dashes toward them at full speed, and, singling out one of the horses as it gallops along hampered by the multitude of its companions, throws his lasso over its neck.

8. When the noose has fairly settled, the hunter leaps off his own steed--which is trained to remain standing on the same spot until it is wanted-and allows himself to be dragged along by the affrighted animal, which soon falls, in consequence of being choked by the lariat. 9. Then the hunter comes cautiously up-holding the lariat tight enough to keep the animal from entirely recovering its breath, and yet sufficiently loose to guard against strangulation—and at last is able to place one hand over its eyes and the other over its nostrils. The horse is now at his mercy.

10. In order to impress upon it the fact of its servitude, he hobbles its fora feet for a time, and fastens a noose to its lower jaw; but within a wonderfully short period he is able to remove the hobbles, and ride his conquered prize into camp. During the time occupied in taming the horse, it plunges in the wildest manner; but after this one brief battle, it yields the point and becomes the willing slave of its master.

CAPTAIN HOBBES.

SELF-RELIANCE.

Man is his own star, and the soul that can
Render an honest and a perfect man,
Commands all light, all influence, all fate;
Nothing to him falls early, or too late.
Our acts our angels are, or good or ill.

JOHN FLETCHER.

LESSON XXIX.

THE DREAM OF EUGENE ARAM.

PART FIRST.

Wick'ets, gate-like frames used | Re mōte', far from; distant.

in playing cricket.

Ŭsh ́er, an assistant teacher.

'TWA

Ú'ni vērs ́al, affecting all.

Sprites, souls; spirits.

WAS in the prime of summer time,
And evening calm and cool,

And four-and-twenty happy boys

Came bounding out of school:

There were some that ran, and some that leapt,

Like troutlets in a pool.

2. Away they sped with gamesome minds,
And souls untouched by sin;

To a level mead they came, and there
They drove the wickets in;
Pleasantly shone the setting sun
Over the town of Lynn.

3. Like sportive deer they coursed about,
And shouted as they ran,

Turning to mirth all things of earth,
As only boyhood can;

But the usher sat remote from all,
A melancholy man!

4. His hat was off, his vest apart,

To catch heaven's blessed breeze;

For a burning thought was in his brow,

And his bosom ill at ease:

So he leaned his head on his hands, and read
The book between his knees!

5. Leaf after leaf, he turned it o'er,

Nor ever glanced aside;

For the peace of his soul that book he read

In the golden even-tide:

Much study had made him very lean,
And pale, and leaden-eyed.

6. At last he shut the ponderous tome,
With a fast and fervent grasp,
He strained the dusky covers close,
And fixed the brazen hasp:
"O God! could I so close my mind,
And clasp it with a clasp!"

7. Then, leaping to his feet upright,
Some moody turns he took,-

Now up the mead, then down the mead,
And past a shady nook,-

And, lo! he saw a little boy

That pored upon a book!

8. "My gentle lad, what is't you readRomance or fairy fable?

Or is it some historic page

Of kings and crowns unstable?

The young boy gave an upward glance,— "It is, "The Death of Abel."

9. The usher took six hasty strides,
As smit with sudden pain,-
Six hasty strides beyond the place,
Then slowly back again;

And down he sat beside the lad,

And talked with him of Cain;

10. And long since then, of bloody men,
Whose deeds tradition saves;
Of lonely folk cut off unseen,
And hid in sudden graves;
Of horrid stabs in groves forlorn,
And murders done in caves;

11. And how the sprites of injured men
Shriek upward from the sod,-
Ay, how the ghostly hand will point
To show the burial clod;

And unknown facts of guilty acts
Are seen in dreams from God!

12. He told how murderers walked the earth Beneath the curse of Cain,

-

With crimson clouds before their eyes,

And flames about their brain:

For blood had left upon their souls

Its everlasting stain!

13. "And well," quoth he, "I know for truth,
Their pangs must be extreme,—

Woe, woe, unutterable woe,—
Who spill life's sacred stream!

For why? Methought, last night, I wrought
A murder, in a dream!

14. "One that had never done me wrong

A feeble man and old;

I led him to a lonely field,

The moon shone clear and cold:
Now here, said I, this man shall die,
And I will have his gold!

15. "Two sudden blows with a ragged stick, And one with a heavy stone,

One hurried gash with a hasty knife,—
And then the deed was done!
There was nothing lying at my feet
But lifeless flesh and bone!

16. "Nothing but lifeless flesh and bone,
That could not do me ill;

And yet I feared him all the more,
For lying there so still:

There was a manhood in his look,
That murder could not kill!

17. "And, lo! the universal air

Seemed lit with ghastly flame;—
Ten thousand thousand dre. dful eyes
Were looking down in blame:
I took the dead man by his hand,
And called upon his name!

18. "O God! it made me quake to see
Such sense within the slain!

For when I touched the lifeless clay,
The blood gushed out amain!
For every clot, a burning spot
Was scorching in my brain!

19. "My head was like an ardent coal,
My heart as solid ice;

My wretched, wretched soul, I knew,
Was at the devil's price:

A dozen times I groaned; the dead
Had never groaned but twice!"