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

the small, cold hand in his, and chafing it. It was but the hand of a dead child. He felt that; and yet he chafed it still, and could not lay it down.

mess'-en-ger

anx'-ious

re-lin'-quish-ing, letting go.

lan'-guid, feeble.

re-leas'-ing, letting go; dropping. en-sued', followed.

pro'-per-ty

Dickens.

em-brace'

window.

pass'-ive, unresisting.

chaf-ing, warming by rubbing.

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;

6. In her attic window the staff she set,
To show that one heart was loyal yet.
Up the street came the rebel tread,
Stonewall Jackson riding ahead;

7. Under his slouched hat left and right He glanced—the old flag met his sight. 'Halt!' the dust-brown ranks stood fast; 'Fire!'-out blazed the rifle blast.

8. It shivered the window, pane and sash; It rent the banner with seam and gash, Quick, as it fell from the broken staff, Dame Barbara snatched the silken scarf;

9. She leaned far out on the window sill
And shook it forth with a royal will.
'Shoot, if you must, this old gray head,
But spare your country's flag,' she said.

10. A shade of sadness, a blush of shame,
Over the face of the leader came;
The noble nature within him stirred
To life, at that woman's deed and word.

11. 'Who touches a hair of yon gray head,
Dies like a dog. March on!' he said.
All day long through Frederick street
Sounded the tread of marching feet;

12. All day long the free flag tossed

Over the heads of the rebel host;
Ever its torn folds rose and fell
On the loyal winds, that loved it well;

13. And through the hill-gaps sunset light Shone over it with a warm good-night. Barbara Frietchie's work is o'er,

And the rebel rides on his raid no more.

14. Honour to her! and let a tear

Fall, for her sake, on Stonewall's bier!
Over Barbara Frietchie's grave,
Flag of Freedom and union, wave!

15. Peace, and order, and beauty draw

Round thy symbol of light and law,
And ever the stars above look down
On thy stars below, in Frederick town!

Fred'-er-ick, a town in Maryland,

United States.

Ma'-ry-land, one of the eastern

American States.

or'-chards, gardens of fruit trees.
fruit'-ed deep, heavily laden with
fruit.

fam'-ished, half starved.
reb'-el horde, company of soldiers

belonging to the South or Con-
federate army. They were
called 'rebels' because they
seceded from the government
of the United States, to form
a government of their own.
fall, autumn, or the time when the
leaves fall.

Lee, the commander of the Confeder

ate army during the Civil War. sil'-ver stars, the stars, in a blue

ground, on the flag of the
United States.

un'-ion

sil'-ver bars, the white bars or
stripes on the United States
flag.

at'-tic, a room in the roof of a house.
loy'-al, true to her country.
Stone'-wall Jack'-son, a general in
the Confederate army; called
'Stonewall' because of the
resolute bravery with which he
led his men. He died of
wounds received in battle.
slouched hat, a hat with the brim
pointing slightly downwards.
sash, the case or frame for panes
of glass.

sill, the lower part of the window.
raid, a riding into an enemy's

country to conquer or plunder. bier, the carriage or wooden frame for bearing a dead body to the grave.

sym'-bol, a sign or emblem.