Memorize:

"Work! and the clouds of care will fly; Pale want will pa.s.s away.

Work! and the leprosy of crime And tyrants must decay.

Leave the dead ages in their urns: The present time be ours, To grapple bravely with our lot, And strew our path with flowers."

_36_

THE BROOK.

I come from haunts of coot and hern, I make a sudden sally, And sparkle out among the fern, To bicker down a valley.

By thirty hills I hurry down, Or slip between the ridges, By twenty thorps, a little town, And half a hundred bridges.

Till last by Philip's farm I flow To join the br.i.m.m.i.n.g river; For men may come, and men may go, But I go on forever.

I chatter over stony ways In little sharps and trebles; I bubble into eddying bays; I babble on the pebbles.

With many a curve my banks I fret By many a field and fallow.

And many a fairy foreland set With willow-weed and mallow.

I chatter, chatter, as I flow To join the br.i.m.m.i.n.g river; For men may come, and men may go, But I go on forever.

I steal by lawns and gra.s.sy plots, I slide by hazel covers, I move the sweet forget-me-nots That grow for happy lovers.

I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance, Among my skimming swallows; I make the netted sunbeams dance Against my sandy shallows.

I murmur under moon and stars In brambly wildernesses; I linger by my shingly bars; I loiter round my cresses.

And out again I curve and flow To join the br.i.m.m.i.n.g river; For men may come, and men may go, But I go on forever.

_Tennyson_.

[Ill.u.s.tration:]

HAUNTS, places of frequent resort.

COOT and hern, water fowls that frequent lakes and other still waters.

BICKER, to move quickly and unsteadily, like flame or water.

THORP, a cl.u.s.ter of houses; a hamlet.

SHARPS and trebles, terms in music. They are here used to describe the sound of the brook.

EDDYING, moving in circles. Why are "eddying bays" dangerous to the swimmer?

FRETTED BANKS, banks worn away by the action of the water.

FALLOW, plowed land, foreland, a point of land running into the sea or other water.

MALLOW, a kind of plant.

GLOOM, to shine obscurely.

SHINGLY, abounding with shingle or loose gravel.

BARS, banks of sand or gravel or rock forming a shoal in a river or harbor.

CRESSES, certain plants which grow near the water. They are sometimes used as a salad.

_37_

wits hale borne suit' ed prop' er ly sit u a' tion

LEARNING TO THINK.

Grandpa Dennis is one of the kindest and gentlest, as well as one of the wisest men I know; and although his step is somewhat feeble, and the few locks that are left him are gray, he is still more hale and hearty than many a younger man.

Like all old people whose hearts are in the right place, he is fond of children, whom he likes to amuse and instruct by his pleasant talk, as they gather round his fireside or sit upon his knee.

Sometimes he puts questions to the young folks, not only to find out what they know, but also to sharpen their wits and lead them to think.

"Tell me, Norman," he said one day, as they sat together, "if I have a cake to divide among three persons, how ought I to proceed?"

"Why, cut it into three parts, and give one to each, to be sure," said Norman.