2. In our isle's enchanted hall, Hands unseen thy couch are strewing; Every sense in slumber dewing. 3. Soldier, rest! Thy warfare o'er, 4. No rude sound shall reach thine ear, Mustering clan, or squadron tramping. 5. Yet the lark's shrill fife may come, 6. Ruder sounds shall none be near; Sir Walter Scott. FOR PREPARATION.-I. This song is found in Scott's "Lady of the Lake," and is sung by the Lady of the Lake herself. What is a bittern?—a lark? In what country are they found? What is a pībroeh, and where used? (The scene of this piece is a beautiful island in Loch Katrine, a lake of Scotland surrounded by woody hills; on the south are Ben Venue and Aberfoyle, on the east Loch Achray, on the north the Trossachs, Ben Voirlich, Uam-Var, etc. See Lessons XX. and XXII.: the lady sings for the huntsman there described, who is lost, and has wandered to this island. II. War'-fâre, break'-ing, bit'-tern, squad'-ron, neigh ), chăllenge. III. When would you use thy, and when thou? (Note the use of "thy" and "thou," and words of this style, in modern poetry as well as in old English prose.) What is omitted in o'er? Why not say sleep who knows not," etc., instead of "that knows not"? Explain 's in isle's, armor's, lark's, here's. IV. "Battled fields," clang, fallow (uncultivated land), clan, sedgy, champing. V. Contrast the first and second stanzas: the allusion to battle-scenes in the former, and the quiet, peaceful surroundings of the latter. Make the same contrast between the third and fourth stanzas, and the fifth (the lark's fife instead of the soldier's fife, and the bittern's drum instead of the soldier's drum). Note the difference between squadrons (of the regular Scotch army) and the "shouting clans" (of wild mountaincers, who strove to be independent). LXV. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 1. One of the Americans who rendered the greatest services to the liberty of their country was Dr. Benjamin Franklin. He was born in Boston in 1706, and was the son of a poor tallow-chandler. When a boy, he learned the printer's trade; at seventeen he left home, and established himself in Philadelphia. 2. He and a young partner began business with no capital, and felt very grateful to a friend whom they met in the street and who gave them a five-shilling job. Afterward they set up a newspaper, and published an almanac called "Poor Richard's Almanac," which had a great circulation. They also dealt in all sorts of small wares rags, ink, soap, feathers, and coffee. 3. Franklin was a great reader, and a great student of science, and especially of electricity. He formed the theory that lightning and the electrical fluid are the same thing. This he said in a pamphlet, and some readers thought it a very absurd view. Then he resolved to prove it. He and his young son made a great kite of a silk handkerchief, fastened a piece of sharpened wire to the stick, and went out to fly the kite in a thunder storm. 4. As the low thunder-cloud passed, the electric fluid came down the string of the kite. When Franklin touched a key that he had fastened to the string, his knuckles drew sparks from it, and proved that there was electricity there. This led him to invent the lightningrod, which is now in almost universal use. This discovery at once made him very famous in Europe, as well as in America. 5. He was afterward sent to England on a public mission, and remained there till the outbreak of the Revolution. Returning to America, he was one of the framers and signers of the Declaration of Independence. He was sent to France as ambassador, and aided in making the treaty with France which secured the independence of the American colonies. 6. He was a man of the greatest activity, public spirit, and wit. He exercised great influence in all public affairs, and founded more good institutions and benevolent enterprises than any other American of his time. His last public act was to sign a memorial to Congress in behalf of the Philadelphia Antislavery Society, of which he was president, asking the abolition of slavery. 7. He lived to the age of eighty-four, dying in 1790. The whole nation mourned when he died. Mirabeau, then the leader of the French Assembly, called him "tne sage whom two worlds claim as their own," and proposed that the Assembly should wear mourning on the arm for him during three days, which was done. It was said of him after his death, by a celebrated Frenchman (Turgot), that "he snatched the lightning from the sky, and the scepter from tyrants!" T. W. Higginson. FOR PREPARATION.-I. From Higginson's "Young Folks' History of the United States." To whom is the word "Americans" applied? Why not to Mexicans and Canadians? The literature relative to the Revolutionary War fixed the word in a national meaning, partly from the difficulty of forming a descriptive word from the name of our nation (United Statesians!). II. Sçi'-ençe, knuck'-leş (nŭk'lz), al'-ma-năe, out'-break, Mi-ra-beau' (-bō'), Tūr-gōt' (-gō'). III. Make a list of ten abbreviations that you remember, and write opposite each the full word, thus: Dr.-Doctor; N. A.-North America; U. S.-United States; Mo.-Missouri; N. Y.-New York, etc. IV. Rendered, universal, famous, sage, memorial, "electric fluid" (is it really a "fluid"?), partner, capital (money, and other means, to carry cn business), lightning-rod, "Declaration of Independence." V. "With no capital" (2). Some capital was furnished by his partner. He withdrew in 1729, and Franklin afterward started the store and the almanac alone. The famous experiment of Franklin "drew electricity from the clouds." Doubtless it can be drawn from the upper air on a cloudless day. Had the lightning really descended his kite-string, it would have killed Franklin, as it did the Russian who undertook to repeat the experiment. LXVI. THE THREE BLACK CROWS. 1. Two honest tradesmen meeting in the Strand, Replied his friend. "No? I'm surprised at that. 2. "But you shall hear an odd affair, indeed! 3. "Impossible!" "Nay, but 'tis really true; I had it from good hands, and so may you.' "From whose, I pray?" So, having named the man, Straight to inquire his curious comrade ran: "Sir, did you tell-" (relating the affair). "Yes, sir, I did; and, if 'tis worth your care, 'Twas Mr. Such-a-one who told it me. But, by-the-by, 'twas two black crows-not three." 4. Resolved to trace so wondrous an event, Quick to the third the virtuoso went: "Sir" (and so forth). "Why, yes--the thing is fact, Though, in regard to number, not exact : It was not two black crows-'twas only one. The gentleman himself told me the case." "Where may I find him?" "Why, in such a place." 5. Away he went; and, having found him out: "Sir, be so good as to resolve a doubt." Then to his last informant he referred, And begged to know if true what he had heard: |
