boon of Providence to the human race his fame is eter

nity and his dwelling-place

2. Though it was the defeat

grace of our policy

creation.

of our arms and the disI almost bless the convulsion

in

which he had his origin. If the heavens thundered and the earth rocked yet, when the storm passed, how pure was that it cleared how bright in the brow of

the climate the firmament

3. In the production of Washington

it does really appear

of

as if nature was endeavoring to improve upon herself and that all the virtues of the ancient world were but so many studies preparatory to the patriot of the new. Individual iustances no doubt there were splendid exemplifications some single qualification. Cæsar was merciful Scipio was continent Hannibal was patient. But it was rescrved for Washington to blend them all in one the lovely master-piece of the Grecian artist to exhibit one glow of associated beauty the pride of every model and the perfection of every master.

and like in

4. As a general ❤ he marshaled the peasant into a veteran and supplied by discipline the absence of experience. As a statesman he enlarged the policy of the cabinet into the most comprehensive system of general advantage. And such was the wisdom of his views

and the philosophy of and the statesman

the character of the sage.

almost added

5. A conqueror

a revolutionist

he

he was untainted with the crime of blood he was free from any stain of treason

for aggression commenced the contest and his country called

hesitation. Who like Washington after having emancipated a hemisphere resigned its crown and preferred the retirement of domestic life to the adoration of a land – he might almost be said to have created?

In order to form finished readers, it will be necessary, after pupils have thoroughly mastered Part First, for them frequently to review the more important elements of elocution. In Part Second, they should be required to study each reading lesson, and learn the definitions and pronunciation of the words given at the bottom of the pages, before attempting to read. The judgment and taste of the pupils should constantly be called into exercise, by requiring them to determine what principle, or principles, of elocution, each reading lesson is best adapted to illustrate.

KEY

TO THE SOUNDS OF MARKED LETTERS.

åge or age, åt or åt, årt, áll, båre, åsk; wè or we, end or end, her; ice or ice, in or in; old or old, on or Ŏn, dỗ; mute or mute, up or up, füll; this; azure; reäl; agèd.

THE

NATIONAL FOURTH READER.

PART II.

EXERCISES IN READING.

1. SPRING.

HE old chroniclers' made the year begin in the season of

THE

frosts; and they have launched us upon the current2 of the months, from the snowy banks of January. I love better to count time from spring to spring; it seems to me far more cheerful, to reckon the year by blossoms, than by blight.

2. Bernardin de St. Pierre, in his sweet story of Virginia, makes the bloom of the cocoa-tree, or the growth of the banana,* a yearly and a loved monitor of the passage of her life. How cold and cheerless in the comparison, would be the icy chronology" of the North ;- -So many years have I seen the lakes locked, and the foliage die!

3. The budding and blooming of spring, seem to belong properly to the opening of the months. It is the season of the quickest expansion,' of the warmest blood, of the readiest growth; it is the boy-age of the year. The birds sing in chōrus in the spring--just as children prattle; the brooks run full-like the overflow of young hearts; the showers drop easily—as young

'Chron' i clers, historians.-Cůr' rent, a regular flow, or onward movement; progress.--'James H. Bernardin de St. Pierre, the celebrated author of "Paul and Virginia," lived between 1737 and 1813.- Banå'na, a tall West India plant, and its fruit, which is valued for food.'Mon' i tor, an adviser.- Chro nol' o gy, the method of computing time, and ascertaining the dates of events. Ex pån' sion, spreading out, like the opening of the leaves of a flower.

tears flow; and the whole sky is as capricious' as the mind of a boy.

4. Between tears and smiles, the year, like the child, struggles into the warmth of life. The old year,-say what the chronol ogists will,―lingers upon the very lap of spring; and is only fairly gone, when the blossoms of April have strewn2 their pall of glory upon his tomb, and the blue-birds have chanted his requiem.*

5. It always seems to me as if an access of life came with the melting of the winter's snows; and as if every rootlet of grass that lifted its first green blade from the matted debris of the old year's decay, bore my spirit upon it, nearer to the largess' of Heaven.

6. I love to trace the break of spring, step by step: I love even those long rain-storms that sap the icy fortresses of the lingering winter,—that melt the snows upon the hills, and swell the mountain-brooks;-that make the pools heave up their glassy cere'ments of ice, and hurry down the crashing fragments into the wastes of ocean. I love the gentle thaws that you can trace, day by day, by the stained snow-banks, shrinking from the grass; and by the gentle drip of the cottage-caves.

7. I love to search out the sunny slopes by a southern wall, where the reflected sun does double duty to the earth, and where the frail anĕm'one, or the faint blush of the ar'bute,10 in the midst of the bleak March atmosphere, will touch your heart, like a hope of Heaven, in a field of graves! Later come those soft, smoky days, when the patches of winter grain show green under the shelter of leafless woods, and the last snow-drifts, reduced to shrunken skeletons" of ice, lie upon the slope of northern hills, leaking away their life.

8. Then, the grass at your door grows into the color of the

Capricious (ka prish' us), apt to change one's mind often and suddenly; changeable.-Strewn (stron), scattered.-3 Påll, a covering.— "Requiem (rẻ' kwe em), a song for the dead." Ac cèss', increase.-Debris (då brẻ'), ruins; fragments; pieces worn off. —’Lår' gess, bounty; free gift. Cère' ments, cloths dipped in wax, in which dead bodies were buried; coverings.-- A nem' o ne, the wind-flower.-" Ar' båte, the strawberry-tree, not the common strawberry.-"Skål' e tons, frames, or parts of a thing that support the rest; bones without flesh.

8

sprouting grain, and the buds upon the lilacs swell and burst. The peaches bloom upon the wall, and the plums wear bodices1 of white. The sparkling ōriōle picks string for his hammock' on the sycamore, and the sparrows twitter in pairs. The old elms throw down their dingy flowers, and color their spray with green; and the brooks, where you throw your worm or the minnow, float down whole fleets of the crimson blossoms of the • maple.

9. Finally, the oaks step into the opening quadrille of spring, with grayish tufts of a modest verdure, which, by and by, will be long and glossy leaves. The dog-wood pitches his broad white tent, in the edge of the forest; the dandelions lie along the hillocks, like stars in a sky of green; and the wild cherry, growing in all the hedge-rows, without other culture than God's, lifts up to Him, thankfully, its tremulous white fingers.

10. Amid all this, come the rich rains of spring. The affections of a boy grow up with tears to water them; and the year blooms with showers. But the clouds hover over an April sky, timidly -like shadows upon innocence. The showers come gently, and drop daintily to the earth,-with now and then a glimpse of sunshine to make the drops bright-like so many tears of joy. The rain of winter is cold, and it comes in bitter scuds that blind you; but the rain of April steals upon you coyly, half reluctantly, yet lovingly-like the steps of a bride to the altar.

5

11. It does not gather like the storm-clouds of winter, gray and heavy along the horizon, and creep with subtle and in sensible approaches to the věry zenith; but there are a score of white-winged swimmers afloat, that your eye has chased, as you lay fatigued with the delicious languor of an April sun;— nor have you scarce noticed that a little bevy of those floating clouds had grouped together in a somber1o company.

12. But presently, you see across the fields, the dark gray streaks stretching like lines of mists, from the green bosom of

'Båd'ices, corsets; stays.- Ham' mock, bed; nest.—3 Min' now, a very small fresh-water fish, used for bait.-*Qua drille', a dance.- Horizon, the line where the sky and earth appear to meet.-Subtle 'sit' tl), sly; artful; cunning.-'Zè' nith, the point in the sky di rectly overhead.-Score, twenty; any indefinite number.- Bev' y, Company.-"Som' ber, dark; gloomy.