silver, which belonged to the poor. Who was this person? Evidently a poor man." As the brother and sister were leaving the breakfast table there was a knock at the door. "Come in," said the Bishop. The door opened and a strange and violent group appeared on the threshold. Three men were holding a fourth by the collar-the fourth was Jean Valjean. Monseigneur had advanced as rapidly as his great age permitted, saying. "Ah, there you are; I am glad to see you. Why, I gave you the candlesticks, too, which are also silver. Why did you not take them away with the rest of the plate?" Jean Valjean looked at the Bishop with an expression no human language could describe. Monseigneur, then what this man told us was true. We met him and, as he looked as if he were running away, we arrested him. He had this plate." "And he told you that it was given to him by an old priest at whose house he had passed the night? I see it all. And you brought him back here; that is a mistake.” The police loosed their hold of Jean Valjean, who tottered back. "My friend, before you go take your candlesticks.” Jean Valjean was trembling in all his limbs; he took the candlesticks mechanically, and with wandering looks. "Now, go in peace. By-the-by, when you return, my friend, it is unnecessary to pass through the garden, for you can always enter, day and night, by the front door, which is only latched." Then, turning to the police, he said, "Gentlemen, you can retire." Jean Valjean looked as if he were on the point of fainting. The Bishop walked up to him and said in a low voice: "Never forget that you have promised me to employ this money in becoming an honest man. Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to evil, but to good. I have bought your soul of you. I withdraw it from black thoughts and the spirit of perdition, and give it to God." -Victor Hugo. LESSON XLV Exalted feeling is the emotion aroused by what is noble and grand. It expresses hearty admiration, a sense of greatness, the enthusiasm of a lofty hope, the exaltation of a deep, rich joy. Oh to be in England, etc. (page 107). As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, So Jehovah is round about his people. How good is man's life, the mere living! How fit to employ All the heart and the soul and the senses for ever in joy! The game's afoot; Follow your spirit; and upon this charge, When my eyes shall be turned, etc. (page 76). Prepare ye in the wilderness the way of Jehovah; make level in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain; and the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it. -Isaiah 40:3-5. He saith unto them, But who say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou are the Christ, the Son of the living God. To express this Exalted feeling, the mind must be kindled by imagination (best done through paraphrasing) so that mind and body thrill with the great volume of feeling; and the tones of the voice become expanded and deepened into a full, rich, pure tone. If without inducing the feeling one tries to imitate it by making his voice louder and bigger, he will become pompous, harsh and hoarse. Let your imagination work upon each of the examples in this lesson, then write out a glowing paraphrase of each. Read the passages with the fervor gained from paraphrasing. Find and bring into class a good example of Exalted feeling. EXERCISES Describe exercise 37 so clearly that new students, if present, would know how and why to do it. Lead the class in practising it. LESSON XLVI Emotion is a very subtle quality, and any attempt to manufacture it repels the hearers. Any suspicion that the speaker is parading his own emotion, or trying to stir up the hearers' feelings, spoils their frank and friendly relations. Which of the two pictures of sunrise has more emotion? Practice reading all of these selections until you can feel and express exultant enthusiasm. I had occasion, a few weeks since, to take the early train from Providence to Boston; and for this purpose rose at two o'clock in the morning. Everything around was wrapt in darkness and hushed in silence, broken only by what seemed at that hour the unearthly clank and rush of the train. It was a mild, serene, midsummer's night—the sky was without a cloud-the winds were whist. The moon then in the last quarter, had just risen, and the stars shone with a spectral lustre but little affected by her presence. Jupiter, two hours high, was the herald of the day; the pleiades, just above the horizon, shed their sweet influence in the east. . Such was the glorious spectacle as I entered the train. As we proceeded, the timid approach of twilight became more perceptible; the intense blue of the sky began to soften; the smaller stars, like little children, went first to rest: the sister beams of the pliades soon melted together; but the bright constellations of the west and north remained unchanged. Steadily the wondrous transfiguration went on. Hands of angels, hidden from mortal eyes, shifted the scenery of the heavens; the glories of night dissolved into the glories of dawn. -Edward Everett. Day! Faster and more fast, O'er night's brim, day boils at last; Boils, pure gold, o'er the cloud-cup's brim For not a froth-flake touched the rim Of yonder gap in the solid gray Of the eastern cloud, an hour away; But forth one wavelet, then another, curled, Rose, reddened, and its seething breast Flickered in bounds, grew gold, then overflowed the world. -Robert Browning. Breathes there the man, with soul so dead, Whose heart hath ne'er within him burn'd, -Sir Walter Scott. OPPORTUNITY This I beheld, or dreamed it in a dream:- And thought, "Had I a sword of keener steel— And ran and snatched it, and with battle shout And saved a great cause that heroic day. -Edward Rowland Sill. (Used by permission of Houghton Mifflin Co.) |