O Mabel, timid Mabel,

Go spread the supper-table, And set the tea a-steeping. Your lover's heart is brave,

His boat is stanch and tight;

And your father knows the perilous reef That makes the water white.

But Mabel, Mabel darling, With face against the pane, Looks out across the night

At the Beacon in the rain.

The heavens are veined with fire!
And the thunder, how it rolls!
In the lullings of the storm

The solemn church-bell tolls
For lost souls!

But no sexton sounds the knell
In that belfry old and high;
Unseen fingers sway the bell,

As the wind goes tearing by!
How it tolls for the souls

Of the sailors on the sea!
God pity them, God pity them,
Wherever they may be!

God pity wives and sweethearts
Who wait and wait in vain!

And pity little Mabel,

With face against the pane.

A boom!-the light-house gun!
(How its echo rolls and rolls!)
'Tis to warn the home-bound ships
Off the shoals!

"The heavens are veined with fire!" (See page 300.)

See! a rocket cleaves the sky

From the Fort-a shaft of light! See! it fades, and, fading, leaves Golden furrows on the night!

What made Mabel's cheek so pale? What made Mabel's lips so white? Did she see the helpless sail

That, tossing here and there, Like a feather in the air, Went down and out of sightDown, down, and out of sight? O, watch no more, no more,

With face against the pane;

You can not see the men that drown By the Beacon in the rain!

From a shoal of richest rubies

Breaks the morning clear and cold; And the angel of the village spire,N Frost-touched, is bright as gold. Four ancient fishermen,

In the pleasant autumn air,
Come toiling up the sands,

With something in their hands,-
Two bodies stark and white,

Ah, so ghastly in the light,

With sea-weed in their hair!

O ancient fishermen,

Go up to yonder cot!

You'll find a little child,

With face against the pane,

Notes.

--

Who looks toward the beach,
And, looking, sees it not.
She will never watch again!

Never watch and weep at night!
For those pretty, saintly eyes

Look beyond the stormy skies,

And they see the Beacon Light.

Beacon Light here means the light of a light-house. The angel of the village spire means the figure of an angel used as a vane on the spire of the village church.

Elocution. —State the changes of sentiment that occur in the poem, and how each part should be read.

The repetitions-"Making moan, making moan, "To and fro, to and fro," should be rendered in a slow and measured manner. Language.-Point out and explain the figure of comparison used in the first part of this poem.

Composition. - How many different pictures are presented in the poem? Arrange the names of these pictures in order, and state whether they would make a complete analysis of the story.

Once, when the Republic of Genoa was divided between the factions of the nobles and the people, Uberto, a man of low origin, but of an elevated mind and of superior talents, having raised himself to be the head of the popular party, main