boon et Providence to the human race his fame is eternity and his dwelling-place creation.

2. Though it was the defeat of our arms 1 and the disgrace of our policy I almost bless the convulsion in which he had his origin. If the heavens thundered and the earth rocked yet, when the storm passed, how pure was that it cleared how bright in the brow of

the climate the firmament

was the planet

which it revealed to us!

3. In the production of Washington it does really appear as if nature was endeavoring to improve upon herself that all the virtues of the ancient world

studies

and

were but so many

preparatory to the patriot of the new. Individual in

of

Scipio

stances no doubt there were splendid exemplifications some single qualification. Cæsar was merciful

and like in

was continent Hannibal was patient. But it was reserved for Washington to blend them all in one the lovely master-piece of the Grecian artist to exhibit one glow of associated beauty the pride of every model and the perfection of every master.

4. As a general he marshaled the peasant into a veteran and supplied by discipline the absence of experience. As a statesman he enlarged the policy of the cabinet into the most comprehensive system of general advantage. And such was the wisdom of his views and the philosophy or and the statesman

his counsels

that to the soldier

the character of the sage.

almost added

5. A conqueror

he

he was untainted with the crime of blood

a revolutionist for aggression commenced the contest and his country called him to the field. Liberty unsheathed his sword necesvictory returned it.

he was free from any stain of treason ▾

sity stained

6. If he had paused here

what station to assign him zens

or her soldiers

the last glorious act

history might have doubted whether at the head of her citi

her heroes or her patriots. But

crowns his career

and banishes all

nesitation. Who

like Washington

after having emancipated a hemisphere resigned its crown and preferred the retirement of domestic life to the adoration of a land → he might almost be said to have

7. How shall we rank thee

created?

upon glory's page,

and just less than sage! reflects less praise on thee,

Thou more than soldier

All thou hast been

Far less

than all thou hast forborne to be.

OBSERVATION TO TEACHERS.

In order to form finished readers, it will be necessary, after pupils have thoroughly mastered Part First, for them frequently to review the more important elements of elocution. In Part Second, they should be required to study each reading lesson, and learn the definitions and pronunciation of the words given at the bottom of the pages, before attempting to read. The judgment and taste of the pupils should constantly be called into exercise, by requiring them to determine what principle, or principles, of elocution, each reading lesson is best adapted tc illustrate.

KEY

TO THE SOUNDS OF MARKED LETTERS.

àge or age, åt or ǎt, årt, âll, båre, åsk; wè or wē, ånd or end, her; ìce or ice, în or în; òld or ōld, ån or ŏn, dỗ; mute or mute, up or up, füll; this; azure; reäl; agèd.

THE

NATIONAL FOURTH READER.

THE

PART II.

EXERCISES IN READING.

1. SPRING.

HE old chroniclers' made the year begin in the season of frosts; and they have launched us upon the current2 of the months, from the snowy banks of January. I love better to count time from spring to spring; it seems to me far more cheerful, to reckon the year by blossoms, than by blight.

2. Bernardin de St. Pierre, in his sweet story of Virginia, makes the bloom of the cocoa-tree, or the growth of the banana,1 a yearly and a loved monitors of the passage of her life. How cold and cheerless in the comparison, would be the icy chronology of the North ;- -So many years have I seen the lakes

locked, and the foliage die!

3. The budding and blooming of spring, seem to belõng prop erly to the opening of the months. It is the season of the quickest expansion, of the warmest blood, of the readiest growth; it is the boy-age of the year. The birds sing in chōrus in the spring-just as children prattle; the brooks run full-like the overflow of young hearts; the showers drop easily-as young

'Chron' i clers, historians.- Cůr' rent, a regular flow, or onward movement; progress.--James H. Bernardin de St. Pierre, the celebrated author of "Paul and Virginia," lived between 1737 and 1813.- Banå' na, a tall West India plant, and its fruit, which is valued for food.-Mon' i tor, an adviser.- Chro nol' o gy, the method of computing time, and ascertaining the dates of events. Ex pån' sion, spreading cut, like

the opening of the leaves of a flower.

tears flow; and the whole sky is as capricious' as the mind o. a boy.

4. Between tears and smiles, the year, like the child, struggles into the warmth of life. The old year, say what the chronol ogists will, lingers upon the very lap of spring; and is only fairly gone, when the blossoms of April have strewn their pall3 of glory upon his tomb, and the blue-birds have chanted his requiem.*

5. It always seems to me as if an access of life came with the melting of the winter's snows; and as if every rootlet of grass that lifted its first green blade from the matted debris of the old year's decay, bore my spirit upon it, nearer to the largess1 of Heaven.

6. I love to trace the break of spring, step by step: I love even those long rain-storms that sap the icy fortresses of the lingering winter, that melt the snows upon the hills, and swell the mountain-brooks;—that make the pools heave up their glassy cere'ments of ice, and hurry down the crashing fragments into the wastes of ocean. I love the gentle thaws that you can trace, day by day, by the stained snow-banks, shrinking from the grass; and by the gentle drip of the cottage-eaves.

9

7. I love to search out the sunny slopes by a southern wall, where the reflected sun does double duty to the earth, and where the frail anĕm'one, or the faint blush of the ar'bute,1o in the midst of the bleak March atmosphere, will touch your heart, like a hope of Heaven, in a field of graves! Later come those soft, smoky days, when the patches of winter grain show green under the shelter of leafless woods, and the last snow-drifts, reduced to shrunken skeletons" of ice, lie upon the slope of northern hills, leaking away their life.

8. Then, the grass at your door grows into the color of the

Capricious (ka prish' us), apt to change one's mind often and suddenly; changeable.-Strewn (strån), scattered.- Pâll, a covering.'Requiem (rẻ' kwe em), a song for the dead." Ac cèss', increase.-Debris (då brẻ'), ruins; fragments; pieces worn off. -'Lår' gess, bounty; free gift. Cère' ments, cloths dipped in wax, in which dead bodies were buried; coverings.-- A nem' o ne, the wind-flower.-10 Ar' bute, the strawberry-tree, not the common strawberry.-"Skel'e tons, frames, or parts of a thing that support the rest; bones without flesh.

sprouting grain, and the buds upon the lilacs swell and burst. The peaches bloom upon the wall, and the plums wear bodices' of white. The sparkling ōriōle picks string for his hammock on the sycamore, and the spărrows twitter in pairs. The old elms throw down their dingy flowers, and color their spray with green; and the brooks, where you throw your worm or the minnow, float down whōle fleets of the crimson blossoms of the maple.

9. Finally, the oaks step into the opening quadrille1 of spring with grayish tufts of a modest verdure, which, by and by, wil be long and glossy leaves. The dog-wood pitches his broad white tent, in the edge of the forest; the dandelions lie along the hillocks, like stars in a sky of green; and the wild cherry, growing in all the hedge-rows, without other culture than God's, lifts up to Him, thankfully, its tremulous white fingers.

10. Amid all this, come the rich rains of spring. The affections of a boy grow up with tears to water them; and the year blooms with showers. But the clouds hover over an April sky, timidly -like shadows upon innocence. The showers come gently, and drop daintily to the earth,-with now and then a glimpse of sunshine to make the drops bright-like so many tears of joy. The rain of winter is cold, and it comes in bitter scuds that blind you; but the rain of April steals upon you coyly, half reluctantly, yet lovingly-like the steps of a bride to the altar.

11. It does not gather like the storm-clouds of winter, gray and heavy along the horizon, and creep with subtle and insensible approaches to the věry zenith; but there are a score3 of white-winged swimmers afloat, that your eye has chased, as you lay fatigued with the delicious languor of an April sun;nor have you scarce noticed that a little bevy of those floating clouds had grouped together in a somber1o company.

12. But presently, you see across the fields, the dark gray streaks stretching like lines of mists, from the green bosom of

'Bôd'i ces, corsets; stays.-2 Håm' mock, bed; nest.- Min' now, a very small fresh-water fish, used for bait.-*Qua drille', a dance.- Ho'zon, the line where the sky and earth appear to meet.- Subtle (sut' tl), sly; artful; cunning.-'Ze' nith, the point in the sky directly overhead.- Score, twenty; any indefinite number.— Bev' y, company. Som' ber, dark; gloomy.