ページの画像
PDF
ePub

XXXVIII. TO A WATERFOWL.

"BEHOLD the fowls of the air; for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they ?"-St. Matt. vi., 24, 34.

[blocks in formation]

With what adjectives or verbs are the following abstract nouns connected.

[blocks in formation]

WHITHER' 'midst falling dew,

While glow the heavens with the last steps of day,
Far through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue
Thy solitary way,2

Vainly the fowler's eyc

Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong,
As, darkly painted on the crimson sky,
Thy figure floats along.

Seek'st thou the plashy brink

Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide,
Or where the rocking billows rise and sink
On the chafed ocean side?

There is a power whose care

Teaches thy way along that pathless coast-
The desert and illimitable air-

Lone-wandering, but not lost.

All day thy wings have fanned,
At that far height, the cold, thin atmosphere:
Yet, stoop not, weary, to the welcome land
Though the dark night is near.

And soon that toil shall end;
Soon shalt thou find a summer home, and rest,"
And scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bend,
Soon, o'er thy sheltered nest.

Thou'rt gone, the abyss of heaven
Hath swallowed up thy form; yet on my heart
Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given
And shall not soon depart.

TO A SKY LARK.

He who, from zone to zone,

Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight
In the long way that I must tread alone,
Will lead my steps aright."

1. With what word is whither directly connected?

2. Put this whole verse into prose order.

3. What is the construction of this line?
4. What does weary agree with?
5. Is rest a noun or a verb here?

6. "The very rhythm of the stanzas To a Waterfowl,' gives the impression of its flight. Like the bird's sweeping wing, they float with a calm and ma

309

BRYANT.

jestic cadence to the ear. We see that solitary wanderer of the cold thin atmosphere;' we watch, almost with awe, its serene course, until the abyss of heaven has swallowed up its form,' and then gratefully echo the bard's consoling inference:

He who, from zone to zone,' &c.

Tuckerman's Thoughts on the Poet:. 7. Natural order of the whole verse?

XXXIX. TO A SKY LARK.

"NEITHER childhood nor manhood can hear birds of song with indifference. Their notes are everywhere a large addition to human gratification, and become connected with the sweetest remembrances of the most joyous and impressible season of our life. They are usually small birds, and seem to be indestructible; for although cultivation, as it spreads, drives off many other species, yet by supplying these with more of the food they like best, they multiply from its abundance; and wherever gardens, fields or trees appear, some classes of these rural musicians are sure to be part of their feathered inhabitants. Of these, England possesses a considerable share.". Turner's Sacred History of the World.

ETHEREAL minstrel! pilgrim of the sky!

Dost thou despise the earth, where cares abound?
Or, while the wings aspire, are heart and eye,
Both with thy nest upon the dewy ground?
Thy nest which thou canst drop into at will,
Those quivering wings composed, that music still.
To the last point of vision, and beyond,

Mount daring warbler! that love-prompted strain
("Twixt thee and thine a never failing bond)
Thrills not the less the bosom of the plain:
Yet mightst thou seem, proud privilege! to sing
All independent of the leafy spring.

Leave to the nightingale her shady wood;
A privacy of glorious light is thine;
Whence thou dost pour upon the world a flood
Of harmony, with instinct more divine;
Type of the wise who soar, but never roam;
True to the kindred points of heaven and home.

WORDSWORTH.

XL. THE HOUR OF DEATH.

Cer

"MEN fear death as children fear to go into the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other. tainly, the contemplation of death, as the wages of sin and passage to another world, is holy and religious; but the fear of it, as a tribute due unto nature, is weak. * * * He that dies in an earnest pursuit, is like one that is wounded in hot blood; who, for the time, scarce feels the hurt; and, therefore, a mind fixed and bent upon somewhat that is good, doth avert the dolours of death."-Bacon's Essays.

[blocks in formation]

And flowers to wither' at the North wind's breath,
And stars to set-but all,

Thou hast all seasons for thine own, O Death!

Day is for mortal care,

Eve for glad meetings round the joyous hearth,

Night for the dreams of sleep, the voice of prayer;
But all for thee, thou Mightiest of the Earth!

We know when moons shall wane,

When summer birds from far shall cross the sea,
When autumn's hue shall tinge the golden grain;
But who shall teach us when to look for thee?

Is it when spring's first gale

Comes forth to whisper where the violets lie?
Is it when roses in our paths grow pale?
They have one season-all are ours to die!

Thou art where billows foam;

Thou art where music melts upon the air;
Thou art around us in our peaceful home;
And the world calls us forth-and thou art there;
Thou art where friend meets friend,
Beneath the shadow of the elm to rest;

Thou art where foe meets foe, and trumpets rend
The skies, and swords beat down the princely crest!
MRS. HEMANS,

1. What governs this verb in the infinitive mood?

2. What is stars the nom, to?

THE BEGGAR-MAN.

XLI. THE BEGGAR-MAN,

311

"As the unfortunate chiefly stand in need of our assistance, so there is provided in every breast a most powerful advocate in their favour; an advocate, to whose solicitations it is impossible even for the most obdurate to turn always a deaf ear. The appropriation of the word humanity to this part of our constitution, affords sufficient evidence of the common sentiments of mankind upon the subject. ** The final causes of compassion are to prevent and to relieve misery-to prevent misery by checking the violence of our own angry passions; and to relieve misery by calling our attention, and engaging our good offices to every object of distress within our reach. The latter is the more common and the more important of its offices, at least in the present state of society." -Stewart's Active and Moral Powers.

AROUND the fire, one wintry night,

The farmer's rosy children sat;

The faggot lent its blazing light

And jokes went round and careless chat.

When, hark! a gentle hand they hear
Low tapping at the bolted door;
And, thus to gain their willing ear,

A feeble voice was heard to implore :

"Cold blows the blast across the moor;
The sleet drives hissing in the wind;
Yon toilsome mountain lies before;
A dreary, treeless waste behind.

"My eyes are weak and dim with age;
No road, no path, can I descry;
And these poor rags ill stand the rage
Of such a keen, inclement sky.

"So faint I am, these tottering feet

No more my feeble frame can bear ;
My sinking heart forgets to beat,

And drifting snows my tomb prepare.

"Open your hospitable door,

And shield me from the biting blast;
Cold, cold it blows across the moor,
The weary moor that I have past."

With hasty steps the farmer ran,
And close beside the fire they place
The poor half-frozen beggar-man,

With shaking limbs and pallid face.

The little children flocking came,

And warmed his stiffening hands in theirs;
And busily the good old dame

A comfortable mess prepares.

Their kindness cheered his drooping soul;
And slowly down his wrinkled cheek
The big round tear was seen to roll,
And told the thanks he could not speak.
The children, too, began to sigh,
And all their merry chat was o'er;
And yet they felt, they knew not why,
More glad than they had done before.

XLII. THE QUADROON GIRL.

LUCY AIKIN.

"To Soto belongs the signal honour of being the first writer who condemned the African slave-trade. 'It is affirmed,' says he, that the unhappy Ethiopians are by fraud or force carried away and sold as slaves. If this is true, neither those who have taken thein nor those who purchased them, nor those who hold them in bondage, can ever have a quiet conscience till they emancipate them, even if no compensation should be obtained.' As the work which contains this memorable condemnation of man-stealing and slavery was the substance of lectures for many years delivered at Salamanca, Philosophy and Religion appear, by the hand of their faithful minister, to have thus smitten the monsters, in their earliest infancy. It is hard for any man of the present age to conceive the praise which is due to the excellent monks who courageously asserted the rights of those whom they never saw, against the prejudices of their order, the supposed interest of their religion, the ambition of their government, the avarice and pride of their countrymen, and the prevalent opinions of their time."- Sir James Mackintosh.

THE Slaver in the broad lagoon
Lay moored with idle sail;
He waited for the rising moon,
And for the evening gale.

Under the shore his boat was tied,
And all her listless crew
Watched the grey alligator slide
Into the still bayou.

Odours of orange-flowers and spice
Reached them from time to time,
Like airs that breathe from Paradise
Upon a world of crime.

« 前へ次へ »