56. The stranger praised the eloquence of our pulpit, bar, and senate. 57. But, Mr. Speaker, the gentleman says we have a right to tax America! Oh! inestimable right! Oh! wonderful, transcendent right, the assertion of which has cost this country thirteen provinces, six islands, one hundred thousand lives, and seventy millions of money. 58. Dear, my soul is gray With poring over the long sum of ill; So much for vice, so much for discontent, So much for the connivances of fear. 59. Hast thou given the horse strength? hast thou clothed his neck with thunder? Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? 60. Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky, that dost not bite so nigh as benefits forgot. 61. As fire drives out fire, so pity, pity. 62. What stronger breast-plate than a heart untainted? 63. Strange cozenage! None would live passed years again; yet all hope pleasure in what yet remain; and from the dregs of life think to receive what the first sprightly running could not give. 64. He who ascends to mountain-tops, shall find The loftiest peaks most wrapped in clouds and snow; He who surpasses or subdues mankind, Must look down on the hate of those below. And thus reward the toils which to those summits led. 65. Ye stars! which are the poetry of heaven! If in your bright leaves we would read the fate Of men and empires,-'tis to be forgiven, That in our aspirations to be great, Our destinies o'erleap their mortal state, A beauty and a mystery, and create In us such love and reverence from afar, That fortune, fame, power, life, hath named themselves a star. EXERCISES IN COMPOSITION. REPRODUCTION XII. PROSE READINGS. REPRODUCTION XIII. VALDEMAR THE HAPPY. FAVORED in love, and first in war, Bards had written heroic lays, Minstrels had sung in Valdemar's praise. Mothers had taught their babes his name, Beautiful eyes grew soft and meek When Valdemar opened his mouth to speak. Warriors grim obeyed his word, Nobles were proud to call him Lord. "Favored in love and famed in war, Happy must be King Valdemar!" So, as he swept along in state, Muttered the crone at the palace gate,— Laughing to clasp in her withered palms Home at evening, for rest is sweet, Home at evening from chase and ring, Flickered the lamp in the cottage room, 1 One went forth at the break of day, One lay still at the break of day- And never again might Valdemar Silent, as if on holy ground, The weeping courtiers throng around. Tenderly, as his mother might, They turn his face to the morning light,— Loose his garments at throat and wrist, Under the linen soft and white, What surprises their aching sight? Fretting against the pallid breast, Find they a penitent's sackcloth vest. Seamed, and furrowed, and stained, and scarred, Sadly the flesh of the King is marred. Never had monk under serge and rope, Hidden away with closer art The passion and pain of a weary heart, Than had he whose secret torture lay At the lips all pale and the close-shut eyes, Eyes once lit with the fire of youth, From each to each there floated a sigh, "Had this man reason? Then what am I?" O friend, think not that stately step, That sweep of velvet or fall of lace, Are signs that tell of a soul at rest: She shrinks away from the palace glare, And kisses the crone at the palace gate, MARGARET E. SANGSTER. DEVELOPMENT XIII. THE SPIDER'S WEB-A FABLE. A DEXTROUS spider chose The delicate blossom of a garden rose Whereon to plant and bind The net he framed to take the insect kind. And when his task was done, Proud of the cunning lines his art had spun, He said: "I take my stand Close by my work, and watch what I have planned. And now, if Heaven should bless My labors with but moderate success, No fly shall pass this way, Nor gnat, but it shall fall an easy prey." He spoke, when from the sky A strong wind swooped, and whirling, hurried by, Rose, leaf, and web, and plans and hopes were cast. W. C. BRYANT. DEVELOPMENT XIV. ELDORADO. GAYLY bedight, A gallant knight, In sunshine and in shadow, Singing a song, In search of Eldorado. But he grew old,— This knight so bold, And o'er his heart a shadow No spot of ground That looked like Eldorado. And, as his strength "Where can it be This land of Eldorado?" "Over the Mountains Of the Moon, Down the Valley of the Shadow, Ride, boldly ride," The Shade replied,— "If you seek for Eldorado." EDGAR A. POE. DEVELOPMENT XV. ABOU BEN ADHEM. ABOU BEN ADHEM (may his tribe increase!) |