9. An engagement came on, in which the Tepanecs were totally discomfited; and the victorious prince, receiving everywhere on his route the homage of his joyful subjects, entered his capital, not like a proscribed outcast, but as the rightful heir, and saw himself once more enthroned in the hall of his fathers.

10. Soon after he united his forces with the Mexicans, long disgusted with the arbitrary conduct of Maxtla. The allied powers, after a series of bloody engagements, routed the usurper under the walls of his own capital. He fled to the baths, whence he was dragged out, and sacrificed with the usual cruel ceremonies of the Aztecs.

11. The restored prince became one of the most illustrious monarchs of the New World, and, after a prosperous reign of nearly half a century, dropped peacefully into the tomb. WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT.

LESSON XLIV.

THE COLOR-BEARER.

Én'fi lade', to rake with shot | Grīme, dirt; sullying blackness.

through the whole length, as a
line of troops.

Pla toon', half of a company of

soldiers.

Em brǎ'şure, an opening in a

wall through which cannon are pointed and fired. Ăb'a tis, branches of trees

sharpened and laid with the points outward, to obstruct the approach of assailants. Văn, the front of an army.

WAS a fortress to be stormed: Boldly right in view they formed, All as quiet as a regiment parading :

Then in front a line of flame !

Then at left and right the same!
Two platoons received a furious enfilading.
To their places still they filed,
And they smiled at the wild
Cannonading.

2. "Twill be over in an hour!

"Twill not be much of a shower!

Never mind, my boys," said he, “a little drizzling!” Then to cross that fatal plain

Through the whirring, hurtling rain

Of the grapeshot and the minie-bullets whistling!
But he nothing heeds nor shuns,

As he runs with the guns
Brightly bristling!

3. Leaving trails of dead and dying
In their track, yet forward flying,

Like a breaker where the gale of conflict rolled them, With a foam of flashing light

Borne before them on their bright Burnished barrels-O, 'twas fearful to behold them! While from ramparts roaring loud Swept a cloud like a shroud

To enfold them!

4. O, his colors were the first!

Through the burying cloud he burst, With the standard to the battle forward slanted! Through the belching, blinding breath

Of the flaming jaws of Death,

Till his banner on the bastion he had planted!
By the screaming shot that fell

And the yell of the shell,

Nothing daunted.

5. Right against the bulwark dashing,

Over tangled branches crashing,

'Mid the plunging volleys thundering ever louder ! There he clambers, there he stands,

With the ensign in his hands—
O, was ever hero handsomer or prouder?
Streaked with battle-sweat and slime,
And sublime in the grime

Of the powder !

6. "Twas six minutes, at the least,

Ere the closing combat ceased

Near as we the mighty moments then could measure—.
And we held our souls with awe,
Till his mighty flag we saw

On the lifting vapors drifting o'er the embrasure!

Saw it glimmer in our tears,

While our ears heard the cheers
Rend the azure !

7. Through the abatis they broke,

Through the surging cannon smoke,

And they drove the foe before like frightened cattle! O, but never wound was his,

For in other wars than this,

Where the volleys of life's conflict roar and rattle, He must still, as he was wont,

In the front bear the brunt

Of the battle.

8. He shall guide the van of truth,
And in manhood, as in youth,

Be her fearless, be her peerless color-bearer!
With his high and bright example,

Like a banner brave and ample,

Ever leading through receding clouds of error,

To the empire of the Strong,
And to Wrong he shall long
Be a terror.

J. T. TROWBRIDGE.

LESSON XLV.

CALIFORNIA.

Hěs per, the evening star.
Il-lūmes', makes light or bright.
Tawn'y, a yellowish-brown color.
Clăs ́sie, pure; refined; beautiful.

Bay, the laurel-tree; a wreath of

laurel.

Ar-ea'di-an, relating to Arcadia, a fabled land of peace and plenty.

FAIR young land, the youngest, fairest far,
Of which our world can boast,-

Whose guardian planet, evening's silver star,
Illumes thy golden coast,—

2. How art thou conquered, tamed in all the pride
Of savage beauty still!

How brought, O panther of the splendid hide,
To know thy master's will!

3. No more thou sittest on thy tawny hills
In indolent repose;

Or pour'st the crystal of a thousand rills

Down from thy house of snows.

4. But where the wild oats wrapped thy knees in gold The plowman drove his share,

And where, through cañons deep, thy streams are
The miner's arm is bare.

[rolled.

5. Thy human children shall restore the grace
Gone with thy fallen pines;

The wild, barbaric beauty of thy face
Shall round to classic lines.

6. And Order, Justice, Social Law shall curb Thy untamed energies;

And Art, and Science, with their dreams superb,
Replace thine ancient ease.

7. The marble, sleeping in thy mountains now,
Shall live in sculpture rare;

Thy native oak shall crown the sage's brow--
Thy bay, the poet's hair.

8. Thy tawny hills shall bleed their purple wine,
Thy valleys yield their oil;

And Music with her eloquence divine,
Persuade thy sons to toil;

9. Till Hesper, as he trims his silver beam, No happier land shall see,

And earth shall find her old Arcadian dream

Restored again in thee!

BAYARD TAYLOR.

WOMAN.

O woman! in our hours of ease,
Uncertain, coy, and hard to please,
And variable as the shade

By the light quivering aspen made;
When pain and anguish wring the brow,
A ministering angel thou!

SCOTT.