FOR PREPARATION.-I. A part only of this poem is given in this place. Why is the black wasp called a mason"? What spade does the mole use? Why called "pickerel-pond"? What fly "lights his lamp"?

II. Tôr'-toise (-tis), wood'-chuck, ō'-ri-ōle's něst, ehoir (kwir) (and quire).

III. What meaning is given by 's in brim's, boyhood's, bee's? Explain est in whitest; ies in berries. Explain the abbreviations i. e., e. g.

IV. "From fall to fall," "frogs' orchestra," "ceaseless moil."

V. "Cheek of tan" (made out of tan, or only check of tan-color?). "Redder still" (because he had stained his lips with strawberry-juice). "Mocks the doctor's rules" (neglects his rules, or has no need of themwhich ?). What does he mean by all things waiting for him, their master? "Oh, for festal dainties" (that he could enjoy with such relish as he did his bowl of bread and milk). The sky at sunset (6) was like a royal tent with beautiful curtains. "Flinty slopes" and "stubble-speared" (the trials of the boy with bare feet are to walk over a field of stubble or over flinty stones). Explain how shoes may be called "prison-cells of pride."

XXIX. THE STORY OF A WAVELET.

1. The child had sunk into a dream of delight, and was thinking how gladly he would be a sunbeam or a moonbeam. He would have liked to hear more from the dragon-fly. When all grew still, and remained so, he opened his eyes and looked around for his dear guest; but she had flown away into the wide world.

2. As the child did not care to sit alone any longer, he arose and went down to the purling brook. This was flowing along right joyously, and bustling on in a comical way to plunge into the river, just as if the huge mountain were following close upon its heels-the mountain from which it had run away but a little while before, escaping only by a perilous leap.

.

3. Then the child talked to the little waves, and asked

them whence they came. For a long time they would

give him no answer, but rolled away, one over another, until at last one tiny wave, clear as crystal, dropped down, and stopped behind a stone so as not to grieve the friendly child. From her he heard very strange stories, some of which he did not understand; for she told him of her earlier adventures, and of the inside of the mountain.

4. "A long time ago," she said, "I dwelt with countless sisters in a great sea, in peace and unity. We enjoyed many a pastime: now we mounted as high as a house, and peeped at the stars. We saw how the coralbuilders worked themselves tired, in order to come at length to the sweet light of day.

5. "But I was proud, and thought myself much better than my sisters. So once, when the sun had sunk down into the sea, I clung to one of his warm rays, and thought I should now mount even to the stars, and be like one of them. But I had not risen far when the sunbeam shook me off, and, not caring what might become of me, let me fall into a dark cloud.

6. "Soon there was a flash of fire through the cloud, and I was in great peril; but the whole cloud settled down upon a mountain, and I escaped, after much anxiety. Now I hoped to be out of danger, when all of a sudden I slipped upon a pebble, and fell from one stone to another, deeper and deeper down into the mountain, till at last it grew dark as night about me, and I could hear and see nothing more.

7. "Then I found, indeed, that' pride goeth before a fall.' I resigned myself to my fate; and as I had already, while in the cloud, laid aside all pride, so here, now, humility came to be my portion. At length, after many

purifications by means of the mysterious virtues of metals and minerals, I was allowed to come again into the open and pleasant air. I wish now to return to my sisters in the ocean, and there patiently wait till I am called to something better."

8. She had scarcely done speaking when the roots of a forget-me-not caught her, and drew her in, that she might become a flower, and sweetly shine, a little blue star in the green firmament of earth.

Translated by J. C. Pickard from F. W. Carové.

FOR PREPARATION.-I. From the "Story without an End." Lesson XI., the story of "The Lark," is the thirteenth chapter of the same book; Lesson XVII., "In the Forest," is the fifth; and this one, "The Story of a Wavelet," is the second. The dragon-fly has finished his account of the world, and now the child hears the wavelet's story.

II. De-light' (-lit'), ti'-ny, erys'-tal, eòr'-al, re-signed' (-zīnd').

III. Arrange the three forms of the action-words that you find in the fourth and fifth paragraphs, in columns. Arrange "said" and "dwelt," for example, thus:

IV. Purling, bustling, comical, huge, perilous, adventures, unity, anxiety, austere, humility, purifications, mysterious.

V. "Coral-builders" (little animals, incorrectly called "insects," that secrete a stony substance in such quantities as to build the coral formations from the bottom of the sea up toward the surface). The wavelet "clung fast to a ray." Have you seen water "dry up "-i. e., be taken up or absorbed by the air when exposed to the warm sun? What was the "flash of fire through the cloud”? (6.) "Purifications by means," etc.—-i. e., water is filtered through sand and other substances. Read Longfellow's poem, "Flowers," and note the allusion to this story: "When he called the flowers, so blue and golden, stars that in earth's firmament do shine."

XXX.-EMPHASIS BY SLIDES.

PART I.

Listen again, and notice still another way by which words are emphasized. "Are you coming'?” “Yes', in a moment." "Shall we read' together, or talk?" "Let us read." "Will you' read to me'? or shall I` read to you?”

Observe how the voice slides up on some emphatic words, and down on others.

When I say, "Will you read to me?" my voice slides upward on "you" and on "me"; and when I say, "Or shall I read to you?" my voice slides downward on "I" and on " you."

These emphatic tones, which we use in asking and answering direct questions, are called "THE SLIDES." On the simple question, the "rising slide" is heard (marked thus [']); as, "Do you hear'?" On the answer, the "falling slide" is heard (marked thus [']); as, "Yes`, I hear you."

For the right use of these rising and falling slides in reading, we must divide emphatic ideas into two classes, which we will call positive and negative ideas. The most important ideas are positive statements; as,

"Life is real, life is earnest."

"Art is long, and Time is fleeting'."

The less important ideas are negative statements, often in contrast with positive ideas; as,

"Be not like dumb, driven cattle'

Be a hero' in the strife."

The last line is a positive statement.

"Do right, and you will be happy," are both positive.

"If you do right', you will be happy." Here the first idea of doing right is not a command-is not cer tain, but doubtful-is not positive, but negative, and must be read with the rising slide. Hence the general principle for the slides:

POSITIVE IDEAS SHOULD BE READ WITH THE FALLING

SLIDE.

NEGATIVE IDEAS SHOULD BE READ WITH THE RISING

SLIDE.

"Will you take tea' or coffee'?" "No, I thank you; I will take water' or milk', if you please."

The rising slide is given to tea and to coffee because both are negative. The person asking the question is in doubt on both points. But suppose it were certain that one of the two would be taken; then one idea is (in the mind of the person asking the question) positive, and one of the slides must fall. "Will you take tea', or coffee?" "I will take coffee."

"Shall we go to the mountains', or to the seaside'?" This gives us, also, one positive idea. We are going to one place or the other. But, "Shall we go to the moun tains' or seaside' this summer?" makes both " mountains" and "seaside" negative. The person asking is in doubt on each point, and so each has the rising slide. But the answer, "We are going to the mountains', or, "We are going to the seaside'," or, "We shall stay at home," is positive, and therefore requires the falling slide.

"Will you', or you', or you' do me this favor?"

These are all negative ideas. The person asking is not sure that any one will favor him, and so the rising slide must be given to each and all. But if it is positively believed that one of the three will do the favor, then the