NOTES FOR STUDY.

EX PLOIT', an act or deed of dar- PLIGHT, a condition of distress. ing. MAG'IS TRATE, an officer of the law. QUAG'MIRE, marshy ground that CULPRITS, guilty persons, crimigives way under the foot.

PLAGUE, trouble, annoyance.

BE DAUBED', covered with mud.

nals.

CON VENIENCE, suitableness, fit

ness.

XXV. THE WORLD FOR SALE.

RALPH HOYT.

The world for sale!-Hang out the sign;
Call every traveler here to me;
Who'll buy this brave estate of mine,
And set me from earth's bondage free?
"Tis going!—yes, I mean to fling
The bauble from my soul away;
I'll sell it, whatsoe'er it bring;-
The world at auction here to-day!

It is a glorious thing to see,--
Ah, it has cheated me so sore!
It is not what it seems to be:

For sale! It shall be mine no more.
Come, turn it o'er and view it well;
I would not have you purchase dear:
'Tis going! going!-I must sell!

Who bids? Who'll buy the splendid tear?

Here's Wealth in glittering heaps of gold:

Who bids?-but let me tell

A baser lot was never sold;

you fair,

Who'll buy the heavy heaps of care? And here, spread out in broad domain, A goodly landscape all may trace; Hall, cottage, tree, field, hill, and plain;— Who'll buy himself a burial place?

Here's Love, the dreary potent spell
That beauty flings around the heart;
I know its power, alas! too well ;-
"Tis going!-love and I must part!
Must part!-What can I more with love?
All over the enchanter's reign;
Who'll buy the plumeless, dying dove,—
An hour of bliss,—an age of pain!

And Friendship,-rarest gem of earth,
(Whoe'er hath found the jewel his ?)
Frail, fickle, false, and little worth,—
Who bids for friendship-as it is?
"Tis going! going!-Hear the call:

Once, twice, and thrice!-'tis very low! 'Twas once my hope, my stay, my all,— But now the broken staff must go!

Fame! hold the brilliant meteor high;
How dazzling every gilded name!
Ye millions, now's the time to buy!

How much for fame? How much for fame?
Hear how it thunders !-Would you stand
On high Olympus far renown'd?—
Now purchase, and a world command!
And be with a world's curses crown'd!

Sweet star of Hope! with ray to shine
In every sad foreboding breast,
Save this desponding one of mine,-

Who bids for man's last friend and best?
Ah! were not mine a bankrupt life,

This treasure would my soul sustain;

But hope and I are now at strife,
Nor ever may unite again.

And Song! For sale my tuneless lute;
Sweet solace, mine no more to hold;
The chords that charmed my soul are mute,
I cannot wake the notes of old!

Or e'en were mine a wizard shell,
Could chain a world in rapture high;

Yet now a sad farewell! farewell!

Must on its last faint echoes die.

Ambition, Fashion, Show, and Pride,—
I part from all forever now;
Grief, in an overwhelming tide,

Has taught my haughty heart to bow.
Poor heart! distracted, ah, so long,-
And still its aching throb to bear;—
How broken, that once was so strong!
How heavy, once so free from care!

No more for me life's fitful dreams ;-
Bright vision vanishing away!
My bark requires a deeper stream;
My sinking soul a surer stay.
By Death, stern sheriff, all bereft!
I weep, yet humbly kiss the rod;
The best of all I still have left,-
My Faith, my Bible, and my God.

NOTES FOR STUDY.

BAU BLE, a worthless showy thing,

a toy.

DO MAIN', a large territory of land belonging to an individual or a nation.

liant for a moment and then disappears.

O LYM'PUS, a mountain in Greece

where the gods were believed to dwell.

PO'TENT, of great power, very FORE BO'DING, foretelling, warnpowerful.

ing.

EN CHANT'ER, a magician, one WIZARD, an enchanter, a male

who bewitches.

FICK LE, changeful, inconstant.

ME TE OR, Something that is bril

witch.

DIS TRACT'ED, crazed, made fran

tic.

XXVI. THE FOOL OF THE FAMILY.

JACOB GRIMM.

A certain man had two sons.

The elder passed

for a very clever youth; the younger, called Dumling, though the favorite of his mother, was thought to be only half-witted. In fact, his father and elder brother were in the habit of calling him "the fool of the family."

When Dumling had grown to be fifteen years old, his father became tired of supporting the "simpleton; " so he gave the lad twenty German shillings and sent him out into the world to seek his fortune.

With a light heart young Dumling trudged forth, jingling the coins in his pouch, and meditating how he should spend so much money. Before long he met a fisherman carrying a basket on his back. "Ho, master, and what have we here?" said Dumling.

66

Nothing that you can buy," said the fisherman gruffly. But when he heard the money clinking he declared that in his basket he had the most wonderful turbot in the world.

"Mr. Fisherman," said Dumling, when he had peeped in at the beautiful fish, "will you sell your fish for twenty shillings?"

"For want of a better price, yes;" replied the fisherman; and the lad eagerly counted out his twenty shillings and took the turbot.