the friends and relatives with whom we are brought into frequent intercourse. 9. If we have an opportunity of saying a kind word, or doing a kind action to any of these, we ought to do so; for in the right use of such ordinary opportunities consists true goodness and unselfishness. The true hero is the man who, against all temptation to be selfish, and unkind, and mean in his everyday life, is 'never weary in well-doing.' The patient adherence to duty in its common details is more heroic than the theatrical display of our generosity. We may not become famous in so doing; but that matters not. A monument of brass or marble does not make a good deed one whit the better. EXERCISES.-1. The Latin prefix de- means down or from; as deject, to cast down; depend, to hang down; describe, to write down; descend, to come down; depart, to part from; deviate, to go from the way; detain, to hold from or back. 2. Analyse and parse the following: 'We should remember, too, that the unselfishness and generosity which loves to display itself only in a blaze of light and admiration, is of very doubtful character.' 3. Make sentences of your own, and use in each one or more of the following words: Imminent, relieve, imitate, benefactor. MEN OF ENGLAND. 1. Men of England! who inherit Rights that cost your sires their blood! Men whose undegenerate spirit Has been proved on field and flood: 2. By the foes you've fought uncounted, 3. Yet, remember, England gathers Hence but fruitless wreaths of fame, If the freedom of your fathers Glow not in your hearts the same. 4. What are monuments of bravery, 5. Pageants-Let the world revere us 6. Yours are Hampden's, Russell's glory, Sidney's matchless shade is yours— Martyrs in heroic story, Worth a hundred Agincourts! 7. We're the sons of sires that baffled brought to trial and fined. He died in 1643 fighting for the liberties of the English people in the Civil War. Rus'-sell, Lord William Russell, a popular patriot during the reign of Charles II. He was executed on a charge of treason in 1683. Sid'-ney, Algernon Sidney, a popular patriot during the reign of Charles II.; also put to death on a charge of treason in 1683. mar'-tyrs, persons who suffer or die tyr'-an-ny, oppression. EXERCISES.-1. The Latin prefix dis- (which has also the forms di- or dif-) means away, apart, not; as dispel, to drive away; disarm, to take the arms away or from; divert, to turn from or away; divest (literally), to take away or off clothes; disallow, not to allow; disagree, not to agree; differ, to carry apart, that is, to be unlike. 2. Analyse and parse stanza 3. 3. Make sentences of your own, and use in each one or more of the following words: Capture, breaches, avail, martyr. LIBERTY. [This lesson is taken from the Sentimental Journey of Laurence Sterne.] 1. And as for the Bastile, the terror is in the word. Make the most of it you The Bastile. can, said I to myself, the Bastile is but another word for a tower, and a tower is but another word for a house you can't get out of. Mercy on the gouty for they are in it twice a year; but with nine livres a day, and pen, and ink, and paper, and patience, albeit a man can't get out, he may do very well within, at least for a month or six weeks; at the end of which, if he is a harmless fellow, his innocence appears, and he comes out a better and wiser man than he went in. 2. I had some occasion-I forget what-to step into the court-yard as I settled this account; and remember I walked downstairs in no small triumph with the conceit of my reasoning. 'Beshrew the sombre pencil,' said I, for I envy not its powers, which paints the evils of life with so hard and deadly a colouring. The mind sits terrified at the objects she has magnified herself and blackened; reduce them to their proper size and hue, she overlooks them. 'Tis true,' said I, correcting the proposition, 'the Bastile is not an evil to be despised; but strip it of its towers, fill up the fosse, throw open the doors, call it simply a confinement, and suppose 'tis some tyrant of a distemper and not of a man which holds you in it, the evil vanishes, and you bear the other half without complaint.' 3. I was interrupted in the heyday of this soliloquy with a voice which I took to be of a child, which complained it could not get out.' I looked up and down the passage, and seeing neither man, woman, nor child, I went out without further attention. In my return back through the passage, I heard the same words repeated twice over; and looking up, I saw it was a starling hung in a little cage; 'I can't get out, I can't get out,' said the starling. I stood looking at the bird; and to every person who came through the passage, it ran fluttering to the side towards which they approached it, with the same lamentation of its captivity: 'I can't get out,' said the starling. 4. God help thee!' said I, 'but I'll let thee out, cost what it will;' so I turned about the cage to get the door. It was twisted and double-twisted so fast with wire, there was no getting it open without pulling the cage to pieces. I took both hands to it. The bird flew to the place where I was attempting his deliverance, and thrusting his head through the trellis, pressed his breast against it as if impatient. I fear, poor creature,' said I, 'I cannot set thee at liberty.' 'No,' said the starling, 'I can't get out; I can't get out,' said the starling. |