I live to hail that season By gifted minds foretold, I live for those who love me, For those who know me true; For the cause that lacks assistance, And the good that I can do. G. LINNEUS BANKS. Elocution. With what tone of voice should this poem be read? What rate and force should be used? The peculiar double rhyme at the close of the first and third, and of the fifth, sixth and seventh lines, increases a tendency to singsong, which must be carefully avoided. The only lines to be closely joined in the reading occur in the third and fourth stanzas. Mark the inflections that should be used in the first and last stanzas. Language. In the expression follow in their wake, the comparison introduces the term wake, which means the track left by a ship; as a track upon the surface of water can last only for a few moments, the expression really means-follow them closely. As Eden was of old is an example of what figure of comparison ? Composition.-Select six points, without regard to arrangement of stanzas, that would fairly cover the thoughts contained in the poem, and then use them in treating the subject in prose form. 8.-BENJAMIN WEST. PART I. zēal, active interest; eagerness in rụè fu̟l, woeful; mournful. děx'ter qus ly, quickly; skillfully. phyş i Ŏgʼno my (fiz), face or countenance. ǎn'çes tors, those from whom a person descends. proph'e sied (prof), foretold. In the year 1738, there was born in the town of Springfield, Pennsylvania, an infant, who was named Benjamin West, and from whom his parents and neighbors looked for wonderful things. An aged preacher, a friend of his parents, had prophesied about this child and foretold that he would be one of the most remarkable characters that had appeared on the earth since the days of William Penn. Little Ben lived to the ripe age of six years without doing anything that was worthy to be told in history. But one summer afternoon, in his seventh year, his mother put a fan into his hand and bade him keep the flies away from the face of a little child who lay fast asleep in the cradle. She then left the room. The boy waved the fan to and fro and drove away the buzzing flies whenever they had the impertinence to come near the baby's face. When they had all flown out of the window or into distant parts of the room, he bent over the cradle and delighted himself with gazing at the sleeping infant. It was, indeed, a very pretty sight. The little personage in the cradle slumbered peacefully, with its waxen hands under its chin, looking as full of blissful quiet as if angels were singing lullabies in its ear. Indeed, it must have been dreaming about heaven; for, while Ben stooped over the cradle, the little baby smiled. 'How beautiful she looks!" said Ben to himself. "What a pity it is that such a pretty smile should not last forever!" Now Ben, at this period of his life, had never heard of that wonderful art by which a look, that appears and vanishes in a moment, may be made to last for hundreds of years. But, though nobody had told him of such an art, he may be said to have invented it for himself. On a table near at hand, there were pens and paper, and ink of two colors, black and red. The boy seized a pen and sheet of paper, and, kneeling down beside the cradle, began to draw a likeness of the infant. While he was busied in this manner, he heard his mother's step approaching, and hastily tried to conceal the paper. "Benjamin, my son, what hast thou been doing?" inquired his mother, observing marks of confusion in his face. At first, Ben was unwilling to tell; for he felt as if there might be something wrong in stealing the baby's face and putting it upon a sheet of paper. However, as his mother insisted, he finally put the sketch into her hand, and then hung his head, expecting to be well scolded. But, when the good lady saw what was on the paper, in lines of red and black ink, she uttered a scream of surprise and joy. "Bless me!" cried she. Sally!" "It is a picture of little And then she threw her arms around Benjamin, and kissed him so tenderly that he never afterward was afraid to show his performances to his mother. As Ben grew older, he was observed to take vast delight in looking at the hues and forms of nature. For instance, he was greatly pleased with the blue violets of spring, the wild roses of summer, and the scarlet cardinal flowers of early autumn. In the decline of the year, when the woods were variegated with all the colors of the rainbow, Ben seemed to desire nothing better than to gaze at them from morn till night. N The purple and gold clouds of sunset were a joy to him. And he was continually endeavoring to draw the figures of trees, men, mountains, horses, cattle, geese, ducks, and turkeys, with a piece of chalk, on barn doors or on the floor. In those old times, the Mohawk Indians were still numerous in Pennsylvania. Every year a party of them used to pay a visit to Springfield, because the wigwams of their ancestors had formerly stood there. These wild men grew fond of little Ben, and made him very happy by giving him some of the red and yellow paint with which they were accustomed to adorn their faces. His mother, too, presented him with a piece of indigo. Thus he had now three colors-red, blue, and yellow-and could manufacture green by mixing the yellow with the blue. Our friend Ben was overjoyed, and doubtless showed his gratitude to the Indians by taking their likenesses in the strange dresses which they wore, with feathers, tomahawks, and bows and arrows. But all this time the young artist had no paint brushes; nor were there any to be bought, unless he sent to Philadelphia on purpose. However, he was a very ingenious boy, and resolved to manufacture paint brushes for himself. With this design he laid hold upon-what do you think? Why, upon a respectable, old, black cat that was sleeping quietly by the fireside. "Puss," said little Ben to the cat, "pray give me some of the fur from the tip of thy tail." Though he addressed the black cat so civilly, yet Ben was determined to have the fur whether she were willing or not. Puss, who had no great zeal for the fine arts, would have resisted if she could; but the boy was armed with his mother's scissors, and very dexterously clipped off fur enough to make a paint brush. This was of so much use to him, that he applied to Madame Puss again and again, until her warm coat of fur had become so thin and ragged that she could hardly keep comfortable through the winter. Poor thing! She was forced to creep close into the chimney corner, and eyed Ben with a very rueful physiognomy. But Ben considered it more necessary that he should have paint brushes than that puss should be warm. Notes. Cardinal flowers are of several varieties, and of brilliant colors. They derive their name, so it is said, from their color, resembling that of a cardinal's cassock. The colors of the rainbow are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Elocution.-Mark the inflections in the last paragraph. |
