3. The time for honest folks to be abed

Is in the morning, if I reason right;
And he who cannot keep his precious head
Upon his pillow till it's fairly light,
And so enjoy his forty morning winks,
Is up to knavery, or else he drinks.

4. Thomson, who sung about the "Seasons," said
It was a glorious thing to rise in season;
But then, he said it-lying-in his bed
At ten o'clock A. M.,-the very reason
He wrote so charmingly. The simple fact is,
His preaching wasn't sanctioned by his practice.

5. 'Tis, doubtless, well to be sometimes awake,— Awake to duty and awake to truth;

But when, alas! a nice review we take

Of our best deeds and days, we find, in sooth, The hours that leave the slightest cause to weep Are those we passed in childhood—or asleep.

6. So, let us sleep, and give the Maker praise.

I like the lad who, when his father thought To clip his morning nap by hackneyed phrase

Of vagrant worm by early songster caught, Cried, "Served him right! it's not at all surprising!

The worm was punished, sir, for early rising."

1. Invented, monopoly, sentimental, maxims, sanctioned, hackneyed, observes, inquire, knavery.

2. Is the first line of this poem a maxim? What is a maxim? How does it differ from a quotation? What maxim is alluded to in the sixth stanza? Is this poem humorous or sarcastic?

XXXIV. GLASS.

1. The uses of glass are innumerable, and yet a few centuries ago it was unknown. Then the peasant and the noble had only shutters to their windows, which had to be kept closed in cold or stormy weather.

2. This was inconvenient, and skins were treated so as to be partly transparent, and were stretched across the opening, to let in a little light while. excluding the cold and rain. A thin piece of stone, like mica, was sometimes used, and oiled paper also supplied the place of glass.

3. It was at length found that silica, lime, and soda, or potash, could be melted together to form glass, and here and there a few rich people began to have glass windows in their homes; but this was so costly that it was often removed from windows and carefully put away when the house was closed for any reason.

4. At first the operation of making glass was slow and laborious. Sheet glass, like bottles, was blown

for hundreds of years, until a Frenchman discovered the process of making it by machinery. Now glass is so common and cheap that we can hardly imagine a comfortable existence without it.

5. It seems very strange; but many of our modern inventions were known thousands of years ago, and then became forgotten. This is true of the art known thousands of

of making glass, which was years before the Christian era, as is proved by pictures on the ancient tombs representing glassblowers at work.

6. But in the first century it disappeared, and for years was a lost art. In Venice, during the fifth century, the art of glass-making was rediscovered, and for a long time it was kept secret from other nations. The people grew rich from its sale, and Venice soon became celebrated everywhere for the beauty of its glassware.

7. After a while other nations found out the secret process, and manufactories were started in Germany and Bohemia, and soon nearly every nation was producing glass of various qualities; yet none rivaled Venice except Bohemia.

8. The Bohemians rediscovered the art of engraving on glass, which had been known years before, but which was lost when glass itself disappeared. In some things they surpassed the Venetians, for they learned to color glass so beautifully that all

the rich people wanted it, and it was prized more than the Venetian glass.

9. One day an Englishman, hunting for curiosities among the ruins of Thebes, found a glass bead covered with tiny pictures. Now, in the days of ancient Thebes, hieroglyphics, as such pictures were called, were used instead of letters and words; and when these little pictures were read they were found to mean, "The good queen Ramaka, the loved of Athor, protectress of Thebes."

10. As Queen Ramaka lived more than three thousand years ago, this bead was believed to have been made then and to have lain untroubled for centuries in the ruins, and to prove that glassmaking was known at that time.

11. Another famous curiosity in glass is the Barberini vase. No one knows exactly how old it is, but it was found in a tomb near Rome about four hundred years ago. The claim is made that it is at least two thousand years old.

12. It is made of two layers of glass, one over the other. On this vase skillful painters and engravers have represented the marriage of Peleus and Thetis. Thetis holds a serpent in her left hand and gives her right hand to Peleus. Neptune, the god of the sea, is in front of them, as if to bless their marriage, while Cupid hovers near them in the air. The outer layer being opaque, brings out

these figures, like clear-cut marble, in the deep blue background of the lower layer.

13. On the reverse side of the vase Peleus and Thetis again appear, with a goddess near them and a bust of Ganymede below. This vase was sold for nine thousand dollars to the Duchess of Portland, and is now called the Portland vase.

14. The Peach-blow vase is one of the celebrated vases of modern times. It possesses the delicate shadings of the peach blossom, and is said to have been sold for thirty-seven thousand dollars.

15. The Crystal Palace, in England, was built almost entirely of glass. In a thousand ways the beauty and practical utility of this now common material are proclaimed on every hand.

1. Innumerable, peasant, inconvenient, excluding, laborious, rivaled, engraving, surpassed, curiosities, hieroglyphics, protectress, opaque, reverse, combine, utility.

2. Mention some of the uses of glass. Name some of the different kinds of glass. Can you mention any of "the lost arts"? Did the Indians use "picture writing" when Columbus discovered America? Who first invented letters? What are "letters"?

XXXV. THE FIORDS OF NORWAY.

1. Every one who has looked at the map of Norway must have been struck with the singular char