6. "Your highness, from a blessed life, The son of St. Elizabeth." 7. Then rose Queen Blanche, and went and stood, In all her state, before the lad, And fixed upon his comely face A gaze hälf tender and half sad. 8. "Thou'rt welcome to our court, fair prince !" Wilt tell me where she kissed her child?" 9. He like his mother's roses stood, All white and red with shy surprise; ""Twas here, your majesty," he said, And touched his brow between his eyes. 10. Fair Blanche of Castile bowed, and pressed TH HE wind, one morning, sprang up from sleep, Now for a madcap galloping chase! I'll make a commotion in ěvèry place!" 1 2. So it swept with a bustle 1 right through a great town, Creaking the signs, and scattering down Shutters, and whisking, with merciless squalls,. Old women's (wĭmenş) bonnets, and gingerbread stalls. As the apples and oranges tumbled about; And the urchins,3 that stand with their thievish eyes 4 3. Then ǎway to the fields it went blustering and humming, They all turned their backs, and stood silently mute. 4. So on it went, capering and playing its pranks; 5. It was not too nice to bustle the bags Of the beggar, and flutter his dirty rags. 6. Through the forèst it roared, and cried gayly, "Now, You stûrdy old oaks, I'll make you bow!" And it made them bow without more ado, Or it cracked their great branches through and through. 7. Then it rushed, like a monster, o'er cottage and farm, Striking their inmates with sudden alarm; And they ran out, like bees, in a midsummer swarm. 1 Bustle (bus'l), great stir. 2 Lus'ti er, healthier; stronger. 3 Urchin (er'chin), a mischievous child. 5 Ma' tron ly, elderly; like a mother. • Müte, hindered from speaking; silent; a dumb attendant, often em 4 Blǎs' ter ing, a noisy, fitful ployed as an executioner in Turkey. blowing, as of a tempest. 7 Sturdy (ster'di), stiff; strong. caps, There were dames, with their kerchiefs tied over their To see if their poultry were free from mishaps; The turkeys they gobbled, the geese screamed aloud, And the hens crept to roost in a terrified crowd: There was rearing of ladders, and logs laying on, Where the thatch 1 from the roof threatened soon to be gone. 8. But the wind had påssed on, and had met in a lane With a schoolboy, who panted and struggled in vain ; For it tossed him, and twirled him, then passed, and he stood, With his hat in a pool, and his shoe in the mud. HOWITT.? 66 “H II. 39. PRECIOUS STONES. PART FIRST. AVE you forgotten, äunty, that long ǎgō you said that, the next time I came to see you, you would show me your jewels and tell me something about precious stones in genèral?" 2. "No, I had not at all forgotten it; and I have brought my jewels out, and am ready to redeem my pledge now. First, I will open the case of diamonds." 3. "Oh! how beautiful! See how they sparkle on their beds of crimson velvet! Don't tell me they are crystallized 3 carbon -ōnly another form of that ugly lump of coal lying in the hod there; I can't believe it! Tell me they are crystallized dew, and I will credit it." 4. "Still, dear, it is the truth; any chemist can show you of what a diamond is made by destroying its present form. But who can make one? And so it is of all jewels. The ruby, the generally are very popular, and none more so than their juvenile books. 1 Thătch, straw, turf, or other covering. 3 Crys' tal lized, changed into crystals, which are the symmetrical or regular forms which mineral substances tend to assume in becoming solids. 2 William Howitt, an English author, was born in 1795. He was married to Miss Mary Botham in 1823. They have prepared many books, both jointly and separately, in prose and verse. Their writings 4 Chem'ist,one versed in chemistry. sapphire, are only crystallized clay; yet what imitations can equal nature? The opal, the topaz, the emerald, and the amethyst are but colored pebbles, tinged more or less with the great coloring matter of mineral1 nature, iron. 5. "During the middle ages, how and where gems were found remained almost as much a mystery as among the ancients. The merchants of Venice, who were the first to penetrate to the East Indies, kept their secrets well. Of course most wonderful accounts were given of the origin and quality of their wares, and their value was enhanced & in proportion. 4 6. "It was said there was an inaccessible valley in Arabia, where diamonds lay in immense profusion; and the only means of obtaining the gems was to throw pieces of raw meat down into the valley from the rocks above; the vultures eagerly pounced upon this food and carried it away, and with it the jewels that adhered. The diamond hunters immediately sought the nests of the birds, recaptured the meat, and picked off the diamonds. 7. " Tavernier, a traveler of the seventeenth century, and a jeweller by trade, was the first to give a faithful and detailed account of the diamond mines, and how they were worked. He visited all the mines of Golconda-those mines that have become a proverb. Their discovery, as that of many another, was the result of an accident. 8. "An ignorant shepherd stumbled over a shiny pebble, which took his fancy, but which he afterward exchanged for a little rice. The one into whose hands it fell was as ignorant as the other of its value; he sold it for a trifling sum, and it thus passed, after several transfers,5 into the possession of a merchant who knew its worth, and with very great trouble traced it back to its original finder and the place where it was discovered. 9. "There are diamond mines in Africa, and in the island of 1 Min'er al, any inorganic species having a definite chemical composition. Rocks are either simple minerals or aggregates of minerals, and in either case may contain other minerals imbedded in their substance. monly given to the period between the eighth and fifteenth centuries of the Christian era. 3 En hanced', made greater. 4 In ac ces'sible, not to be reached. 5 Trăns'fer, the removal of a thing from one place or person to another. Bôr'noo; also in Siberia, and among the Ural mountains. Brazil rivals Golconda in her diamonds, and their discovery, too, was an accident. There they are found in the beds of rivers, and are washed out by the natives. 10. "The diamond is the king of gems, and is the hardest body known. Its electric 1 qualities are shown even in its rough state; while no other uncut gem possesses this quality. When first dug from its mine, it is covered with a thick crust, which 'ōnly another diamond can remove. Every substance in nature can be cut by the diamond; but the diamond can only be cut by itself. 11. "Now I will put these back and open the next case, which contains pearls. I never see this stōne without thinking of poor Mary Stuart; this was her favorite gem, and she must have looked very lovely in 'gloss of satin and glimmer of pearls.' Her pearls were the admiration of all who saw them, and were famous throughout Europe. 12. "These beautiful stones, when genuine, are either the result of disease, or the eggs of the oyster which did not hatch, and gradually became covered with nacre,2 the secretion of the fish. You have read descriptions of the Indian pearl fisheries, and how the poor divers are often cheated out of their hard earnings. 13. "Pearls are manufactured, too, by inserting beads or some foreign substance in the oyster, which by degrees becomes covered with nacre. But these are always inferior in beauty, being irregular in shape, and consequently not so valuable as those produced by nature. Pearls were found in great profusion in the South American and Mexican coasts åfter their discovery; but the demand for them from Europe was so great, they soon became exhausted. They are found also on the coast of Wales and of England, but of an inferior kind." 'E lec' tric, capacity to occasion the phenomena of electricity. 2 Nacre (na'ker), the beautiful, rainbow-hued substance which lines the interior of some shells, and is most perfect in the mother-of-pearl. |