I've peeped in many a bluebell,
And crept among the flowers,
And hunted in the acorn cups,

And in the woodland bowers;
And shook the yellow daffodils,
And search'd the gardens round,
A-looking for the little folk
I never, never found.

I've linger'd till the setting sun
Threw out a golden sheen,
In hope to see a fairy troupe

Come dancing on the green;

And marveled that they did not come
To revel in the air,

And wondered if they slept, and where
Their hiding places were.

I've wandered with a timid step
Beneath the moon's pale light,
And every blazing dewdrop seemed
To be a tiny sprite;

And listened with suspended breath,
Among the grand old trees,
For fairy music floating soft
Upon the evening breeze.

Ah me! those pleasant, sunny days,
In youthful fancies wild,—
Rambling through the wooded dells,
A careless, happy child!

And now I sit and sigh to think
Age from childhood varies,

And never more may we be found
Looking for the fairies.

Directions for Reading.-Which one of the stanzas should be read more slowly than the others?

Point out the emphatic words in the last four lines of the lesson.

Language Lesson.-Which lines in each stanza end in similar

sounds?

Let pupils explain the meaning of what is given below in dark type.

I've hunted in the acorn cups.
I've wandered with a timid step.
Age from childhood varies.

We all know very well that we can not live without breathing.

What we do not all know, or do not all think of, is that we want not only air, but good air. We are apt to take it for granted that any air will do for us; stale air, dirty air, even poisonous air.

What makes the matter worse is, that we can not help spoiling air ourselves by the very act of breathing.

If people are shut up in rooms where the bad air can not get out and the good air can not get in at all, they are sure to be made ill.

Some people in Scotland thought they would have a merry Christmas party, and invited their friends to come to a dance.

As it was very cold weather, they shut all the doors and windows tight, and then they began to dance.

It was a small room with a low ceiling, and there were thirty-six people dancing in it all night. By the time morning came the air was so bad that it was really like poison; and very soon seven of the poor dancers were seized with a terrible fever, and two of them actually died.

The air we breathe out is different from the air we take in. We send away some things with our breath which were not in the air when we took it in.

One of these is, water. Sometimes you can see this for yourself. On a cold, frosty day, you know we can see the clouds of steam coming out of our mouths. This steam is only very fine particles of water.

In warm weather we do not see the steam, but the water is there all the same; if you will breathe on a looking-glass at any time, you will make it dim and damp directly with the water that is contained in your breath.

We also breathe out animal matter, little particles of our own bodies just ready to decay. We can not see them, but they soon give the air a close, disagreeable smell. Good air has no smell at all.

And now I have something to say to you about the use of noses.

I dare say you can not see much use in the sense of smell. Seeing, hearing, touching, are very needful to us, we all know; but as to smelling, that does not seem to have any particular value.

It is pleasant to smell a sweet rose or violet; and, I believe, smelling really forms a good part of what we call tasting.

Of all our senses, smell is the one that soonest gets out of practice. If people would always accustom themselves to use their noses, they never would consent to live in the horrid air they do.

If you go from the fresh air into a close room, you will notice the smell at once. Then, if you remain there, you will soon get accustomed to the smell and not notice it; but it will still be there, and will be doing you a great deal of harm.

In good air there are, mainly, two sorts of gas.

The first is a very lively sort of gas, called oxygen; it is very fond of joining itself with other things, and burning them, and things burn very fast indeed in oxygen.