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7. Upon the river's further strand
A trembling crowd of gazers stand.
In wild despair their hands they wring,
Yet no one can assistance bring.

And the hapless tollman, with children and wife,
Is screaming for help through the stormy strife.

8. Quick gallops up, with headlong speed, A noble count on a noble steed;

And lo! on high his fingers hold

A purse well stored with shining gold.

"Two hundred pistoles for the man who shall save Yon perishing wretch from the yawning wave!"

9. And ever higher swell the waves,

And louder still the tempest raves,
And lower sink their hearts in fear

Oh, brave man! brave man! haste! appear!
Buttress and pillar now groan and strain,
And the rocking arches are rent in twain

10. Again, again, before their eyes,

High holds the count the glittering prize.
All
see, but all the danger shun;

Of all the thousand, stirs not one;

In vain doth the tollman, with children and wife. Howl out through the storm for life, for life!

11. But who amid the crowd is seen

In peasant garb, with simple mien,
With look so resolute and brave,
In form and feature tall and grave?
He hears the count and the scream of fear;
He sees that the moment of death draws near!

12. Into a skiff he boldly sprang;

And through the storm that round him rang,
Calling on God, he braved the flood,
Till on the trembling bridge he stood.
But, alas! the vessel was found too small
At once through the waves to convey them all.

13. Thrice through the waves the skiff he urged,
While the river round him boiled and surged;
At last, through wind and water's roar,
He bore all safely to the shore.

And the last one on shore had scarcely stood,
When the toll-house sunk in the roaring flood.

14. Out spoke the count, "Right boldly done!
Here, take the purse so nobly won."
The count showed a noble soul, indeed,
And well deserved the true man's meed;

But loftier still was the soul displayed
By him in the peasant garb arrayed.

15. "Poor though I am, I ask not gold;
My life can not be bought and sold!
Yon hapless man is ruined now;

Great count, on him thy gift bestow!"
He spoke from his heart in his honest pride;
And he turned on his heel and strode aside.

BUERGER.

LESSON CLXXIV.

FEAT, exploit, an act requiring skill and adroitness.

CON VENT, (Latin con, together, and ve- | Ex-TO-MO-LOG ́IC-AL, relating to insects nio, to come,) an assemblage of monks or nuns; a house for monks or nuns. In this lesson the fish are represented as retiring from active life, as monks and nuns do, and using the pond as a

convent.

DUDGEON, malice, anger, ill-will. DEX'TER-OUS-LY, (Latin dextra, the right hand,) expertly, skillfully, adroitly.

IM-PALE', to thrust through with a sharp
pin.

PLACID, quiet, gentle, undisturbed.
POP'U-LOUS, full of inhabitants.
VERT'I-CAL, perpendicular to the hori-
zon, as a tree is; hanging perpendicu-
larly.

PRONUNCIATION.-Re-tired' 1, con'vent 1b, mo'ment 1b, de-li'cious 1, in'sect 1, thith'er 15, with 15, blun'der-ing 3b, flut'ter-ing 3b, to'ward 266, a-gain' 33, catch 33, pop'u-lous 2e, an-oth'er 27a.

TROUT FISHING.

1. HERE is a stream easy of access and quite unpretending. It flows from a bit of a pond some twenty feet across; and in that pond are five or six half-pound trout, who seem to have retired from active life, and given themselves to meditation in this liquid convent.

2. They were very tempting, but quite untemptable. Standing afar off, we selected an irresistible fly, and with long line we sent it pat into the very place. It fell like a snow-flake.

3. No trout should have hesitated a moment. The morsel was delicious. The nimblest of them should have flashed through the water, broken the surface, and with a graceful but decisive curve plunged downward, carrying the insect with him.

4. Then we should, in our turn, have very cheerfully lent him a hand, relieved him of his prey, and, admiring his beauty, but pitying his untimely fate, buried him in the basket.

5. We cast our fly again and again; we drew it hither and thither; we made it skip and wriggle; we let it fall plash like a blundering bug or fluttering moth; and our placid spectators calmly beheld our feats, as if all this skill was a mere exercise for their amusement, and their whole duty consisted in looking on and preserving order. 6. Next we tried a worm, and sent our hook down to their very

sides. With judicious gravity they parted, and slowly sailed toward the root of an old tree on the side of the pool.

7. Changing our bait, we will try a grasshopper. Laying down our rod, we prepare to catch the grasshopper. That is in itself no slight feat. At the first step you take, at least forty bolt out and tumble headlong into the grass; some cling to the stems, some are creeping under the leaves, and not one seems to be within reach.

8. You step again; another flight takes place, and you eye them fiercely, as if thereby you could catch some one of them with your eye. You brush the grass with your foot again. Another hundred snap out, and tumble about in all directions.

9. There are large ones and small ones, and middle-sized ones; there are gray and hard old fellows; yellow and red ones; green and striped ones. At length it is wonderful to see how populous the grass is. If you did not want them, they would jump into your very hand. But they know by your looks you are out a-fishing.

10. You see a very nice young fellow climbing up a high stem to get a good look-out and see where you are. You take good aim, and grab at him. The stem you catch, but he has jumped a safe rod.

11. Yonder is another, creeping among some delicate ferns. With broad palm you clutch him and all the neighboring herbage too. Stealthily opening your little finger, you see his leg; the next finger reveals more of him; and opening the next, you are just beginning to take him out with your other hand, when out he bounds, and leaves you to renew your entomological pursuits!

12. Twice you snatch handfuls of grass, and cautiously open your palm to find you have only grass. It is quite vexatious. There are thousands of them here and there, climbing and wriggling on that blade, leaping off from that stalk, twisting and kicking on that vertical spider's web, jumping and bouncing about under your very nose, butting you in your face, creeping on your shoes, or turning summersets, and tracing every kind of figure in the air, and yet not one do you get.

13. And there is such a heartiness and merriment in their sallies! They are pert and gay, and do not take your intrusion in the least dudgeon. If any tender-hearted person ever wondered how a humane man could bring himself to such cruelty as the impaling of an insect, let him hunt for a grasshopper in a hot day among tall grass.

14. At last let us suppose that the grasshopper is caught. Now, then, the trout are yonder. You swing your line to the air, and give it a gentle cast toward the desired spot. A puff of south wind dexterously lodges it in the branch of the tree. You plainly see it strike and whirl over and over, so that no gentle pull will loosen it. 15. You draw it north and south, east and west; you give it a

jerk up and a pull down; you try a series of nimble twitches; in vain you coax it in this way, and solicit it in that. Then you stop

and look a moment, first at the trout, and then at your line.

16. Was there ever anything so vexatious? Would it be wrong to get angry? In fact you feel very much like it. The very things you wanted to catch, the grasshopper and the trout, you could not; but a tree, which you did not in the least want, you have caught fast at the first throw. You fear that the trout will be scared. You cautiously draw near and peep down.

17. Yes, there they are, looking at you, and laughing as sure as ever trout laughed! They understand the whole thing. With a very decisive jerk you snap your line, regain the remnant of it; and sit down to repair it, to put on another hook. You get up to catch another grasshopper, and move on down the stream to try again to catch a trout.

LESSON CLXXV.

CORN, here means all kinds of grain, as
wheat, barley, &c.
HORN, alludes to the ancient mythology
which represented fruits and flowers,
and all other good gifts of nature, as
poured out over the earth from a horn.

DIVINE', of the highest excellence. LYRIC, (from lyre,) was originally used to denote poetry sung to the music of the lyre. Hence, a short poem in praise of the Deity, or of heroes, or expressing the feelings of the poet.

PRONUNCIATION.-Tho 31, na'ture 17 and 18, earth 9, gifts 29, pre-pares ́ 9.

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[blocks in formation]

PRONUNCIATION.-Here 22, in-sti-tu'tion 16, a-gainst' 33, put 33, col-lects' 1g, oc-cu-pa'tion 16, i'roned 11, the 31, a 31.

TEMPLE MARKET IN PARIS.

1. ONE of the most curious things in Paris is the Temple Market. This consists of nineteen hundred little shops, all together, under the roof of four enormous buildings. The greater part of the articles sold here are second-hand, and are purchased by poor people.

2. The shopkeepers send persons about Paris to buy old hats, coats, shoes, boots, and pantaloons; old gowns, petticoats, nightcaps, shawls, pocket-handkerchiefs, stockings, ribbons, bonnets, and gloves; old chairs and tables, old knives and forks, old hammers and old nails, old snuffers and old trays!

3. In this way all the soiled, damaged, rusty, and worn-out clothes, tools, and utensils of this great city, are collected, and brought to this market. Here the old clothes relieved from grease and dirt are made to look almost as good as new.

4. The old nails are straightened; the nightcaps are washed and starched; the ribbons are ironed out; the bonnets are whitened and retrimmed; the rust of the knives and forks is replaced by a bright polish; the shoes are mended, soled, and made to shine with blacking. 5. It is truly amazing to see the industry, skill, and taste of the people in renovating those old and cast-off articles.

6. The stalls or shops are each about six feet square, and have passages between them, like the streets of a city. Many are kept by men, and many by women. One devotes himself to iron-ware, one

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