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as well as vocal culture. The most impressive portions of it require full round tones, and the proper reading of it will give fullness and smoothness to the voice.]

XXV. THE SCHOOLMASTER.

J. G. WHITTIER.

1. Brisk wielder of the birch and rule,
The master of the district school
Held at the fire his favored place;
Its warm glow lit a laughing face
Fresh-hued and fair, where scarce appeared
The uncertain prophecy of beard.
He teased the mitten-blinded cat,
Played cross-pins on my uncle's hat,
Sang songs, and told us what befalls
In classic Dartmouth's college halls.

2. Born the wild northern hills among,
From whence his yeoman father wrung
By patient toil subsistence scant,
Not competence and yet not want,
He early gained the power to pay
His cheerful, self-reliant way;
Could doff at ease his scholar's gown
To peddle wares from town to town;

3. Or through the long vacation's reach
In lonely lowland districts teach,
Where all the droll experience found
At stranger hearths in boarding round,
The moonlit skater's keen delight,
The sleigh-drive through the frosty night,
The rustic party, with its rough
Accompaniment of blind-man's buff,
And whirling plate, and forfeits paid,
His winter task a pastime made.

4. Happy the snow-locked homes wherein
He tuned his merry violin,

Or played the athlete in the barn,
Or held the good dame's winding yarn,
Or mirth-provoking versions told
Of classic legends rare and old,
Wherein the scenes of Greece and Rome
Had all the commonplace of home,
And little seemed at best the odds
"Twixt Yankee peddlers and old gods;
Where Pindus-born Araxes took
The guise of any grist-mill brook,
And dread Olympus at his will
Became a whortleberry hill.

QUESTIONS ON SELECTION XXV.

What is meant by the mitten-blinded cat"? by "crosspins"? by "classic Dartmouth"? Where is Dartmouth? What is meant by the expression "could doff at ease his scholar's gown"? Meaning of " boarding round"? of "played the athlete"? of Yankee? What was "Pindus-born Araxes"? "Olympus"? Explain the last four lines of the piece. What is the character attributed to this schoolmaster? Is it favorable or otherwise?

XXVI.—THE POWER OF GOD.

1. Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,

2. Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?

3. Gird up thy loins now like a man: for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.

4. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding.

5. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest; or who hath stretched the line upon it?

6. Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof,

7. When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

8. Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb,

9. When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling band for it,

10. And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors,

11. And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?

12. Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place;

13. That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?

14. It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment.

15. And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm shall be broken.

16. Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?

17. Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?

18. Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if thou knowest it all.

19. Where is the way where light dwelleth? and as for darkness, where is the place thereof,

20. That thou shouldst take it to the bound thereof, and that thou shouldst know the paths to the house thereof?

21. Knowest thou it, because thou wast then born? or because the number of thy days is great?

22. Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail,

23. Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?

24. By what way is the light parted, which scattereth the east wind upon the earth?

25. Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder;

26. To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man ;

27. To satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?

28. Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew?

29. Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?

30. The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.

31. Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?

32. Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?

33. Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?

34. Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee?

35. Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are?

36. Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart?

37. Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of heaven,

38. When the dust groweth into hardness, and the clods cleave fast together?

39. Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion? or fill the appetite of the young lions,

40. When they couch in their dens, and abide in the covert to lie in wait?

41. Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat.

42. Hast thou given the horse strength? hast thou clothed his neck with thunder?

43. Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? the glory of his nostrils is terrible.

44. He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength; he goeth on to meet the armed men.

45. He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted; neither turneth he back from the sword.

46. The quiver rattleth against him, the glittering spear

and the shield.

47. He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage; neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet.

48. He saith among the trumpets, Ha! ha! and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

XXVII.-EMIR HASSAN.

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.

1. Emir Hassan, of the prophet's race,
Asked, with folded hands, the Almighty's grace.
Then, within the banquet-hall he sat,

At his meal, upon the embroidered mat.

2. There a slave before him placed the food,
Spilling from the charger, as he stood,
Awkwardly upon the Emir's breast

Drops that foully stained the silken vest.

3. To the floor, in great remorse and dread,
Fell the slave, and thus, beseeching said:
"Master, they who hasten to restrain
Rising wrath, in paradise shall reign.”

4. Gentle was the answer Hassan gave :
"I'm not angry." "Yet," pursued the slave,
"Yet doth higher recompense belong
To the injured who forgives a wrong."

5.

"I forgive," said Hassan. "Yet we read,"
So the prostrate slave went on to plead,
"That a higher seat in glory still

Waits the man who renders good for ill."

6. "Slave, receive thy freedom, and behold
In thy hand I lay a purse of gold.

Let me never fail to heed, in aught,
What the prophet of our God hath taught."

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