Proph'ets, those who foretell future events. 7. Sā'ges, wise men. 8. Com mun'ion, fellowship, association. 9 Affliction, distress or grief. 10. Fic'tion, works of iniagination. II. Con vic'tion, a sense of guilt. 12. De sign', plan; purpose. 13. Re şist'ance, opposition. LESSON IV. He Had a Heart. I. It was a hot, dusty day, when two or three passengers entered a train on the Northwestern road at Bridgewater. Among them was a stylishly-dressed young man, who wore a stiff white hat, patent-leather shoes, the neatest of cuffs and the shiniest of stand-up collars. He carried a cane, and carefully brushed the dust from the seat in front of me before he sat down. 2. Just across the aisle, opposite him, sat a tired woman holding a baby. I never saw in my life a more discouraged, worn-out, despairing look than that on the mother's face. The baby was too sick even to cry. It lay moaning and gasping in its mother's lap, while the dust and cinders flew in at the open doors and windows. The heat and dust made traveling, even for strong men, unbearable. 3. I had put down the stylish young man in front of me as a specimen of the dude family, and was making a mental calculation on the probable existence of brains under the new hat, when, to my astonishment, he leaned over the aisle and said to the woman: "Madam, can I be of any assistance to you? Just let me hold your baby a while. You look so very tired." Oh! thank you, sir," said she tremulously; "I am tired," and her lips quivered. 66 4. I think the baby will come to me," said the young man, with a smile. "Poor thing! It's too sick to make any objection. I will hold it carefully, madam, while you lie down and rest a while. Have you come far?" 66 'Yes; but the baby was well when I started. I am on my way to friends in the East. My-my husband-my-" “Ah, yes, I see, I see!" continued the young man in a sympathetic tone, as he glanced at the bit of crape in the little traveling-hat. By this time he had taken the baby and was holding it in his arms. 66 5. Now you can lie down and rest a little. Have you far to go?" "To Georgia," replied the woman, almost with a sob, as she wearily arranged a shawl over a valise, and prepared to lie down in the seat. "Ah, yes, I see! And you have not money enough to go into a sleeping-car; have you, madam?" The poor woman blushed faintly and put one hand over her face, while the tears dropped between her worn fingers. I looked out of the window, and a mist came over my eyes, while I changed my calculation of the young man's mental ability. He looked thoughtfully and tenderly down at the baby, and in a short time the mother was fast asleep. 6. The woman sitting across the aisle from me, who had heard as much of the conversation as I had, came and offered to relieve the young man of his charge. “I am ashamed of myself for not offering to take the baby from the mother before. Poor little thing! It is asleep." "So it is. I'll surrender it to you now," with a cheerful smile. 7. At this point the train stopped at a station, and the young man rose in his seat, took off his hat, and said in a clear, earnest voice: "Ladies and gentlemen, here is an opportunity for us to show that we have been brought up in a Christian land and have Christian mothers and fathers. This poor woman," pointing to the sleeping mother, “has come all the way from the Black Hills, and is going to Georgia. Her husband is dead, and her baby is ill. She hasn't money enough to travel in a sleeping-car, and is all tired out and discouraged. What will you do about it?" "Do?" cried a big man down near the water-cooler, rising excitedly. "Do? Take up a collection!" the American citizen's last resort in distress. "I'll give five dollars." 8. The effect was electrical. The hat went round, and the way silver dollars and quarters and ten-cent pieces rattled in it would have done any true heart good. I wish I could describe the look on the woman's face. when she awoke and the money was given to her. She tried to thank us all, and failed. She broke down completely. But we didn't need any thanks. There was a sleeping-car on the train, and the young man saw the mother and child transferred to it at once. I did not hear what she said to him when he left, but it must have been a hearty " God bless you!"-Writer in Cincinnati Commercial Gazette. 2. Definitions.—1. Spěc'i men, sample; model. Cal cu la'tion, reckoning; estimate. 3. Trem' lous ly, in an agitated, trembling manner. 4. Quiv'ered, trembled. 5. Sym'pa thět'ic, kind; showing pity or compassion. 6. Op'por tū'ni ty, fit occasion. 7. Re şôrt', means of relief. 8. E lec'tric al, as if caused by electricity; magical. 9. Trans ferred', removed. LESSON V. PART I. September. George Arnold. The cricket chirps all day, "O fairest summer, stay!" The squirrel eyes askance the chestnuts browning; Above the foamy bar, And hasten southward ere the skies are frowning. Now comes a fragrant breeze Through the dark cedar-trees, And round about my temples fondly lingers, Like to the soft caress Bestowed in happier days by loving fingers. Yet, though a sense of grief And memory makes the summer doubly pleasant, In all my autumn dreams A future summer gleams, Passing the fairest glories of the present! DEFINITIONS.-I. A skǎnçe', sidewise. 2. Be stōwed', given freely. LESSON V.-PART II. September Rain. Thomas MacKellar. Patter-patter— Listen how the rain-drops clatter, Falling on the shingle roof; How they rattle, Like the rifle's click in battle, Cool and pleasant Is the evening air at present, Gathering freshness from the rain. Languor chasing, Muscle, thew, and sinew bracing, And enlivening the brain. |