The ocean pales where'er I sweep To hear my strength rejoice, And the monsters of the briny deep I carry the wealth and the lord of earth, The wind lags after my flying forth, In the darksome depths of the fathomless mine My tireless arm doth play, Where the rocks ne'er saw the sun's decline, I blow the bellows, I forge the steel, I hammer the ore and turn the wheel Where my arms of strength are made. I manage the furnace, the mill, the mint, I carry, I spin, I weave; And all my doings I put into print On every Saturday eve. I've no muscles to weary, no breast to decay, And soon I intend you may "go and play," But harness me down with your iron bands, For I scorn the strength of your puny hands, As the tempest scorns a chain! Notes. Capt. George W. Cutter, the author of this poem, is known also as the writer of Buena Vista," and "The Song of the Lightning." A courier-dove, or carrier-pigeon, is a variety of the domestic pigeon used to convey letters from place to place. Orient floods mean the seas or oceans in the eastern hemisphere. The last two lines of the eighth stanza refer to the printing of weekly newspapers. Elocution.-The tone of voice, rate, and force for the rendering of this lesson should be in keeping with the lively and boastful utterances attributed to steam. Language. If "flying-car" means a railway car, is used? what figure To what do "curb and rein" properly refer? Name the figure contained in the words as employed in the lesson. Explain the meaning of "Giant streams of the queenly west," and of "Fiery armies." In third stanza, the use of "keel" for boat is an example of what figure? What figure is used in relation to steam throughout the poem? 62.-THE FIRST SHIP OF PETER THE GREAT. ǎs'tro lābe, an instrument for observing the position of the stars. sex'tant, an instrument of reflec tion for measuring angular distances between objects, especially at sea. suburb, region just outside a city. de fi'cient, wanting; imperfect. N fôr ti fi ea'tion, the art of erect- es tātes', possessions. ex tôrt'ed, forced. ăn ni vẽr sa ry, yearly celebration of a day or event. in june'tions, orders. Peter the Great, of Russia, while a youth, had heard somewhere, that in foreign countries people had an instrument by which distance could be measured without moving from the spot. When Prince Jacob Dolgoruki was about to start on his mission to France, and came to take his leave, Peter told him of this wonderful instrument, and Dol begged him to procure him one while abroad. goruki told him that he himself had once had one, which was given him as a present, but it had been stolen, and that he would certainly not forget to bring one home. On Dolgoruki's return in May, 1688, the first question of Peter was whether he had fulfilled his promise; and great was the excitement as the box was opened and a parcel, containing an astrolabe and a sextant, was eagerly unwrapped. But, alas! when they were brought out, no one knew the use of them. Dolgoruki scratched his head, and said that he had brought the instruments, as directed, but it had never occurred to him to ask how they were used. In vain Peter sought some one who knew how to use the sextant. At last his new doctor told him that in the German suburb he knew of a man well skilled in mechanics-Franz Timmermann, a Dutch merchant, who had settled in Moscow, and who had a certain amount of education. Timmermann was. brought next day. He looked at the instrument, and, after a long inspection, finally said he could show how it was used. Immediately he measured the distance to a neighboring house. A man was at once sent to pace it, and found the measurement correct. Peter was delighted, and asked to be instructed in the use of the new instrument. Timmermann said: "With pleasure; but you must first learn arithmetic and geometry." Peter had once begun studying arithmetic, but was deficient in its full knowledge. He did not even know how to subtract or divide. He now set to work with a will, and spent his leisure time, both day and night, over his copybooks. Geometry led to geography and fortification. The old globe of his school-room was sent for repairs, and he had, besides, the one in metal presented to his father, which is still shown in the treasury at Moscow. From this time Timmermann became one of Peter's constant companions, for he was a man from whom something new could always be learned. A few weeks later, in June, 1688, as Peter was wandering about one of his country estates, he pointed to an old building in the flax-yard, and asked one of his attendants what it was. 66 "A store-house," replied the man, where all the rubbish was put that was left after the death of Ivan Romanoff, who used to live here." N With the natural curiosity of a boy, Peter had the doors opened, went in, and looked about. There, in one corner, turned bottom upward, lay a boat, yet not in any way like those flat-bottomed, squaresterned boats which he had seen on the river Moskwa. "What is that?" he asked. "That is an English boat," said Timmermann. "What is it good for? Is it better than our boats?" asked Peter. "If you had sails to it, it would go not only with the wind, but against the wind," replied Tim mermann. "How against the wind? Is it possible? Can that be possible?" Peter wished to try it at once. But, after Timmermann had looked at the boat on all sides, it was found to be too rotten for use; it would need to be repaired and tarred, and, besides that, a mast and sails would have to be made. Timmermann at last thought he could find a man capable of doing this, and sent for a certain Carsten Brandt, who had been brought from Holland about 1660 by the Czar Alexis, for the purpose of constructing vessels on the Caspian Sea. The old man looked over the boat, calked it, put in the mast, arranged the sail, and then launched it on the river. There, before Peter's eyes, he began to sail up and down the river, turning now to the right and then to the left. Peter's excitement was intense. He called out to him to stop, jumped in, and himself began to manage the boat under Brandt's directions. It was hard for the boat to turn, for the river was narrow, and the water was too shallow. Peter eagerly asked where a broader piece of water could be found, and was told of a small lake near by. The boat was dragged overland to the lake. It went better, but still not to his satisfaction. At last Peter found that about fifty miles away there was a good large lake, where he would have plenty of room to sail. It was not, however, so easy for Peter to get there. It was not customary for the Czars or members of their family to make journeys without some recognized object, and what should a boy of this age do so far away, and alone? An idea struck Peter. It was then June, and there was a great festival at the Troitsa Monastery.N He asked his mother's permission to go to Troitsa to attend the festival, and as soon as the religious |