him, if his loss should ever be ascertained. There are few so desolate on earth as not to have one friend or associate. There must either be a wife to be widowed, or a child to be made an orphan, or a mother to suffer her own not less grievous bereavement. 8. Perhaps the sole beloved object of some humble domestic circle, whose incomings and outgoings were ever pleasant, is here laid low, while neither can the bereaved learn aught of the fate and final resting-place of their favourite, nor can those who kindly, but without mourning, performed his last offices, reach their ears with the intelligence, grateful even in its pain, of what had been done to his remains. Here the energies which had battled with the waves in their hour of night, and the despair whose expression had been wasted upon the black tempest, are all stilled into rest, and forgotten. The storm is done; its work has been accomplished; and here lies the strange mariner, where no storm shall ever again trouble him. 9. Such are the imaginings which may arise in contemplating that neglected nook in our churchyards which is devoted to the reception of strangers. The other dead have all been laid down in their final beds by long trains of sorrowing friends. They rest in death in the midst of those beloved scenes which their infancy knew, and which were associated with every happiness, every triumph, every sorrow which befell them. 10. But the homeless strangers! they died far from every endeared scene. The rills were not here like those which they had known; the hills were different too. Instead of the circle of friends, whose anticipated grief tends so much to smooth the last bed of suffering man, the pillow of the homeless was arranged by strangers; they were carried to the burial-ground, not by a train of real mourners, anxious to express their respect and affection for the departed, but by a few individuals, who, in so doing, complimented human nature in general, but not the individual. 11. To the other graves there was also some one to resort afterwards, to lament the departure of those who lay below. The spot was always cherished and marked by at least one generation of kind ones; and, whether distinguished by a monument or not, there was always a greater or less interval before the memory of the deceased entirely perished from its place. Still, as each holy day came round, and the living flocked to the house of prayer, there was always some one to send a kind eye aside towards that little mound, and be for a moment moved with a pensive feeling, as the heart recalled a departed parent, or child, or friend. 12. But the graves of the strangers! all regard was shut out from them as soon as the sod had closed over them. The decent few who had affected mourning over the strangers had no sooner turned away, than they were at once forgotten. That ceremony over, their kind had done with them for ever. And so, there they lie, distinguished from the rest only by the melancholy mark that they are themselves undistinguished from each other; no eye to weep over them now or hereafter, and no regard whatsoever to be paid to them till they stand forth, with their fellow-men, at the Great and Final Day. re-cep'-tion burgh'-er mon'-u-ments gen-er-al'-i-ty prod'-i-gal R. Chambers. ac-com'-plished in'-ter-val de-ceased' pen'-sive pos-si-bil'-i-ty do-mes'-tic dis-ap-point'-ed en'-er-gies cer'-e-mon-y mel'-an-chol-y dis-tin'-guished, marked off. peas'-ant, countryman. me-mo'-ri-als, something to re- a-re'-na, space to live and work. ep'-i-taphs, inscriptions on a tomb. pa'-thos, expression of deep feeling. blight, something that injures or con-sol-a'-tion, something to lighten or alleviate. re-pent'-ant, sorry for past neglect or misdeeds. leas, grassy fields. re-col-lec'-tion, memory; remembrance. beach, sea-shore. kin, persons related to one another, or of the same family. con-vey'-ing, carrying. pine, lament; to be sorry for. be-reave'-ment, loss of some one by in-tel'-li-gence, news; information. con-tem'-plat-ing, looking at. an-tic'-i-pat-ed, expected; foreseen. com'-pli-ment-ed, paid some honour to. EXERCISES.-1. The Saxon prefix over- means over, above, beyond; as overhead, over or above the head; overcharge, to charge beyond what is right; overseer, one who has charge over others. 2. Analyse and parse the following: 'When you inquire of the passing peasant respecting this part of the burial-ground, he tells you that it is the corner for strangers.' 3. Make sentences of your own, and use in each one or more of the following words: Arrest, pine, bereavement, anticipate. THE VIRGINIANS. [This extract is from the Virginians, a story by William Makepeace Thackeray, one of the greatest novelists of modern times.] 1. Mr Esmond called his American house Castlewood, from the patrimonial home in the old country. The whole usages of Virginia, indeed, were fondly modelled after the English customs. It was a loyal colony. The Virginians boasted that King Charles II. had been king in Virginia before he had been king in England. English king and English church were alike faithfully honoured there. 2. The resident gentry were allied to good English families. They held their heads above the Dutch traders of New York, and the money-getting Roundheads of Pennsylvania and New England. Never were people less republican than those of the great province which was soon to be foremost in the memorable revolt against the British crown. 3. The gentry of Virginia dwelt on their great lands after a fashion almost patriarchal. For its rough cultivation, each estate had a multitude of hands-of purchased and assigned servants-who were subject to the command of the master. The land yielded their food, live-stock, and game. 4. The great rivers swarmed with fish for the taking. From their banks the passage home was clear. Their ships took the tobacco off their private wharves on the banks of the Potomac or the James River, and carried it to London or Bristol-bringing back English goods and articles of home manufacture in return for the only produce which the Virginian gentry chose to cultivate. 5. Their hospitality was boundless. No stranger was ever sent away from their gates. The gentry received one another, and travelled to each other's houses, in a state almost feudal. The question of slavery was not born at the time of which we write. To be the proprietor of black servants shocked the feelings of no Virginia gentleman; nor, in truth, was the despotism exercised over the negro race generally a savage one. The food was plenty: the poor black people lazy and not unhappy. You might have preached negro emancipation to Madam Esmond of Castlewood, as you might have told her to let the horses run loose out of her stables; she had no doubt but that the whip and the corn-bag were good for both. 6. Her father may have thought otherwise, but his doubts did not break forth in active denial, and he was rather disaffected than rebellious. At one period, this gentleman had taken a part in active life at home, and possibly might have been eager to share its rewards; but in latter days he did not seem to care for them. A something had occurred in his life, which had cast a tinge of melancholy over all his existence. He submitted to life, rather than enjoyed it, and never was in better spirits than in his last hours when he was going to lay it down. 7. When the boys' grandfather died, their mother, in great state, proclaimed her eldest son George her successor and heir of the estate; and Harry, George's younger brother by half an hour, was always enjoined to respect his senior. All the household was equally instructed to pay him honour: the negroes, of whom there was a large and happy family, and the assigned servants from Europe, whose lot was made as bearable as it might be under the government of the lady of Castlewood. 8. In the whole family there scarcely was a rebel save Mrs Esmond's faithful friend and companion, Madam Mountain, and Harry's foster-mother, a faithful negro woman, who never could be made to understand why her child should not be first, who was handsomer, and stronger, and cleverer than his brother, as she vowed; though, in truth, there was scarcely any difference in the beauty, strength, or stature of the twins. 9. In disposition, they were in many points exceedingly unlike; but in feature they resembled each other so closely, that, but for the colour of their hair, it had been difficult to distinguish them. In their |
