The pilot silently proceeded to the wheel, and with his own hands undertook the steerage of the ship. No noise proceeded from the frigate to interrupt the horrid tumult of the ocean, and she entered the channel among the breakers with the silence of a desperate calmness. Twenty times as the foam rolled away to leeward the crew were on the eve of uttering their joy, as they supposed the vessel past the danger; but breaker after breaker would still rise before them, following one another into the general mass, to check their exultation. Occasionally the fluttering of the sails would be heard; and when the looks of the startled seamen where turned to the wheel, they beheld the stranger grasping its spokes, with his quick eye glancing from the water to the canvas. At length the ship reached a point where she appeared to be rushing directly into the jaws of destruction, when suddenly her course was changed, and her head receded rapidly from the wind. At the same instant the voice of the pilot was heard shouting, "Square away the yards-in mainsail!" A general burst from the crew echoed, “Square away the yards!" and quick as thought the frigate was seen gliding along the channel before the wind. The eye had hardly time to dwell on the foam, which seemed like clouds driving in the heavens, and directly the gallant vessel issued from her perils, and rose and fell on the heavy waves of the open sea. J. FENIMORE COOPER. Biography.-James Fenimore Cooper was born at Burlington, New Jersey, in 1789, and died at Cooperstown, New York, in 1851. Cooper entered Yale College at the age of thirteen, and after pursuing his studies for three years, was appointed a midship man in the navy. During his six years' service at sea, he acquired the nautical experience of which he was to make such good use in his novels. His first work, "Precaution," appeared in 1821, and was unsuccessful; but in the following year he published "The Spy," which at once established his reputation as a novelist. His principal works are "The Pioneers," "The Pilot," "The Last of the Mohicans," and "The Red Rover." Notes.-Boxhauling is the act of going from one tack to another, by bracing the yards aback. Language.-A large number of complex words have been taken from the Latin, Greek, and other languages. Many of these do not appear in their separate parts in English, and their meaning must be obtained by seeking out their parts in the language from which they are derived. Words like emit, prefer, etc., do not appear in their separate parts, yet their meaning is easily found out. Illustrations.-Emit is composed of the stem mit (Latin mittere, to send) and the prefix e (Latin e or ex, from or out): the word therefore means to send out. Prefer, stem fer (Latin ferre, to place or bear), prefix pre (Latin pre, before): the meaning of prefer, therefore, is to place before, consider better. Harness me down with your iron bands; For I scorn the power of your puny hands, How I laughed as I lay concealed from sight, At the childish boast of human might, And the pride of human power! When I saw an army upon the land, A navy upon the seas, Or waiting the wayward breeze; When I measured the panting courser's speed, As they bore the law a king decreed, Or the lines of impatient love I could not but think how the world would feel, As these were outstripped afar, When I should be bound to the rushing keel, Or chained to the flying car! Ha, ha, ha! they found me out at last, They invited me forth at length, And I rushed to my throne with a thunder-blast, O, then ye saw a wondrous change Hurra! hurra! the waters o'er; The mountain's steep decline; The rivers the sun hath earliest blest, |