TO THE TEACHER:

Use for dictation:

John Boyle O'Reilly was born in Ireland in 1844.

He enlisted in the British army at the age of eighteen. Four years afterward he was accused and convicted of high treason and sentenced to death. This sentence was changed later to twenty years' penal servitude in Australia.

After one year's imprisonment, he escaped from the western coast of Australia in an open boat, was picked up by an American whaler that was on the lookout for him, and reached Philadelphia in 1869.

He afterward made his home in Boston, where he did considerable literary work.

He died in 1890.

TWENTIETH DAY

"And now for Portland," said Uncle Jack as they went on board the steamer next morning.

"How far is it?" asked May.

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'About one hundred and ten miles," replied Uncle Jack. "This boat makes about fourteen knots an hour. So you can easily tell how long it will take us to make the run."

"But I don't know how much a knot is," said May.

"A knot is about one and one-seventh miles. Now what's the answer?" replied Uncle Jack. "About seven hours," said Ben, quickly. "Well done," said Uncle Jack, with emphasis. "That is near enough for present purposes.

"How did they get from place to place in colonial days?" asked May. "No steam power was used then."

"By sailing vessels, on waterways," was Uncle Jack's reply. "On land some people traveled on horseback, and others used different kinds of

just

vehicles. It took about six days to make the trip from Boston to New York by road about as many days, then, as it takes hours

"Oh, wasn't that slow!" said May.

"Slow but sure," remarked Belle.

They were all standing at the starboard rail, looking out over the broad Atlantic, as they chatted. There was a little swell on; not a great deal, but enough to send "poor sailors" to their

staterooms.

"Is it not beautiful?" said Uncle Jack. “I don't believe I have ever told you of Barry Cornwall's poem on the sea. It is a great favorite of mine."

"You have never told it to us," replied Ben. "Then I will do so now. There is no time like the present," said Uncle Jack:

THE SEA

The sea! the sea! the open sea!
The blue, the fresh, the ever free!
Without a mark, without a bound,

It runneth the earth's wide regions round;
It plays with the clouds; it mocks the skies;
Or like a cradled creature lies.

I'm on the sea! I'm on the sea!

I am where I would ever be;

With the blue above, and the blue below,
And silence wheresoe'er I go;

If a storm should come and awake the deep,
What matter? I shall ride and sleep.

I love,

O, 'how I love! - to ride

On the fierce, foaming, bursting tide,
When every mad wave drowns the moon,
Or whistles aloft his tempest tune,

And tells how goeth the world below,
And why the sou'west blasts do blow.

I never was on the dull, tame shore,
But I loved the great sea more and more,
And backwards flew to her billowy breast,
Like a bird that seeketh its mother's nest;
And a mother she was, and is, to me;

For I was born on the

open sea!

The waves were white, and red the

In the noisy hour when I was born;

morn,

And the whale it whistled, the porpoise rolled,

And the dolphins bared their backs of gold;

And never was heard such an outcry wild

As welcomed to life the ocean-child!

I've lived since then, in calm and strife,
Full fifty summers, a sailor's life,

With wealth to spend and a power to range,

But never have sought nor sighed for change;
And Death, whenever he comes to me,

Shall come on the wild, unbounded sea!

Bryan Waller Procter (Barry Cornwall)

TO THE PUPIL:

1. Copy and memorize the fourth stanza of "The Sea."

2. What is the exact answer to Uncle Jack's question, paragraph five?

3. Write two declarative sentences. Rewrite, changing to interrogative form.

TO THE TEACHER:

Review pp. 419–424.