in recent years supplied valuable information on many important points connected with the history of other nations.

11. At the present day travelers are struck by the universal diffusion of the general principles of knowledge among the inhabitants. Though there is only one school in Iceland, and that school is exclusively designed for the education of such as are afterward to fill offices in Church and State, yet it is exceedingly rare to meet with a boy or girl who has attained the age of nine or ten years that cannot read or write with ease. Domestic education is most rigidly attended to, and it is no uncommon thing to hear passages from Greek and Latin authors repeated by youths who have never been farther than a few miles from the place where they were born. On many occasions, indeed, the common people among the Icelanders discover an acquaintance with the history and literature of other nations which is astonishing.

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SELECT ETYMOLOGIES.-Afford : F. afforer, to set a price on a thing; fr. L. ad, to, fōr'um, what is out of doors, the Roman market-place where causes were tried and pleaded; fr. L. sör'is, out of doors; h., forensic.. Animate: L. an'ima, breath, the animal life; h., animal, animalcule, inanimate, etc. . . . Arctic: Gr. ark'tòs, a bear; a cluster of stars in the north heavens called the Bear. Asylum: L.; fr. Gr. a, not, su'laō, I rob; h., a place of refuge. ... Cavity: L. cav'us, hollow; h., cave, cavern, con-cave (hollow and curved-opposed to convex), ex-cavate. . . . Church: Gr. kuri'akŎn, the Lord's house; fr. Ku'rios, the Lord.... Cone: L. co'nus; Gr. kō'nos, a figure like a sugar-loaf, a pine-cone; h., conical, etc. . . Crevice: fr. L. crep'o, crep'itum, to crack; h., crepitate, de-crepit, dis-crepancy, etc. . . . Dense: L. den'sus, thick; h., con-dense, density.. Dialect: Gr. dialěk'tõs; fr. di'a, through, and lěg'ō, I speak.... Ebullition : L. ebullio, I boil or bubble up; fr. e, out, and bulla, a bubble. . . . Famine: L. fam'es, hunger; h., famish. . . . Fuel: fr. L. fo'cus, a fireplace.... Glacier (glas'i-er): fr. L. gla'cies, ice; h., glacial. Lava: L. lav'o, lau'tum, lava'tum and lotum, to wash; h., laundry, lavation, lave, lotion.... Recent: L. re'cens, recen'tis, that has not long existed.... Relax: L. relax'o; fr. re, again, and lax'o, laxa'tum, to loose; fr. lax'us, loose; h., lax, laxity, laxative, pro-lix, re-laxation, re-lease. Remark: F. remarquer (rem-arkā); fr. re, again, and marquer, to mark. . . . Rigorous: L. ri'geo, I am stiff or numb; h., rigid. . . . Robust: L. robustus; fr. ro'bur, a very hard kind of oak; h., cor-roborate. . . . Thunder: Ger. don'ner; L. ton'itrus, thunder: v. ASTONISH. . . . Vegetation: L. vegeta'tio, an enlivening; fr. vě geo, I quicken; allied to vi'gor, strength; fr. vi'geo, I am lively; h., invigorate, vegetable, vigorous, etc. . . . Volcano : fr. L. Vulcanus, the god of

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XCIX.-THREE DAYS IN THE LIFE OF COLUMBUS..

I.

On the deck stood Columbus; the ocean's expanse,
Untried and unlimited, swept by his glance.

"Back to Spain!" cry his men; "put the vessel about!
We venture no farther through danger and doubt."
"Three days, and I give you a world!" he replied;
"Bear up, my brave comrades, three days shall decide."
He sails, but no token of land is in sight;

He sails, but the day shows no more than the night;
On, onward, he sails, while in vain o'er the lee
The lead is sent down through a fathomless sea.

II.

The pilot in silence leans mournfully o'er

The rudder that creaks mid the billowy roar;
He hears the hoarse moan of the spray-driving blast,
And its funeral wail through the shrouds of the mast.
The stars of far Europe have sunk from the skies,
And the great Southern Cross meets his terrified eyes;
But at length the slow dawn, softly streaking the night,
Illumes the blue vault with a faint crimson light.

"Columbus! 'tis day and the darkness is o'er."

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'Day! and what dost thou see?" 'Sky and ocean—no

more!"

III.

The second day ends, and Columbus is sleeping,
While Mutiny near him its vigil is keeping.

"Shall he perish?” "Ay, death!" is the barbarous cry;

'He must triumph to-morrow, or, perjured, must die!" Ungrateful and blind! shall the world-linking sea

He traced for the future his sepulchre be?

Or shall it to-morrow, with pitiless waves,

Fling his corse on that shore which his patient eye craves?

The corse of an humble adventurer, then;

One day later--Columbus, the first among men!

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IV.

But hush! he is dreaming; and sleep to his thought Reveals what his waking eyes vainly have sought: Through the distant horizon-oh rapturous sight!— Fresh bursts the New World from the darkness of night; Oh vision of glory! ineffable scene!

What richness of verdure! the sky how serene!

How blue the far mountains! how glad the green isles!

And the earth and the ocean, how dimpled with smiles!

Joy! joy!" cries Columbus, "this region is mine!"
Thine? not e'en its name, wondrous dreamer, is thine.

V.

But, lo! his dream changes; a vision less bright
Comes to darken and banish that scene of delight.
The gold-seeking Spaniards, a merciless band,
Assail the meek natives, and ravage the land.
He sees the fair palace, the temple on fire,
And the peaceful caciques 'mid their ashes expire;
He sees, too, oh saddest, oh mournfulest sight! —
The crucifix gleam in the thick of the fight:
More terrible far than the merciless steel
Is the uplifted cross in the red hand of Zeal!

VI.

Again the dream changes. Columbus looks forth,
And a bright constellation illumines the North.
'Tis the herald of empire! A people appear,
Impatient of wrong, and unconscious of fear:
They level the forest, they ransack the seas;
Each zone finds their canvas unfurled to the breeze.
'Hold!" Tyranny cries; but their resolute breath
Sends back the reply, "Independence or death!"
The plowshare they turn to a weapon of might,
And, defying all odds, hurry forth to the fight.