Elson grammar school fourth reader: for the eighth grade

forward to the bow, thrust forth their long white pole against a tree-trunk, strain and push and bend to the deck as if they were salaaming the god of night and adversity. Our bow slowly rounds

105 into the stream, the wheel turns and we puff quietly along.

And now it is bed-time. Let me tell you how to sleep on an Ocklawaha steamer in May. With a small bribe persuade Jim, the steward, to take the mattress out of your berth and lay it slanting just along the railing that encloses the lower part of the deck in

110 front and to the left of the pilot-house. Lie flat on your back down on the mattress, draw your blanket over you, put your cap on your head, on account of the night air, fold your arms, say some little prayer or other, and fall asleep with a star looking right down on your eye. When you wake in the morning you will feel as new as

U5 Adam.*

HELPS TO STUDY.
Notes and Questions.

Find this region on your map.

Quote the author's words describing the Ocklawaha.

What picture of the river do you get from this description?

Describe in your own words the alligator's home.

What other descriptions in this

story interest you? Which description do you like best?

Why?

What gives to this prose selection

its melody? Find examples of alliteration in

this story.

Words and Phrases for Discussion.

"day-dream of a monster" "beggarly sprat" "saurian's house" "range of ornithology" "ineffable lilies" "girdle of beauty" "reptile of good repute" "sense of awe" "band of mystery" "perilous contortion" "winding fancies"

"heart-breaking for its pure beauty"
"enchantments of under water growths"

* From "The Lanier Book"; copyright 1904 by Charles Scrlbner's Sons.

THE MOCKING BIRD.*

SIDNEY LANIEB.

Superb and sole, upon a plumed spray
That o'er the general leafage boldly grew,
He summ'd the woods in song; or typic drew
The watch of hungry hawks, the lone dismay
5 Of languid doves when long their lovers stray,

And all birds' passion-plays that sprinkle dew
At morn in brake or bosky avenue.
Whate'er birds did or dreamed, this bird could say.
Then down he shot, bounced airily along
10 The sward, twitched in a grasshopper, made song

Midnight, perched, prinked, and to his art again.
Sweet Science, this large riddle read me plain:
How may the death of that dull insect be
The life of yon trim Shakespeare on the tree?

PART III

ORATIONS AND PATRIOTIC SELECTIONS

"Stirred up with high hopes of living to be brave men and worthy vatriott, Sear to God and famous to all ages."

John Milton.

PART III.
ORATIONS AND PATRIOTIC SELECTIONS.

REGULUS BEFORE THE ROMAX SENATE.

EPES SARGENT.

It ill becomes me, Senators of Rome, me, Regulus, after having so often stood in this venerable assembly, clothed with the supreme dignity of the republic, to stand before you to-day, a captive,— the captive of Carthage. Though outwardly free, yet the heaviest 5 of chains, the pledge of a Roman Consul, makes me the bondsman of the Carthaginians. They have my promise to return to them in the event of the failure of this their embassy.

But, Conscript Fathers, Senators, there is but one course to be pursued. Abandon all thought of peace! Reject the overtures

10 of Carthage! Reject them wholly and unconditionally! What? What? Give back to her a thousand able-bodied men, and receive in return this one, attenuated, war-worn, fever-wasted frame,— this weed, whitened in a dungeon's darkness, pale and sapless, which no kindness of the sun, no softness of the summer breeze,

15 can ever restore to life and vigor? It must not, shall not be! Oh, were Regulus what he was once, before captivity had unstrung his sinews and enervated his limbs, he might pause; he might think he were worth a thousand of the foe; he might say, "Make the exchange, Rome shall not lose by it!" But now, alas, 'tis

20 gone,—that impetuosity of strength which could once make him a leader indeed, to penetrate a phalanx, or guide a pursuit. His very armor would be a burden now! His battlecry would be drowned in the din of onset! His sword would fall harmless upon his opponent's shield!

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