At the bottom of the hill the wagon was standing, all loaded now. So his father lifted him up, and he rode home on the sweet, fragrant hay.

RICHARD JEFFRIES.

autumn (ô'tm): fall of the year
busy (biz'zy)
caressed (ka rest')
fragrant (fra'grnt)

harebell (hâr'bel'): a wild flower,

whose blossom is shaped like a bell listen (lis'n)

mischief (mis'chif)

telescope (tel'e skōp): an instrument through which one looks at faraway things to make them seem nearer and plainer

thyme (tim): a sweet-smelling plant

HELPS TO STUDY

I. 1. What playmates had Bevis? 2. What question did he ask each ? 3. How did the oak answer? The nut-tree? The brook? The butterfly? The wind? 4. With which ones did he talk?

II. 1. With which did Bevis spend the day? 2. What things did it tell him? 3. What does it mean to drink the wind and grow stronger? 4. 4. What two poems have you read in this book that are like this lesson? 5. Tell about some experience of your own, when you have been off by yourself and enjoyed it. Was it in city or country? What did you do? Was it good to remember afterward? What good did you get out of it?

There's no dew left on the daisies and clover,
There's no rain left in heaven;

I've said my "seven times" over and over-
Seven times one are seven.

I am old, so old I can write a letter;
My birthday lessons are done;

The lambs play always; they know no better —
They are only one times one.

O moon! in the night I have seen you sailing And shining so round and low;

You were bright, ah, bright! but your light is failing,

You are nothing now but a bow.

You, moon, have you done something wrong in heaven,

That God has hidden your face?

I hope, if you have, you will soon be forgiven, And shine again in your place.

O velvet bee, you're a dusty fellow;

You've powdered your legs with gold!

5

10

15

20

O brave marshmary buds, rich and yellow,
Give me your money to hold!

And show me your nest with the young ones in it—

I will not steal it away;

5 I am old! you may trust me, linnet, linnet,

I am seven times one to-day!

1. What time of day is it? Is it clear or cloudy? 2. What does the little girl mean by her "seven times that she has said? 3. What makes her think of the lambs playing always? How do you read this line? 4. How did the moon look? 5. Have you ever seen the moon by day? 6. Why does the little girl think the moon hides. part of its face? 7. What does she call the bee? 8. Why does she say the marshmary has money? Remember its color. 9. And the linnet, what does she say to it? 10. Altogether, she is having an interesting birthday. What happy holiday times can you remember and tell about?

THE BROOK

I come from haunts of coot and hern,
I make a sudden sally,

And sparkle out among the fern,
To bicker down a valley.

By thirty hills I hurry down
Or slip between the ridges,
By twenty thorpes, a little town,
And half a hundred bridges.

Till last by Philip's farm I flow

To join the brimming river;

For men may come, and men may go,
But I go on forever.

I chatter over stony ways,
In little sharps and trebles,
I bubble into eddying bays,

I babble on the pebbles.

With many a curve my banks I fret
By many a field and fallow,

5

10

15

And many a fairy foreland set
With willow-weed and mallow.

I chatter, chatter, as I flow

To join the brimming river;

For men may come and men may go,
But I go on forever.

I wind about, and in and out,
With here a blossom sailing,
And here and there a lusty trout,
And here and there a grayling.

And here and there a foamy flake
Upon me, as I travel

With many a silver waterbreak
About the golden gravel.

And draw them all along, and flow
To join the brimming river;

For men may come, and men may go,
But I go on forever.

I steal by lawns and grassy plots,

I slide by hazel covers;