Page images
PDF
EPUB

found my enemy lying fast asleep on the very edge of the cliff. The least movement in his sleep and he must have rolled over and been dashed to pieces on the rocks below.

"His life was in my hands. I drew him away from the edge and then woke him, and told him to go on his way in peace.'

[ocr errors]

Then the old Persian cried out with great joy, "Dear son, the diamond is yours, for it is a noble and godlike thing to help an enemy and return good for evil.”

Directions for Reading.-Read this lesson in a conversational tone of voice, and somewhat more slowly than Lesson III.

Read what is said by each one of the four different persons, as you think each one of them would speak.

How would you read the third and fourth paragraphs?— the last paragraph?

Point out the emphatic words in the last paragraph.

Language Lesson.-Syllabify, accent, and mark sounds of letters in the following words: Persian, therefore, valuable, account, jewels, aware, contained, dishonest, duty, enemy.

Let pupils use other words, to express the following:

To go on his way in peace.

Return good for evil.

Tell the story in your own words, using the points in the following

Analysis.-1. The father divides his goods. 2. What he said to his sons. 3. What the eldest son did. 4. What the second son did. 5. What the third son did. 6. What the father said.

[blocks in formation]

Robins in the tree-top,

Blossoms in the grass,

Green things a-growing

Everywhere you pass;

Sudden fragrant breezes,

Showers of silver dew,
Black bough and bent twig

Budding out anew;
Pine-tree and willow-tree,

Fringed elm, and larch,—
Don't you think that May-time's
Pleasanter than March?

Apples in the orchard

Mellowing one by one;
Strawberries upturning

Soft cheeks to the sun;

Roses faint with sweetness,

Lilies fair of face,

Drowsy scents and murmurs Haunting every place; Lengths of golden sunshine, Moonlight bright as day,— Don't you think that summer's Pleasanter than May?

Roger in the corn-patch
Whistling negro songs;
Pussy by the hearth-side
Romping with the tongs;
Chestnuts in the ashes

Bursting through the rind; Red leaf and gold leaf

Rustling down the wind; Mother "doin' peaches"

All the afternoon,

Don't you think that autumn's

Pleasanter than June?

Little fairy snow-flakes
Dancing in the flue;

Old Mr. Santa Claus,

What is keeping you?

Twilight and firelight,

Shadows come and go;
Merry chime of sleigh-bells
Tinkling through the snow;
Mother knitting stockings

(Pussy's got the ball!)—

Don't you think that winter's
Pleasanter than all ?

Directions for Reading.-Read the lesson with spirit, and avoid any thing like sing-song.

Do not make the last word of each line emphatic, unless it is really an emphatic word.

Language Lesson.-Syllabify, accent, and mark sounds of letters in the following words: Marjorie's, chestnuts, peaches, afternoon. What part of the year is described in each stanza?

What two words can be used for each of the following: Maytime's, summer's.

[blocks in formation]

"You want to know why this is called

Indian Spring, Robbie?

I will tell you.

"When Mary and I were little girls, father moved away from our pleasant home on the bank of the Delaware River, and came to this part of the country. There were five of us: father, mother, Mary, our dear nurse Lizzie, and I.

"Lizzie was a colored woman who had lived with us a long time. She was very handsome, and straight as an arrow. was a few years older than mother.

66

She

Grandfather Thorpe, your great grandfather, boys, gave her to mother when she was married. Your grandfather was a miller. The old mill that I went to see to-day, was his. It was the first mill built in this part of Pennsylvania.

"O this was a beautiful country! my eyes never were tired of looking out over. these mountains and valleys. But I saw that mother's face was getting thinner and whiter every day; they said she was homesick, and before we had been in the colony one year, a grave was made under an elm tree close by, and that grave was mother's.

"I thought my heart was broken then, but I soon forgot it; I still had father, sister Mary, and Lizzie.

« PreviousContinue »