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Piper, sit thee down and write
In a book that all may read."
So he vanish'd from my sight;

And I pluck'd a hollow reed.

And I made a rural pen,

And I stain'd the water clear,
And I wrote my happy songs

Every child may joy to hear.

-William Blake.

II. Theme: THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN.

Many, many years ago the little town of Ham'elin, in Brunswick, by the river Weser (vay'zer), was infested with rats. There never was such a plague of rats before. They killed the cats, they gnawed the bacon, they ate the cheese, they bit the babies. They squeaked and scratched and scurried. There was no catching them nor killing them. So the good people of Hamelin town were beside themselves to know what to do.

Now to that town there came the most wonderful piper. He wore the queerest kind of clothes, all patched and variegated; and he was called the Pied Piper. And the Pied Piper proposed to the people of Hamelin to free the town of rats provided they would give him a thousand guilders. And they agreed. The Piper began to play on his magic pipe, and no sooner had he begun than the rats began to gathergray rats, black rats, brown rats, old and young, large and small. They followed the Piper as he went from street to street, until he led them to the river Weser where the rats all plunged in and perished. There was great rejoicing in Hamelin town over their deliver

ance. But when the Pied Piper asked for his thousand guilders, "It's too much," said the Mayor, "for so small a labor. Here are fifty!"

The Piper said no more. But taking out his pipe he played a second tune-a wonderful melody, at which all the children of Hamelin town began to gather, running and skipping and tripping. They followed the Piper from street to street, out into the country, to Koppelberg Hill, and—you will hardly believe it-on they went straight through Koppelberg Hill. And neither the Piper nor the children were ever seen again in Hamelin town.

III. Oral Composition.-1. (1) Tell the story of the Pied Piper as briefly as possible. (2) Describe Hamelin -its situation. (3) Describe the plague of rats. (4) Describe the Pied Piper. (5) Tell how the Piper charmed away the rats. (6) Tell how the people behaved to him, and how the Piper felt. (7) Tell how the Piper charmed away the children. (8) Tell how the people felt and what they did afterward.

2. Give equivalent words or phrases for the italicized words in the following:-(1) The town was infested with rats. (2) The people were beside themselves to know what to do. (3) His clothes were variegated. (4) There was great rejoicing in Hamelin.

3. Use the following words in sentences of your own: (1) infest. (2) scurry. (3) beside himself. (4) variegated. (5) pied. (6) magic. (7) from street to street.

IV. Principles-Italic Letters. As all handwriting is in script, a text like italic, the device to correspond

to the italicizing of a printed word is to underline the written words:-Andersen's Fairy Tales.

Rule 1. Notice that italic letters are used to indicate emphatic or special words:

An admirable sermon-yet why was such a sermon preached? What have you been doing?

This device for emphasis must be used sparingly.

Rule 2. Notice that foreign words are italicized:The French went shouting "Vive le roi !"

The Latin maxim, festina lente, hasten slowly, is a good one. The Latin abbreviations in common use in English, e.g., i.e, viz., etc., are frequently used without italics.

Rule 3. Notice that titles of books, newspapers, magazines, ships, etc., require italics when not set off by quotation marks:

Shakespeare's King John (or “King John”).

Every month comes St. Nicholas (or "St. Nicholas") and Scribner's (or "Scribner's ").

Nelson's flag-ship, the Victory (or "Victory ").

NOTE 1. With English titles, quotation marks are preferable; with foreign titles italics.

NOTE 2. In printing italics may be used for titles of sections and paragraphs and for sources of quotation.

EXERCISE.-Rewrite the following, underlining the words needing italics. (1) I could not possibly do that! (2) The pipers played the Campbells are comin'! and Auld Lang Syne. (3) Down went the Royal George, with all her crew complete. (4) “That I can't remember," said the Hatter. "You must remember," remarked the king. (5) The fight of the Chesapeake and the Shannon. (6) The greatest Greek poem is Homer's Iliad; the greatest Latin poem is Virgil's Æneid (e ne' id); the greatest German poem is

Goethe's Faust (fowst). (7) They sang together Ave Maria! Maiden mild. (8) I found the letter very à propos (ah pro po'). (9) Victor Hugo wrote Notre Dame, de Paris and Les Misérables.

V. Composition.-Write from memory the story of the Pied Piper, using your own words and following the plan given below.

The Title.

NOTE 1. Note that the title must be in the middle of the line about an inch below the top of the sheet.

Introduction.

In writing,

NOTE 2. Margin.-Note the margin around the printed page. leave a margin on the left side of the sheet, also at the top and the bottom of the sheet.

NOTE 3. Indentation.-Note that the first line of each paragraph has a wider margin on the left than the lines that follow. Imitate this in writing.

LESSON V.

I. Memorize:-" LULLABY OF AN INFANT CHIEF."

O, hush thee, my babie, thy sire was a knight,

Thy mother a lady, both lovely and bright;

The woods and the glens, from the towers which we see,
They all are belonging, dear babie, to thee.

O, fear not the bugle, though loudly it blows,
It calls but the warders that guard thy repose;
Their bows would be bended, their blades would be red,
Ere the step of a foeman draws near to thy bed.

O, hush thee, my babie, the time soon will come,
When thy sleep shall be broken by trumpet and drum;
Then hush thee, my darling, take rest while you may,
For strife comes with manhood, and waking with day.
-Sir Walter Scott.

II. Theme:—GELLERT.1

He

Prince Llewellyn had a favorite greyhound named Gellert, gentle at home and valiant in the chase. One day the prince was about to go hunting and blew his horn for his dogs. All his dogs came save Gellert. blew again and called, but Gellert did not come. could wait no longer and set off without his favorite. He had little success and returned to his castle vexed at his ill luck.

He

As he came up to the castle-gate Gellert came bounding out to meet him. But the prince noticed that his lips and fangs were dripping with blood. The prince

1REFERENCE FOR READING. Joseph Jacobs, Celtic Fairy Tales.