That sometimes from the savage den, There came and looked him in the face, And that unknowing what he did, And saved from outrage, worse than death, And how she wept and clasped his knees, And ever strove to expiate, The scorn that crazed his brain. And that she nursed him in a cave, His dying words-but when I reached All impulses of soul and sense Had thrilled my guileless Genevieve, The music and the doleful tale, The rich and balmy eve. And hopes, and fears that kindle hopes, She wept with pity and delight, She blushed with love and virgin shame, And like the echo of a dream, I heard her breathe my name. Her bosom heaved; she stept aside, She half enclosed me in her arms, "Twas partly love, and partly fear, I calmed her fears, and she was calm, THE COURTIN'. LOWELL. [In reciting this capital sketch of Yankee Courtship, care should be taken not to overdo the humor-it is not a burlesque, but a bit of real life, and the slight nasal drawl and droll pronounciation of the words should be just sufficiently marked to give truthful local coloring to the pretty picture ] GOD makes sech nights!—all white an' still Zekle crep' up quite unbeknown, An' peeked in thru' the winder; An' there sot Huldy ail alone, 'A fireplace filled the room's one side, There warn't no stoves tell comfort died The wa'nut logs shot sparkles out An' leetle flames danced all about Agin the chimbley crook-necks hung; The ole queen's-arm thet Gran'ther Young The very room, coz she was in, "Twas kin' o' kingdom-come to look He was six foot o' man-A 1,— He'd sparked it with full twenty gals- But long o' her his veins 'ould run She thought no vice hed sech a swing My! when he made Old Hundred ring, An' she'd blush scarlet, right in prayer, Thet night, I tell ye, she looked some: She heered a foot, an' knowed it tu, He kin' o' l'itered on the mat, An' yit she gin her cheer a jirk, "You want to see my Pa, I s'pose?" "Wal no, I come design-in'-" "To see my Ma? she's sprinklin' clo'se Agin to-inorrer's i'nin'." To say why gals act so or so, Or don't 'ould be presumin'; Mebby to mean yes an' say no, Comes nateral to women. He stood a spell on one foot fust, Says he, "I'd better call agin;” Says she, "Think likely, Mister;" When Ma bimeby upon 'em slips, For she was jes' the quiet kind, Whose naturs never vary— Like streams that keep a summer mind, The blood clost roun' her heart felt glued, Tell mother see how metters stood, Then her red come back like the tide, THE RICH MAN AND THE POOR MAN. KREMITZEN. [The following is a very useful piece for recitation; as it will display all the reciter's ability; not as a powerful speaker, but as being able, by attention to the peculiar punctuation and covert meaning, to render obvious all the delicate lights and shades of truth and irony conveyed by the varying sentences.] So goes the world;-if wealthy you may call This, friend; that, brother;-friends and brothers all; You may have been a stable-boy-what then? But if you are poor, Heaven help you! though your sire Had royal blood in him, and you Possess the intellect of angels, too. "Tis all in vain ;-the world will ne'er inquire On such a score:-why should it take the pains? "T is easier to weigh purses, sure, than brains. I once saw a poor fellow, keen and clever, Witty and wise; he paid a man a visit, And no one noticed him, and no one ever Gave him a welcome. "Strange,” cried he, "whence is it?" He walked on this side, then on that, He tried to introduce a social chat; Now here, now there, in vain he tried: And some said, by their silence" Better stay at home." A rich man burst the door, |