awake the sweet May flower! [Illustration: ROBERT MERRY’S MUSEUM.] My own Life and Adventures. (_Continued from page 71._) CHAPTER VII. _My uncle’s influence.--The influence of the tavern.--State of society forty years ago.--Liquor opposed to education.--The church and the tavern.--The country schoolhouse.--Books used in the school.--A few words about myself._ I pass over a space of several years in my history, and come to the period when I was about fifteen. Up to this time, I had made little progress in education, compared with what is done at the present day. I could indeed read and write, and I knew something of arithmetic, but my advance beyond this was inconsiderable. A brief detail of certain circumstances will show the reason of this.