Ye that in waters glide, and ye that walk To hill, or valley, fountain, or fresh shade, Milton. ye have call'd me long, lay, a song fringe, border; edge hesperius. vireo. sprujen. sono. domaine. I come o'er the mountains with light and song; pass. I have breathed on the South, and the chestnut flowers, By thousands, have burst from the forest-bowers; And the ancient graves and the fallen fanes, Are veil'd with wreaths on Italian plains. -But it is not for me, in my hour of bloom, To speak of the ruin, or the tomb! I have pass'd o'er the hill of the stormy North, And the rein-deer bounds through the pasture free, And the moss looks bright where my step has been. I have sent through the wood-paths a gentle sigh, To the swan's wild note by the Iceland lakes, From the streams and founts I have loosed the chain ; Away from the dwellings of care-worn men, Mrs. Hemans. LESSON II. THE HOLLY TREE. con-tem/-plates, regards contemplor. in-trude', to come in unwelcome as-per-i-ty, harshness a/the-ist, one who de nies the existence of trudo. plico. capio. emblema. cu'-ri-ous, inquisitive ap-pear', to seem em-blems, figures; representations au-stere', stern; severe re-served', not frank · servo. The common holly is found abundantly in the middle of Europe, and the southern side of the range of the Caucasus. It is valued chiefly as an ornamental tree, but its fine-grained, heavy, compact timber is used for a great number of useful purposes, especially by the turner and mathematical instrument maker. The berries are poisonous, producing violent emetic effects. The Nat. Cyclopædia. O reader! hast thou ever stood to see The holly tree? The eye that contemplates it well perceives Ordered by an Intelligence so wise As might confound the atheist's sophistries. Below, a circling fence, its leaves are seen No grazing cattle, through their prickly round, But as they grow where nothing is to fear, I love to view these things with curious eyes, And in this wisdom of the holly tree Wherewith, perchance, to make a pleasant rhyme, One which may profit in the after-time. Thus, though abroad, perchance, I might appear To those who on my leisure would intrude, Gentle at home amid my friends I'd be, And should my youth, as youth is apt, I know, All vain asperities, I, day by day, Would wear away; Till the smooth temper of my age should be And as, when all the summer trees are seen The holly leaves their fadeless hues display But when the bare and wintry woods we see, So serious should my youth appear among So would I seem, amid the young and gay, That in my age as cheerful I might be LESSON III. Southey. crowned, covered; adorned clime, region corōna. klima. crea'-ture, animal ter-rif-ic, dreadful · cor'-mo-rant, a bird Up! up! let us a voyage take, creo. solemnis. splendeo. terreo. I long to see the Northern Lights', I long to see those icebergs 2 vast, azur. corvus marīnus. With heads all crown'd with snow; I long to hear the thund'ring crash And the echoes from a thousand cliffs, 1 The Aurora Borealis. In the northern skies, in clear frosty evenings, this electrical phenomenon is often seen. To the inhabitants of the arctic regions the Aurora Borealis proves a great solace during the long absence of the solar rays. 2 Icebergs, mountains of ice, sometimes immovably fixed upon some projecting mass in the sea, but generally floating from place to place according to the action of the wind and currents. Many of them have an elevation of 200 feet above the level of the ocean; and vessels are often lost by coming in contact with these immense floating mountains. |