Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

phy, his master asked him, "What is said of Hartford?" He answered, "Hartford is a flourishing comical town."

3. He meant it was "a flourishing, commercial town;" but he was such a drone, that he never knew what he was about. When asked how far the Kennebec was navigable, he said it was "navigable for boots as far as Waterville." The boys all laughed, and the school-master could not help laughing too. The idle boy colored like scarlet.

4. "I say it is so in my book," said he; and when one of the boys showed him the geography, and pointed to the place where it was said that the Kennebec was navigable for boats as far as Waterville, he stood with his hands in his pockets, and his mouth open, as if he could not understand what they were all laughing at.

5. Another day, when his class were reciting a lesson from the Dictionary, he made a mistake, worse than all the rest. The word, A-ceph-a-lous, was printed with syllables divided as you see; the definition of the word was, "without a head."

6. The idle boy had often been laughed at for being so very slow in saying his lessons; this time he thought he would be very quick and smart; so he spelled the word before the master had a chance to put it out. And how do you think he spelled it?

7. "A-c-e-p-h, Aceph," said he; "A louse without a head." The boys laughed at him so much about this, that he was obliged to leave school. The master said, "He was a drone, and the working bees stung him out of the hive."

8. You can easily guess what luck this idle boy had. His father tried to give him a good education, but he would be a dunce; not because he was a fool, but because he was too lazy to give his attention to any thing. He had a considerable fortune left him; but he was too lazy to take care of it; and now he goes about the streets, with his hands in his pockets, begging his bread.

What must you do in order to become a learned man? Do lazy, indolent boys usually become rich and respectable men?

LESSON 29.

DEFINITIONS.

Eá-ger-ness, ardent desire, anxiety, inclination.

Prof-its, gains, advantages, benefits.

Pal-try, mean, vile, despicable, insignificant.
O-mit-ted, neglected, left off, laid aside.
Diá-monds, precious stones, valuable gems.
Rú-ined, destroyed, demolished, laid waste.

The Money Digger.

1. In the north of England lived Vain, by trade a miller. Nobody loved money better than he, or more respected those that had it. Vain, however, with all his eagerness for riches, was, in reality, poor. He had nothing but the profits of his mill to support him; yet, though these were small they were certain.

2. While his mill stood, he was sure of eating; and every day he laid by some money, which he would count with much satisfaction. Yet still his gains were not equal to his desires; he only found himself above want, whereas he desired to be possessed of riches.

3. One day as he was indulging these wishes, he was informed that a neighbor of his had found a pan of money under ground, having dreamed of it three nights before.

4. These tidings were daggers to the heart of poor Vain. "Here I am," says he, "toiling from morning till night for a few paltry farthings, while neighbor Hunks goes quietly to bed, and dreams himself into thousands before morning."

5. "O, that I could dream like him! with what pleasure would I dig round the pan; how slyly would I carry it home; not even my wife should see me; and

then, oh the pleasure there is in thrusting one's hand into a great heap of gold up to the elbow." Such thoughts only served to make the miller unhappy: he omitted his former industry; he was quite tired of small gains, and his customers began to forsake him.

6. Every day he repeated the wish, and every night laid himself down in order to dream. Fortune that was for a long time unkind, at last however seemed to smile upon his distress, and indulged him with the wished for dream.

7. He dreamed, that under a certain part of the foundation of his mill was concealed a large pan of gold and diamonds, buried deep in the ground, and covered with a large flat stone.

8. He rose up and concealed his good luck from every person, (as is usual in money dreams,) in order to have the dream repeated the two succeeding nights, by which he should be certain of its truth. His wishes in this also were answered: he still dreamed of the same pan of money in the very same place.

9. Now, therefore, it was past a doubt; so, getting up early the third morning, he repaired alone, with a pickaxe in his hand, to the mill, and began to undermine that part of the wall which the vision directed.

10. The first sign of success that he met with, was a broken mug; and digging still deeper, he turned up a house tile, quite new and entire; at last, after much digging, he came to the broad flat stone, which was so large, that it was beyond one man's strength to move it. 11. "Here," he cried, in raptures to himself, "here it is! under this stone there is room for a very large pan of diamonds indeed. I must go home to my wife, and tell her the whole affair, and get her to assist me in turning it up."

12. Away therefore he goes, and tells his wife of his success. Her joy may easily be imagined; she flew round his neck, and embraced him: but being eager to know the exact sum, they returned speedily together to the place were Vain had been digging, and there they

found, not indeed the expected treasure,-but the mill, their only support, fallen,-and entirely ruined.

LESSON 30.

DEFINITIONS.

Grám-pi-an, a chain of mountains in Scotland.
Shép-herd, one who tends or takes care of sheep.
High'-land, the northern part of Scotland.
Préc-i-pi-ces, a steep descent of land.

Cáv-ern, a cave, a hollow place in the earth.

What kind of word is shearing? Daily? Ascending? Child? Mists? Bitterly? What word is the opposite of returned? Knowing? Ascending? Faithful? Going? How many trisyllables in this lesson.

The Shepherd's Dog and the Lost Child.

1. ON the Gram-pi-an Mountains in Scotland, there are pastures of great extent. In these are kept nu-merous flocks, of sheep, which are permitted to range frequently sev-er-al miles in every di-rec-tion. The Shepherd never has a view of his whole flock, except when collected for the purpose of shearing.

2. He is ac-cus-tomed to make daily visits to the ex-trem-i-ties of his pasture, trusting to his dog to drive back any of the sheep which may straggle beyond the proper bounds.

3. In one of these ex-cur-sions, a Highland shepherd car-ried with him a little child, about three years old. After trav-er-sing his pastures for some time, attended by his dog, the shepherd found himself under the ne-ces-si-ty of as-cend-ing a steep hill, at some dis

tance.

4. As it would be too tiresome to the child to accom-pa-ny him, he left him on a small plain at the bottom, with strict orders not to stir from the spot till, his return.

5. Scarce-ly, however, had he gained the sum-mit, when the ho-ri-zon was sud-den-ly darkened by one of those thick mists, which descend so rapidly amid the Grampians as almost to turn day into night in the course of a few minutes.

6. The anxious father im-me-di-ately hastened back to his child; but owing to the darkness and his own fears he lost his way. After wan-der-ing about a long time, he dis-covered, by the light of the moon, that he was within a short distance of his cottage.

7. It would have been both useless and dangerous to have renewed his search that night. He therefore returned home, bitterly mourning over the loss of his beloved child. His dog, too, which had served him faithfully for many years, was also missing.

8. As soon as day dawned, he set out with a band of his neighbors to seek his lost little one. All day they searched in vain, and at night returned home disconsolate. Here, they learned that the dog had been at the cottage in the course of the day; and, after receiving a piece of cake, had immediately disappeared.

9. For three successive days the shepherd renewed his search; and each night, when he returned home, he found that the dog had been at the cottage, and carried off either bread or cake.

10. Knowing the sagacity of the animal he resolved to wait and follow him. He did so: and after scrambling his way down frightful precipices, he saw the dog enter a cavern, the mouth of which was almost on a level with a stupendous mountain waterfall.

11. On entering the cavern, he beheld his child eating the cake which the faithful dog had procured, while the latter stood by, with the utmost satisfaction, and watched until it was devoured.

12. The little boy being left alone, and the darkness coming on, he had probably fallen, or scrambled down the precipice, and had been afraid to leave the cave, on Account of the foaming waterfall at its mouth. The

« AnteriorContinua »