on her grandfather to go to bed, and there was nothing to be heard but the ticking of the old clock, and the whistling of the wind among the trees. When he returned, he took his seat in the chimney corner, but remained silent for a long time. At length he turned to her, and speaking very gently, hoped she would say a prayer that night for a sick child.

11. My favourite scholar!' said the poor schoolmaster, smoking a pipe he had forgotten to light, and looking mournfully round upon the walls. It is a little hand to have done all that, and waste away with sickness. It is a very, very little hand.'

EXERCISES.-1. The Latin prefix ad- (which also takes the forms a-, ac-, af-, ag-, al-, an-, ap-, ar-, as-, at-) means to; as adhere, to stick to; ascend, to climb to; accede, to yield to; affix, to fix to; aggravate, to give weight to; alleviate, to lighten or give ease to; annex, to join to; append, to hang to; arrogate, to lay claim to; assume, to take upon (to) one's self; assimilate, to make like to; attract, to draw to.

2. Analyse and parse the following: 'As the schoolmaster said this, he saw that a small blot of ink had been thrown upon one of the copies.'

3. Make sentences of your own, and use in each one or more of the following words: Conduct, testimony, contemplate, sympathy.

THE SCHOOLBOY'S DEATH-BED.

1. The next day, towards night, an old woman came tottering up the garden as speedily as she could, and meeting the schoolmaster at the door, said he was to go to Dame West's directly, and had best run on before her. He and the child were on the point of going out together for a walk, and without relinquishing her hand, the schoolmaster hurried away, leaving the messenger to follow as she might.

2. They stopped at a cottage door, and the schoolmaster knocked softly at it with his hand. It was opened without loss of time. They passed into an inner room, where his infant friend, half dressed, lay stretched upon a bed.

He was a very young boy; quite a little child. His hair still hung in curls about his face, and his eyes were very bright; but their light was of heaven, not earth.

3. The schoolmaster took a seat beside him, and stooping over the pillow, whispered his name. The boy sprang up, threw his wasted arms around his neck, crying out that he was his dear, kind friend.

'I hope I always was. I meant to be, God knows,' said the poor schoolmaster.

4. 'Who is that?' said the boy, seeing Nell. ‘I am afraid to kiss her, lest I should make her ill. Ask her to shake hands with me.'

The sobbing child came closer up, and took the little languid hand in hers. Releasing his again after a time, the sick boy laid him gently down.

5. 'You remember the garden, Harry,' whispered the schoolmaster, anxious to rouse him, for a dullness seemed gathering upon the child, and how pleasant it used to be in the evening? You must make haste to visit it again, for I think the very flowers have missed you, and are less gay than they used to be. You will come soon, my dear, very soon now, won't you?'

The boy smiled faintly, so very, very faintly, and put his hand upon his friend's gray head. He moved his lips too, but no voice came from them; no, not a sound.

6. In the silence that ensued, the hum of distant voices, borne upon the evening air, came floating through the open window.

What's that?' said the sick child, opening his

eyes.

'The boys at play upon the green.'

He took a handkerchief from his pillow, and tried to wave it above his head. But the feeble arm dropped powerless down.

Shall I do it?' said the schoolmaster.

window,' was the faint

7. 'Please wave it at the reply. Tie it to the lattice. Some of them may see it there. Perhaps they'll think of me, and look this

way.'

He raised his head, and glanced from the fluttering signal to his idle bat, that lay, with slate and book, and other boyish property, upon a table in the room. And then he laid him down softly once more, and asked if the little girl were there, for he could not see her.

8. She stepped forward and pressed the passive hand that lay upon the coverlet. The two old friends and companions-for such they were, though they were

man and child-held each other in a long embrace, and then the little scholar turned his face towards the wall, and fell asleep.

The poor schoolmaster sat in the same place, holding

It was but

the hand of a dead child. He felt that; and yet he

chafed it still, and could not

lay it down.

Dickens.

B

EXERCISES.-1. The Latin prefix am-, amb-, or ambi-, means round about; as amputate, to cut round about; ambient, going round, surrounding; ambition, the going round about, that is, the canvassing for votes, practised by candidates for office in Rome.

2. Analyse and parse the following: 'They passed into an inner room, where his infant friend, half dressed, lay stretched upon a bed.' 3. Make sentences of your own, and use in each one or more of the following words: Relinquish, languid, amputate.

BARBARA FRIETCHIE.

[This poem, by the American poet, J. G. Whittier, narrates a patriotic incident in the American Civil War (1861-65).]

1. Up from the meadows, rich with corn,
Clear from the cool September morn,
The clustered spires of Frederick stand,
Green-walled by the hills of Maryland.

2. Round about them orchards sweep,
Apple and peach tree fruited deep;
Fair as a garden of the Lord

To the eyes of the famished rebel horde.

3. On that pleasant morn of the early fall, When Lee marched over the mountain wall, Over the mountains winding down,

Horse and foot, into Frederick town,

4. Forty flags with their silver stars,
Forty flags with their silver bars,
Flapped in the morning wind: the sun
Of noon looked down and saw not one.

5. Up rose old Barbara Frietchie then,
Bowed with her fourscore years and ten,
Bravest of all in Frederick town,

She took up the flag the men hauled down ;