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Only in dreams is a ladder thrown

From the weary earth to the sapphire walls; But the dreams depart, and the vision falls, And the sleeper wakes on his pillow of stone.

Heaven is not reached at a single bound;

But we build the ladder by which we rise From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies, And we mount to the summit round by round. J. G. HOLLAND.

Biography.-Josiah Gilbert Holland was born in Belchertown, Massachussets, in 1819, and died in New York City, in 1882.

Holland was engaged in the pratice of medicine for a number of years; but gave up his profession to engage in educational and literary work.

In 1870, he became the editor of "Scribner's Monthly," and kept up his association with that periodical until the time of his death.

Holland's reputation was chiefly due to his prose writings, although his poems "Katrina" and "Bitter Sweet" are widely and favorably known. His principal prose works are: "The Bay Path," 'Timothy Titcomb's Letters, "Miss Gilbert's Career," and "Life of Abraham Lincoln."

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Notes.-The title of this poem-“Gra da’tim” means step by

step.

Elocution. With what tone of voice, rate, and force should this poem be read?

In the fourth, fifth, and sixth stanzas, there should be a slight increase of force given to each member of the series of words, in order to give them the proper emphasis. An increase of force of the kind suggested is called an elocutionary climax. Mark inflections used in the last stanza.

Language. - Is not reached in the first stanza means can not be reached.

Count in the second stanza means consider.

What figure of comparison is used frequently throughout the poem? Select one or two examples of the figure and explain their meaning in ordinary language.

Point out the lines in the first two stanzas which rhyme.

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During my many journeys in Borneo, and especially during my various residences among the natives, I first came to appreciate the admirable qualities of the bamboo. In those parts of South America which I had previously visited, these gigantic grasses were comparatively scarce, and but little used where found; their place being taken, as to one class of uses, by the great variety of palms, and as to another, by the hard rind of calabashes and gourds. Almost all tropical countries produce bamboos; and, wherever they are found in abundance, the natives apply them to a variety of uses.

Their strength, lightness, smoothness, straightness, roundness, and hollowness, the facility and regularity with which they can be split, their many different sizes, the varying length of their joints, the ease with which they can be cut, and with which holes can be made through them, their hardness outside, their freedom from any pronounced taste or smell, their great abundance, and the rapidity of their growth and increase, are all qualities which render them useful for a hundred different

purposes, to serve which, other materials would require much more labor and preparation. The bamboo is one of the most wonderful as well as beautiful productions of the tropics, and one of nature's most valuable gifts to uncivilized man.

The Dyak houses are all raised on posts, and are often two or three hundred feet long and forty or fifty feet wide. The floor is always formed of strips, about three inches wide, split from large bamboos, so that each may be laid nearly flat, and these are firmly tied down with rattan to the joists beneath. When well made, this is a delightful floor to walk upon barefooted, the rounded surfaces of the bamboo being very smooth and agreeable to the feet, while at the same time affording a firm hold.

But what is more important, they form, with a mat over them, an excellent bed, the elasticity of the bamboo and its rounded surface being far superior to a more rigid and flatter floor. Here we at once find a use for bamboo which can not be supplied so well by any other material without a vast amount of labor. Palms and other substitutes require much cutting and smoothing, and are not so good when finished.

When, however, a flat, close floor is required, excellent boards are made by splitting open large bamboos on one side only, and flattening them out so as to form thin boards eighteen inches wide and six feet long, with which some Dyaks floor their houses. These, with constant rubbing of the feet and the smoke of years, become dark and polished, like walnut or old oak, so that their real material can hardly be recognized.

What labor is here saved a savage, whose only tools are an ax and a knife, and who, if he wants boards, must hew them out of the solid trunk of a tree, and give days and weeks of labor to obtain a surface as smooth and beautiful as the bamboo thus treated affords him!

Again, if a temporary house is wanted, either by the native on his plantation, or by the traveler in the forest, nothing is so convenient as the bamboo, with which a house can be constructed with a quarter of the labor and time required when other materials are used.

The natives of the interior make paths for long distances, from village to village, and to their cultivated grounds, in the course of which they have to cross many gullies and ravines, and even rivers; or sometimes, to avoid a long circuit, to carry the path along the face of the precipice. In all these cases, the bridges they construct are of bamboo, and so admirably adapted is the material for the purpose, that it seems doubtful whether they would ever have attempted such works if they had not possessed it.

The native bridge is simple but well designed. It consists merely of stout bamboos crossing each other at the roadway like the letter X, and rising a few feet above it. At the crossing they are firmly bound together, and to a large bamboo which lies upon them, and forms the only pathway, with a slender and often very shaky one to serve as a hand-rail.

When a river is to be crossed, an overhanging tree is chosen, from which the bridge is partly suspended and partly supported by diagonal braces

from the banks, so as to avoid placing posts in the stream itself, which would be liable to be carried away by floods.

In carrying a path along the face of the precipice, trees and roots are made use of for suspension; braces arise from suitable notches or crevices in the rocks; and, if these are not sufficient, immense bamboos, fifty or sixty feet long, are fixed on the banks or on the branch of a tree below.

These bridges are traversed daily by men or women carrying heavy loads, so that any insecurity is soon discovered, and, as the materials are close at hand, immediately repaired.

When a path goes over very steep ground, and becomes slippery in wet or dry weather, the bamboo is used in another way. Pieces are cut about a

yard long, and opposite notches being made at each end, holes are formed through which pegs are driven, and firm and convenient steps are thus constructed with the greatest ease and celerity. It is true that much of this will decay in one or two seasons; but it can be so quickly replaced, as to make its use more economical than that of a harder and more durable wood.

Notes and Questions. — Dỹ'ak is a name given to the natives of the island of Borneo.

Where is the island of Borneo ?

Elocution. In reading long sentences, exercise particular care in' regard to pauses and inflections. Unless the pauses are made in the proper places, the meaning of the sentences will be obscured. If the falling inflection is used before the close of long descriptive sentences, listeners will think that the sentences are completed before they are.

Avoid reading long sentences rapidly, for if the reader shows that he is in a hurry, the sentences will appear to be even longer than they are.

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