Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

that he failed to see the wonderful clothes. So on the procession moved, amid the delighted applause of the crowd.

At last a little child cried out in a shrill voice, "How funny! he has nothing on but his hat, shirt, and trousers!"

That word of simple truth broke the spell, and in a moment more the emperor in his new clothes was greeted with the derisive cheers of the mob. HANS ANDERSEN.

Biography.-Hans Christian Andersen, the Danish poet and author, was born in 1805, and died in 1875.

Owing to poverty, the education of the poet was begun somewhat later in life than is usual, and he did not enter upon his academic studies until he was twenty-three years old. Before that time, however, he had given evidence of his wonderful powers in the composition of a number of poems. One of these, "The Dying Child," attracted general attention.

The greater part of Andersen's life was devoted to travel; and in this way, he became master of a great number of the legends current in different parts of Europe.

Probably there are few writers of the century, whose works will stand the test of time better than those of Andersen. His writings are in a style peculiarly pleasing to young readers. Among his works, which are generally read in this country, are "Picture Book without Pictures," "Tales from Jutland," and "Tales for Children."

Notes.-A prime minister is the chief adviser of a king or

queen.

A chamberlain is a high officer of a court.

Warp means the threads extended lengthwise in a loom. Woof means the threads which cross the warp in weaving.

Language. -Select from the lesson three simple sentences; two compound sentences.

If a sentence has either its subject or predicate modified by another sentence, used either as an adverb or adjective, it is called a complex sentence, as "The child who cried out, was honest." Here we have the sentence (clause) "who cried out" used as a modifier of child, a name-word, and hence an adjective.

Select two complex sentences from the lesson.

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Thou art no lingerer in monarch's hall:
A joy thou art and a wealth to all;

A bearer of hope unto land and sea:
Sunbeam, what gift hath the world like thee?

Thou art walking the billows, and ocean smiles; Thou hast touched with glory his thousand isles; Thou hast lit up the ships, and the feathery foam, And gladdened the sailor like words from home.

To the solemn depths of the forest shades
Thou art streaming on through their green arcades,
And the quivering leaves that have caught thy glow,
Like fireflies glance to the pools below.

I looked on the mountains: a vapor lay
Folding their heights in its dark array;
Thou breakest forth, and the mist became
A crown and a mantle of living flame.

I looked on the peasant's lowly cot:
Something of sadness had wrapped the spot;
But a gleam of thee on its casement fell,

And it laughed into beauty at that bright spell.

Sunbeam of summer, O, what is like thee,
Hope of the wilderness, joy of the sea!
One thing is like thee, to mortals given-
The faith touching all things with hues of heaven.
MRS. HEMANS.

Biography.-Felicia Dorothea Hemans, an English poetess, was born at Liverpool in 1794, and died at Dublin in 1835.

The first volume of her poems was published when she was fourteen years of age; and the second, when she was eighteen. Mrs. Hemans' style is both natural and pleasing. Her poem "Casabianca" is one of the most popular in the English language. Among her works, may be mentioned: "The Siege of Valencia," "The Last Constantine," and "Hymns for Childhood."

Language..-This poem, in which the Sunbeam is repeatedly addressed as a person, is an example of the figure A pos' tro phe. Apostrophe signifies a turning away from the ordinary form of address; an inanimate object is regarded as a person, or what is distant as near at hand.

Point out two metaphors in the second stanza.

23.-PAPER.

çon version, making; chang

ing.

eom pēte, strive.
ad here', stick fast.
trans versely, crosswise.
rèm'nants, small portions.
eo he'şion (zhăn), uniting.

sub jěet'ed, brought under the action of.

di vĕr' si ty, variety.

euï răss', (kwe răs'), a piece of

armor covering the body.

mi nūte, very small.

flex'i ble, capable of being bent.

N

Egypt, China, and Japan, are the countries in which the earliest manufacture of paper is known to have been carried on. The Egyptian paper was made of the plant called papyrus, a kind of grass. According to the information handed down to us, the delicate inner fibers were separated from the blade of the grass, and spread upon a table in such a manner that they overlapped one another.

The table was sprinkled with water from the Nile, which had, no doubt, the effect of moistening the natural gum of the plant so as to make the fibers adhere. When this first layer of papyrus fiber was complete, succeeding layers were laid upon it transversely, until the paper was sufficiently thick. These layers were then pressed together, and the sheet of paper was dried in the sun.

The best quality was preserved for religious uses, and not allowed to be exported. The Romans, however, discovered a process of cleansing this kind of paper from the marks of writing, and after this discovery they imported from Egypt sacred books written on this material, which they used for their own purposes, after the original writing had been removed.

Besides the papyrus, there are remnants of ancient paper made of the inner bark of trees. Egyptian paper was in general use in Europe until the eighth or ninth century. It then slowly began to give place to paper manufactured from cotton and other materials, the art of making which was apparently learned by the Arabs in Asia, and introduced by them into Europe.

This manufacture had probably spread to Western Asia from China, where it is known to have existed at a very early period. Paper was made by the Chinese from some materials at least as early as the beginning of the first century, and, according to their own account, the fabrication of paper from cotton appears to have been invented about 200 A. D.

The materials that have been used for the manufacture of paper are very numerous. In China,

N

where much of the paper made is of very excellent quality, different materials are used in different provinces. Hemp and linen rags are used in one part of the country; the inner bark of the mulberry-tree in another; and in other parts, the bark of the elm, straw, bamboo, etc.

The Japanese make use principally of a kind of mulberry tree, and the paper manufactured by them is unequaled for strength and softness, qualities which enable it to be used for many purposes for which leather is commonly employed elsewhere, such as the making of ladies' reticules.

The natives of Mexico, before the Spanish Conquest, made their paper from the leaves of the agave plant, or American aloe, in a manner resembling the ancient mode of preparing papyrus.

After the introduction into Europe of cotton and linen rags as materials for paper-making, the use of other vegetable fibers was for many centuries entirely, or almost entirely, given up; not so much, however, on account of their unfitness, as because rags, besides being admirably adapted for the purpose, were cheaper than any other material.

It was not until about the close of the eighteenth century that paper-manufacturers began again to turn their attention to the possibility of using vegetable fibers as substitutes for rags. In 1772, a German published a work containing sixty specimens of paper made from different vegetable substances. From this time, serious attempts were made to find a process, by which some of these vegetable materials could be used with success to replace rags.

The difficulty did not consist in the mere con

« VorigeDoorgaan »