LESSON XIII.

MADROÑO.

Robin Hood, a famous English | Syl'van, of or pertaining to a

outlaw.

forest.

C

persons wearing masks, and amusing themselves with dancing and conversation. Här'le quin, a clown dressed in many-colored clothes. Tran sçend', to surpass; excel. Som'ber, dark; gloomy.

APTAIN of the western wood,
Thou that apest Robin Hood!
Green above thy scarlet hose,
How thy velvet mantle shows!
Never tree like thee arrayed,
Oh, thou gallant of the glade !

2. When the fervid August sun
Scorches all it looks upon,
And the balsam of the pine
Drips from stem to needle fine,
Round thy compact shade arranged,
Not a leaf of thee is changed!

3. When the yellow autumn sun
Saddens all it looks upon,

Spreads its sackcloth on the hills,
Strews its ashes in the rills,

Thou thy scarlet hose dost doff,
And, in limbs of purest buff,
Challengest the somber glade
For a sylvan masquerade.

4. Where, oh! where shall he begin,
Who would paint thee, Harlequin?
With thy waxen burnished leaf,
With thy branches' red relief,
With thy poly-tinted fruit,

In thy spring or autumn suit,
Where begin, and oh! where end,

Thou whose charms all art transcend?

BRET HARTE.

LESSON XIV.

THE ORIGIN OF FIRE.

AN INDIAN MYTH.

Qui chés (Kee-chés), a tribe | Měm'o ra ble, worthy to be

of Indians.

remembered.

Myth ́ie al, fanciful; imaginary. Gäunt, lean, as with hunger.

Coỹ ō'te (ki ō'te), a species

of wolf.

Tra di'tions, things transmitted by word of mouth from father to son, or from ancestors to posterity.

Chär e'ya, an Indian deity. Super sti'tion, belief in signs, omens, and mysterious things.

Lär'çe ny, theft.

V

Ae com'pliçe, a partner; an

assistant.

ARIOUS mythical accounts exist among the native races of the Pacific States, regarding the

origin of fire. The Quiches, for instance, believe their fire to have come from a stroke of Tohil's sandal on the earth. Tohil was the great god of the Quiches. To the efforts of the mysterious coyote, again, do some of the ruder tribes believe themselves indebted for this means of warming their bodies and cooking their food. The traditions are valuable as exhibiting the grotesqueness of savage superstition.

2. The Cahrocs of Northern California hold, that when, in the beginning, the creator, Chareya, made fire, he gave it into the custody of two hideous old hags, lest the Cahrocs should steal it. And this is precisely what their firm friend, the coyote, set out to do for their advantage.

3. The cunning brute laid his schemes for the memorable larceny in this wise. From the home of the Cahrocs to the hut of the guardian hags, he stationed, at convenient distances, a long line of animals-the strongest nearest the den of the old witches, the weakest and smallest farthest removed. Lastly he hid an Indian in the neighborhood of the hut, and, having left the man particular directions how to act, trotted up to the cabin door and begged protection from the cold.

4. The hags, suspecting nothing, allowed him to enter; so he stretched his gaunt figure before the fire, and made himself as confortable as possible, waiting for the further action of his human accomplice without. In good time, the man made a furious attack on the beldams' hut, and instantly the two disheveled furies rushed forth to repel the assailant.

5. It was the coyote's opportunity; in an instant he had seized a brand from the fire, in another instant he was in flight. The hags discovered the artifice at once, and gave swift and impetuous chase. Hard had it

fared with the coyote then, had he trusted to his single speed, but the well-posted relays came in, and not too soon, to his succor and relief.

6. Just as he was ready to drop with fatigue, the cougar relieved him of his precious charge; and, as the coyote sank exhausted on the ground, he had the satisfaction of seeing the great lithe cat leap away, and the hags gnashing their choppy gums with vexation as they passed, hard in pursuit, on the long trail of flying sparks.

7. The cougar passed the brand to the bear; the bear to his neighbor, and so on from post to post of the wild express. Down all the long line of faithful messengers, the flying witches plied their weary limbs in vain, only two little mishaps occurring among the animals that made up the train of carriers.

8. The squirrel, last but one of the motley file, burned his tail so badly, that it curled up over his back, where it has since had a tendency to remain. Last of all, the poor frog received the brand, burned down by this time to a little piece, and he made such bad time that the weary hags gained upon him, gained, gained—all was lost! No: just as the hags seized him, he swallowed the bit of fire, and leaped for the water.

9. A tadpole before, he escaped, like Tom O'Shanter's mare, "with scarce a stump," leaving the principal portion of his caudal ornament with the witches as a souvenir of their defeat. He then swam a long way under water-as long as he could bear to remain without air-and coming up near the shore, spat out the precious spark upon a piece of drift-wood. And this is why, say the Cahrocs, fire may always be produced by the rubbing of two dry sticks together.

H. H. BANCROFT'S Native Races.

LESSON XV.

IN SCHOOL DAYS.

Of fi'cial, pertaining to an of- | Frět'ting, a kind of ornamental

fice or an officer.

work in architecture.

Warp'ing, twisting out of shape. Sin'gled, selected; chosen.
Fres'eoes, paintings on walls.

TILL sits the school-house by the road,

ST

ragged beggar sunning;

Around it still the sumachs grow,
And blackberry vines are running.

2. Within, the master's desk is seen,
Deep scarred by raps official;
The warping floor, the battered seats,
The jack-knife carved initial;

3. The charcoal frescoes on its wall;
Its doors were still betraying
The feet that, creeping slow to school,
Went storming out to playing!

4. Long years ago a winter sun
Shone over it at setting;

Lit up its western window-panes,
And low eaves' icy fretting.

5. It touched the tangled golden curls,
And brown eyes full of grieving,
Of one who still her steps delayed

When all the school were leaving.