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safety; and the scene that ensued when the unharmed infant was restored to the arms of its mother, was indescribably touching.

11. You may imagine their feelings, when in a short time they beheld a monstrous eagle flying over the mountain tops, and bearing a young chamois in his claws. After descending in circles, he darted down on the nest, and when he found it empty, he flew around it several times, then soared high up into the sky, and

was seen no more.

LESSON XXXIII.

THE CROOKED FOOT-PATH.

Pěn'çilled, marked with a fine | Try'ant, loitering; idle.

line, as if with a pencil. Way'ward, willful; liking one's

own way.

Ga'bled, having gables.

Sin'u ous, winding; crooked.

Dē'vi oŭs, out of a straight line; varying from a straight course.

AH, here it is! the sliding rail
Α

That marks the old remembered spot-
The gap that struck our schoolboy trail-
The crooked path across the lot.

2. It left the road by school and church,
A pencilled shadow, nothing more,
That parted from the silver birch

And ended at the farm-house door.

3. No line or compass traced its plan;
With frequent bends to left or right,
In aimless, wayward curves it ran,
But always kept the porch in sight.

4. The gabled porch, with woodbine green,
The broken millstone at the sill-

Though many a rood might stretch between,
The truant child could see them still.

5. No rocks across the pathway lie—
No fallen trunk is o'er it thrown-
And yet it winds, we know not why,
And turns, as if for tree or stone.

6. Perhaps some lover trod the way

With shaking knees and leaping heart-
And so it often runs astray

With sinuous sweep or sudden start.

7. Or one, perchance, with clouded brain
From some unholy banquet reeled-
And since, our devious steps maintain
His track across the trodden field.

8. Nay, deem not thus-no earthborn will
Could ever trace a faultless line
e;
Our truest steps are human still-

To walk unswerving were divine!

9. Truants from love, we dream of wrath-
O, rather let us trust the more!
Through all the wanderings of the path,
We still can see our Father's door!

O. W. HOLMES.

LESSON XXXIV.

THE MARCH THROUGH TROPIC WOODS.

Li'chens (or lich ens), flow-| Can'o py, a covering over a

erless plants that hang to rocks
and trees.

Lithe, pliant, limber.
Bam boo', a hollow, jointed
plant that grows in the trop-
ics, from the stalks of which
water-pipes, canes, pipe-stems
and very many other articles
are made.

In'ter twined', twisted together.

throne or a bed; any covering over the head.

Re versed', turned side for side,

or end for end.

[blocks in formation]

OW wound we through the solid wood,

H With all its broad boughs hung in green,

And lichen-mosses trailed between!
How waked the spotted beasts of prey,
Deep sleeping from the face of day,
And dashed them like a tropic flood
Down some defile and denser wood!

2. And snakes, long, lithe and beautiful
As green and graceful-bough'd bamboo,
Did twist and twine them through and through
The boughs that hung red-fruited full.

One, monster-sized, above me hung,

Close eyed me with his bright pink eyes,
Then raised his folds, and swayed and swung,
And licked like lightning his red tongue;
Then oped his wide mouth with surprise :
He writhed and curved, and raised and lowered
His folds, like liftings of the tide,

And sank so low I touched his side,

As I rode by, with my broad sword.

3. The trees shook hands high overhead,
And bowed and intertwined across

The narrow way; while leaves, and moss,
And luscious fruit, gold-hued and red,
Through all the canopy of green

Let not one sun-shaft shoot between.

4. Birds hung and swung, green-robed and red,
Or drooped in curved lines dreamily,
Rainbows reversed, from tree to tree;
Or sang, low-hanging, overhead--
Sang low, as if they sang and slept ;
Sang faint, like some far waterfall,
And took no note of us at all--
Though nuts that in the way were spread
Did crush and crackle as we stept.

5. Wild lilies, tall as maidens are-
As sweet of breath, as pearly fair,
As fair as faith, as pure as truth-
Fell thick before our every tread,
As in a sacrifice to ruth;

And all the air with perfume filled,
More sweet than ever man distilled.
The ripened fruit a fragrance shed,
And hung in hand-reach overhead,
In nest of blossoms on the shoot,
The bending shoot that bore the fruit.

6. How ran the monkeys through the leaves !
How rushed they through, brown clad and blue,
Like shuttles hurried through and through
The threads a hasty weaver weaves !

7. How quick they cast us fruits of gold,
Then loosened hand and all foot-hold,
And hung, limp, limber, as if dead,
Hung low and listless overhead;
And all the time, with half-oped eyes
Bent full on us with mute surprise-
Looked wisely, too, as wise hens do
That watch you with the head askew.

8. The long days through on blossomed trees
There came the sweet song of sweet bees,
With chorus tones of cockatoo,

That slid his beak along the bough,

And walked and talked, and hung and swung,
In crown of gold and coat of blue;
The wisest fool that ever sung,

Or had a crown, or held a tongue.

JOAQUIN MILLER.

LESSON XXXV.

SPEECH AT THE GETTYSBURG CEMETERY.

Con çeived,' formed in the | De trǎet', to take away.

mind; devised.

Děd'i eāte, to set apart for a sacred purpose; to devote formally and solemnly.

Prop'o si'tion, a declaration;

a statement.

De vō'tion, eager inclination; affection.

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OURSCORE and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any

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