Clontents. ( The titles of Poetical Lessons are in Italics. Those marked with an asterisk are specially intended for Recitation. ) ... ... LESSON PAGE 1. The Laplanders Lord Dufferin 7 2. A Favourite Schoolboy Dickens 11 3. The Schoolboy's Death-bed 15 4. Barbara Frietchie J. G. Whittier 18 5. The Two Breaths C. Kingsley 21 6. Spring ... Longfellow 26 7. The Heritage James Russell Lowell 29 8. On Conversation Sir M. Hale 32 9. Mr Winkle on Skates Dickens 37 10. Unselfishness 42 11. Men of England Campbell 45 12. Liberty Sterne 47 13. The Charge of the Light Brigade W. H. Russell 51 14. Birds of Spring – I. Jefferies 55 15. II. 59 16. An Indian at the Burying-place of his Fathers Bryant 62 17. Travelling in the Seventeenth Century Macaulay 65 18. Books Ruskin 70 19. The Pine-tree Shillings Nathaniel Hawthorne 73 20. The Ladder of St Augustine Longfellow 78 21. Thrift. 81 22. A Republic of Prairie Dogs Washington Irving 83 23. An Economical Project Benjamin Franklin 89 24. Bingen on the Rhine Mrs Norton 93 25. A Great Antiquarian Discovery Dickens 96 26. Intemperance 101 27. The Venomous Worm 105 28. The Art of Discouragement Sir Arthur Helps 107 *29. Horatius at the Bridge— I. Macaulay 112 *30. II. 118 11 11 LESSON PAGE *36. Fitz-James and Roderick Dhu, I. 40. Ringing the Wild Horse— I. 46. Nelson at the Battle of the Nile 48. Winter Evening in the Country 49. The Merchant of Venice, I. *53. Lines written in a Country Churchyard— I. 56. Journey of James I. into England on his Accession Tytler 224 ... IV. THE LAPLANDERS. [This is an extract from a well-known book by Lord Dufferin, entitled Letters from High Latitudes, which describes a yacht voyage made by the author in 1856, to Iceland, Spitzbergen, &c. ] 1. It was in the streets of Hammerfest that I first set eyes on a Laplander. Turning round a corner of one of the ill-built houses, we suddenly ran over a diminutive personage, in a white woollen tunic, bordered with red and yellow stripes, green trousers fastened round the ankles, and reindeer boots, curving up at the toes like Turkish slippers. On her head for she turned out to be a lady—was perched a gay party-coloured cap, fitting close round the face, and running up at the back into an overarching peak of red cloth. Within this peak was crammed—as I afterwards learned-a piece of hollow wood, weighing about a quarter of a pound, into which is fitted the wearer's back hair. 2. Hardly had we taken off our hats, and bowed a thousand apologies for our unintentional rudeness to the fair lady, before a couple of Lapp gentlemen hove in sight. They were dressed pretty much like their companion, except that an ordinary red nightcap replaced the queer helmet worn by the lady; and the knife and sporran fastened to their belts, instead of being suspended in front as hers were, hung at the side. Their tunics, too, may have been a trifle shorter. 3. Not one of the three was beautiful. High cheekbones, short noses, oblique Mongol eyes, no eyelashes, and enormous mouths, composed a cast of features which their burnt-sienna complexion, and hair like ill-got-in hay, did not much enhance. The expression of their countenances was not unintelligent; and there was a merry, half-timid, half-cunning twinkle in their eyes, which reminded me a little of faces I had met with in the more neglected districts of Ireland. 4. In the summer-time, the Laplanders live in canvas tents; during winter, when the snow is on the ground, the forest Lapps build huts in the branches of trees, and so roost like birds. The principal tent is of a . hexagonal form, with a fire in the centre, whose smoke rises through a hole in the roof. 5. Hunting and fishing are the principal employments of the Lapp tribes; and to slay a bear is the most honourable exploit a Lapp hero can achieve. |
