Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

As I had some opinion of my son's prudence, I was willing enough to intrust him with this commission; 3 and the next morning I perceived his sisters mighty busy in fitting out Moses for the fair; trimming his hair, brushing his buckles, and cocking his hat with pins. The business of the toilet being over, we had at Jast the satisfaction of seeing him mounted upon the colt, with a deal box before him, to bring home groceries in. He had on a coat made of that cloth they call thunder-and-lightning; which, though grown too short, was much too good to be thrown away: His waistcoat was of gosling green; and his sisters had 4 tied his hair with a broad black riband. We all followed him several paces from the door, bawling after him, Good luck, good luck, till we could see him no longer.

"Never mind our son," cried my wife, "depend upon it he knows what he is about. I'll warrant we'll never see him sell his hen of a rainy day. I have seen him buy such bargains as would amaze one. I'll tell you a good story about that, that will make you split your sides with laughing. But, as I live, yonder comes 5 Moses, without a horse, and the box at his back.

As she spoke, Moses came slowly on foot, and sweating under the deal box, which he had strapt round his shoulders." Welcome, welcome, Moses; well, my boy, what have you brought us from the fair?"—"] have brought you myself," cried Moses with a sly look, and resting the box on the dresser.-"Ay, Moses," cried my wife, "that we know; but where is the horse?""I have sold him," cried Moses, "for three pounds five shillings and two-pence." "Well done, my good boy," 6 returned she, "I knew you would touch them off. Between ourselves, three pounds five shillings and twopence is no bad day's work. Come, let us have it then." "I have brought back no money," cried Moses again, "I have laid it all out in a bargain; and here it it is," pulling out a bundle from his breast: "here they are; a gross of green spectacles, with silver rims, and shagreen cases.'

[ocr errors]

66 A gross of green spectacles !" repeated my wife in a faint voice: "And you have parted with the colt, and

7 brought us back nothing but a gross of green paltry spectacles!"-"Dear mother," cried the boy, "why won't you listen to reason? I had them a dead bargain, or I should not have bought them. The silver rims. alone will sell for double the money."-"A fig for the silver rims," cried my wife in a passion; "I dare say they won't sell for above half the money at the rate of broken silver, five shillings an ounce." "You need be under no uneasiness," cried I, "about selling the rims; for I perceive they are only copper, varnished over."8" What!" cried my wife, "not silver, the rims not silver!" "No," cried I, "no more silver than your saucepan." "And so," returned she, we have parted with the colt, and have only got a gross of green spectacles, with copper rims, and shagreen cases? A murrin take such trumpery. The blockhead has been imposed upon, and should have known his company better." "There, my dear," cried I, "you are wrong; he should not have known them at all." "Marry, hang the idiot," returned she again, "to bring me such stuff; if I had them, I would throw them into the fire." "There again you are wrong, my dear," cried I; "for, though they be copper, we will keep them by us; as copper spectacles, you know, are better than nothing."

66

LESSON XLVIII.

The Old Man's Funeral.-BRYANT.

1 I SAW an aged man upon his bier:

His hair was thin and white, and on his brow
A record of the cares of many a year;—
Cares that were ended and forgotten now.
And there was sadness round, and faces bowed,
And women's tears fell fast, and children wailed aloud.
2 Then rose another hoary man, and said,

In faltering accents to that weeping train,
"Why mourn ye that our aged friend is dead?
Ye are not sad to see the gathered grain,

Nor when their mellow fruit the orchards cast,
Nor when the yellow woods shake down the ripened mast.
3" Ye sigh not when the sun, his course fulfilled,—
His glorious course, rejoicing earth and sky,-

In the soft evening, when the winds are stilled, Sinks where the islands of refreshment lie, And leaves the smile of his departure, spread

O'er the warm-colored heaven and ruddy mountain head.

4" Why weep ye then for him, who, having run
The bound of man's appointed years, at last,
Life's blessings all enjoyed, life's labors done,
Serenely to his final rest has passed?
While the soft memory of his virtues yet
Lingers, like twilight hues, when the bright sun is set.

5 "His youth was innocent; his riper age

Marked with some act of goodness every day; And, watched by eyes that loved him, calm and sage, Faded his late-declining years away.

Cheerful he gave his being up, and went
To share the holy rest that waits a life well spent.

6 "That life was happy; every day, he gave
Thanks for the fair existence that was his;
For a sick fancy made him not her slave,

To mock him with her phantom miseries.
No chronic* tortures racked his aged limb,
For Luxury and sloth had nourished none. li.

7" And I am glad that he has lived thus long;
And glad that he has gone to his reward;
Nor deem that kindly nature did him wrong,
Softly to disengage the vital cord.

When his weak hand grew palsied, and his eye
Dark with the mists of age, it was his time to die."

1 When life as opening buds is sweet,
And golden hopes the spirit greet,
And youth prepares his joys to meet,
Alas! how hard it is to die!

2 When scarce is seized some valued prize,
And duties press, and tender ties
Forbid the soul from earth to rise,
How awful then it is to die!

* A chronic disease is one of long duration.

3 When, one by one, those ties are torn,
And friend from friend is snatched forlorn,
And man is left alone to mourn,

Ah! then, how easy 'tis to die'

4 When trembling limbs refuse their weight,
And films, slow-gathering, dim the sight,
And clouds obscure the mental light,

"Tis nature's precious boon to die!

5 When faith is strong, and conscience clear,
And words of peace the spirit cheer,
And visioned glories half appear, *

'Tis joy, 'tis triumph, then to die!

Barbauld

1

LESSON XLIX

Lamentation of Job on the Remembrance of Former
Prosperity.-BIBLE.

:

MOREOVER, Job continued his parable, and said, Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me; when his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness; as I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle; when the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me; when I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil; when I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street. The young men saw me, and hid them2 selves and the aged arose, and stood up. The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth. The nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth. When the ear heard me, then it blessed me, and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me; because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my judgment was as a robe and a diadem. I was eyes 3 to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. I was a father to the poor; and the cause which I knew not I searched out,

And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth. Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand. My root was spread out by the waters, and the dew lay all night upon my branch. My glory was fresh in me, and my bow was renewed in-my hand. Unto me men gave ear, and waited, and kept silence at my counsel. After my words they spake not again: and my speech dropped upon them. And they waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain. If I laughed on them, they believed it not; and the light of my countenance they cast not down. I chose out their way, and sat chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as one that comforteth the mourners.

If I did despise the cause of my man-servant or of my maid-servant, when they contended with me; what then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him? Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb? If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail; or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof; if I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering; if his loins have not bless'd me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate: Then let mine arm fall from my shoulderblade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.-Bible.

1

LESSON L.

Extract from a Speech in the Senate of the United
States.-WEBSTER.

MR. PRESIDENT, let me run the honorable gentleman's doc trine a little into its practical application. Let us look at his probable modus operandi. If a thing can be done, an ingenious man can tell how it is to be done. Now, I wish to be informed how this state interference is to be put in practice, without violence, bloodshed, and rebellion. We will take the existing case of the tariff law. South Carolina is said

to have made up her opinion upon it.

If we do not repeal

« ZurückWeiter »