THE CROCUS' SOLILOQUY.

1. Down in my solitude under the snow,
Where nothing cheering can reach me;
Here, without light to see how to grow,
I'll trust to nature to teach me.

2. I will not despair, nor be idle, nor frown,
Locked in so gloomy a dwelling;

EL. F. GOULD.

My leaves shall run up, and my roots shall run down,
While the bud in my bosom is swelling.

3. Soon as the frost will get out of my bed,
From this cold dungeon to free me,

Up will I peer with my little bright head;
All will be joyful to see me.

4. Then from my heart will young petals diverge,
As rays of the sun from their focus;

I from the darkness of earth will emerge,
A happy and beautiful Crocus.

5. Gayly arrayed in my yellow and green,
When to their view I have risen,

Will they not wonder how one so serene
Came from so dismal a prison?

6. Many, perhaps, from so simple a flower
This little lesson may borrow—

Patient to-day, through its gloomiest hour,
We come out the brighter to-morrow.

QUESTIONS.-1. What is the Crocus here supposed to say! 2.
What lesson may many people learn from this little flower!
What inflection should be employed on prison, 5th verse? Why?

LESSON XXVIII.

SPELL AND DEFINE.-1. PER SUADE', to convince by reason or evidence. 2. PULSE, the beating or throbbing of the heart. 3. THRILL, a tingling sensation. 4. FOUR' SCORE, four times twenty; eighty. 5. BIDE, to endure; to suffer. 6. RE NEW', to renovate; to restore to a former state. 7. PRIME, the spring of life; youth. 8. SMOTH'ER ED, stifled suppressed. 9. WILES, deceives; beguiles. 10. DREAR' I NESS, dismalness; gloominess.

Articulate distinctly tch in catch, dst in mids1, &c.

YOUTHFUL AMUSEMENTS,

1. I love to look on a scene like this,
Of wild and careless play,

And persuade myself that I am not old,
And my locks are not yet gray.

N. P. WILLIS

For it stirs the blood in an old man's heart,
And makes his pulses fly,

To catch the thrill of a happy voice,

And the light of a pleasant eye.

2. (8.) I have walked the world for fourscore years,
And they say that I am old;

That my heart is ripe for the reaper-DEATH,
And my years are well-nigh told.

It is very true-it is very true

I'm old, and I "bide my time;"

But my heart will leap at a scene like this,
And I half renew my prime.

3. (") Play on! play on! I am with you there,
In the midst of your merry ring;

I can feel the thrill of the daring jump,
And the rush of the breathless swing.
I hide with you in the fragrant hay,
And I whoop the smothered call,
And my feet slip up on the seedy floor,
And I care not for the fall.

4. I am willing to die when my time shall come,
And I shall be glad to go,

(pl.) For the world at best is a weary place, And my pulse is getting low;

(sl.) But the grave is dark, and the heart will fail,

In treading its gloomy way,

And it wiles my heart from its dreariness,

To see the young so gay.

QUESTIONS.-1. What effect did the view of youthful sports have apon the writer of this piece? 2. What age is he represented to bo!

What pause after reaper, 2d verse? When is this pause generally made? See p. 43. In reading this piece can you modulate the voice according to the notation marks? See p. 40. What is modu lation Sec IV. p. 33.

LESSON XXIX.

SPELL AND DEFINE.-1. RI VALS, strives to excel; emulates. 2 ES TI MA' TION, opinion; esteem. 3. BLIGHT, to blast; destroy. 4. DIS SOLV' ING, melting. 5. GE' NI AL, causing to produce; fruitful. 6. IN' TER VAL, space between. 7. TUR' TLE, a species of dove. 8. FO LI AGE, leaves taken collectively. 9. EN AM' EL ED, inlaid; variegated. 10. REV' EL RY, festive mirth; jollity. 11. SENS I BIL'ITY, state of being sensible; delicate feeling. 12. Suo CES' SION, series. 13. RAP TUR OUS, excessively joyful; thrilling. 14. TREM'ULOUS LY, in a trembling or a quivering manner. 15. Eo' STA SY,

rapture; excessive joy. 16. PAR' A MOUR, lover. 17. IN TOX I CA'TION, high excitement. 18. RURAL, pertaining to the country. 19. MEW' ED, shut up; confined. 20. VAR' LET, scamp; rascal.

THE BOBOLINK.

W. IRVING.

1. The happiest bird of our spring, and one that rivals the European lark, in my estimation, is the Bobolink. He arrives at that choice portion of the year, which, in this latitude, answers to the description of the month of May, so often given by the poets. With us it begins about the middle of May, and lasts until nearly the middle of June.

2. Earlier than this, winter is apt to return on its traces, and to blight the opening beauties of the year; and later than this, begin the parching, and panting, and dissolving heats of summer. But in this genial interval, Nature is in all her freshness and fragrance; "the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on the earth, the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land."

3. The trees are now in their fullest foliage and the brightest verdure; the woods are gay with the clustered flowers of the laurel; the air is perfumed by the sweetbrier and the wild rose; the meadows are enameled with clover-blossoms; while the young apple, the peach, and the plum, begin to swell, and the cherry to glow among the green leaves.

4. This is the chosen season of revelry of the Bobolink. He comes amidst the pomp and fragrance of the season; his life seems all sensibility and enjoy.

ment, all song and sunshine. He is to be found in the soft bosoms of the freshest and sweetest meadows; and is most in song when the clover is in blossom.

5. He perches on the topmost twig of a tree, or on some flaunting weed, and as he rises and sinks with the breeze, pours forth a succession of rich tinkling notes; crowding one upon another, like the outpour ing melody of the skylark, and possessing the same rapturous character.

6. Sometimes he pitches from the summit of a tree, begins his song as soon as he gets upon the wing, and flutters tremulously down to the earth, as if overcome with ecstasy at his own music. Sometimes he is in pursuit of his paramour; always in full song, as if he would win her by his melody; and always with the same appearance of intoxication and delight.

7. Of all the birds of our groves and meadows, the Bobolink was the envy of my boyhood. He crossed my path in the sweetest weather, and the sweetest season of the year, when all Nature called to the fields, and the rural feeling throbbed in every bosom; but when I, luckless urchin, was doomed to be mewed up, during the livelong day, in a school-room, it seemed as if the little varlet mocked at me, as he flew by in full song, and sought to taunt me with his happier lot. O how I envied him! No lessons, no tasks, no school; nothing but holiday, frolic, green fields, and fine weather.

QUESTIONS.-1. When does the Bobolink appear? 2. What is the appearance of Nature at this season? 3. How does the Bobolink employ himself, and how does he seem to enjoy life? 4. What does the writer say of his fondness for this bird? 5. How does he say the Bobolink seemed to taunt him? 6. Where is the passage included within the quotation to be found? Cant. 2d chap. 11th and 12th verses. What is the primary meaning of the suffix AGE, and what is its signification in the word foliage, in the third paragraph? See Sanders' New Speller, Definer and Analyzer, p. 148, Exercise 369.

LESSON XXX.

12.

SPELL AND DEFINE.-1. Vo LUP' TU ARY, one given up to pleasure. 2. RUS' TIC, one that dwells in the country. 3. VI' BRATE, to quiver. 4. DoFFs, puts off. 5. Rus' SET, reddish-brown. 6. GOR' MAND, & glutton. 7. CON VIV' I AL, pertaining to a feast; festal. 8. GAS TRONOM IC AL, pertaining to good eating. 9. LUX' U RIES, dainties. 10. MYR' I ADS, tens of thousands. 11. BAN' QUET ING, feasting. COR' PU LENT, fleshy; fat. 13. OR' TO LAN, a delicate, small bird. 11. EP' I CURE, one given up to luxury. 15. GORG' ING, Swallowing greedily; cramming. 16. SPIT' TED, put on a spit or roasting utensil. 17. VAUNT ED, boasted. 18. SENSUAL, relating to the senses or appetites. 19. PER SE OU' TED, harassed; pursued with malice. 20. IN TEL LECT' U AL, mental; relating to mind. 21. ES CHEW', to avoid. 22. DIS' SI PA TED, abandoned; loose; irregular.

THE BOBOLINK. -CONTINUED.

1. Farther observation and experience has given me a different idea of this little feathered voluptuary, which I will venture to impart, for the benefit of my school-boy readers, who may regard him with the same unqualified envy and admiration which I once indulged.

2. I have shown him only as I saw him at first, in what I may call the poetical part of his career, when he in a manner devoted himself to elegant pursuits and enjoyments, and was a bird of music, and song, and taste, and sensibility, and refinement. While this lasted, he was sacred from injury; the very school-boy would not fling a stone at him, and the merest rustic would pause to listen to his strain.

3. But mark the difference. As the As the year advances, as the clover-blossoms disappear, and the spring fades into summer, his notes cease to vibrate on the ear, He gradually gives up his elegant tastes and habits, doffs his poetical and professional suit of black, as sumes a russet or rather a dusky garb, and enters into the gross enjoyments of common, vulgar birds.

4. He becomes a bon vivant, a mere gormand; thinking of nothing but good cheer, and gormandizing on the seeds of the long grasses, on which he lately swung and chanted so musically He begins to