I could but think how the world would feel,
As these were outstripped afar,

When I should be bound to the rushing keel,
Or chained to the flying car.

4. Ha! ha! ha! ha! they found me at last,
They invited me forth at length,

And I rushed to my throne with a thunder blast,
And laughed in my iron strength!
Oh, then ye saw a wondrous change,
On the earth and ocean wide,
Where now my fiery armies range,
Nor wait for wind or tide!

5. Hurrah! hurrah! the waters o'er,
The mountain's steep decline:
Time-space-have yielded to my power-
The world, the world is mine!
The rivers the sun hath earliest blest,
Or those where his beams decline,
The giant streams of the queenly West,
Or the Orient floods divine!

6. The ocean pales wherever I sweep,
To hear my strength rejoice,
And monsters of the briny deep
Cower trembling at my voice.

I carry the wealth of the lord of earth,
The thoughts of his godlike mind;
The wind lags after my going forth,
The lightning is left behind.

7. In the darksome depths of the fathomless mine My tireless arm doth play,

Where the rocks never saw the sun's decline,

Or the dawn of the glorious day;
I bring earth's glittering jewels up
From the hidden caves below,
And I make the fountain's granite cup
With a crystal gush o'erflow.

8. I blow the bellows, I forge the steel,
In all the shops of trade;

I hammer the ore and turn the wheel

Where my arms of strength are made;
I manage the furnace, the mill, the mint,
I carry, I spin, I weave;

And all my doings I put in print

On every Saturday eve.

9. I've no muscles to weary, no brains to decay,
No bones to be laid on the shelf;

And soon I intend you may go and play,
While I manage the world myself.

But harness me down with your iron bands,
Be sure of your curb and rein;

For I scorn the strength of your puny hands,
As the tempest scorns the chain.

DEFINITIONS.-I. Con cealed', hid. 2. Cōurs'er, a swift horse. 3. De creed', announced; ordered. 4. O'ri ent, East. 5. Cow'er, tremble; quail. 6. Fath'om less, not to be measured.

LESSON LXXIV.

An April Day.

Caroline A. B. Southey.

Robert

CAROLINE A. B. SOUTHEY was the second wife of
Southey, who was Poet Laureate of England from 1813 to 1843.
She was a woman of excellent literary taste and wrote simple
verse charmingly.

All day the low-hung clouds have dropped
Their garnered fullness down;

All day that soft, gray mist hath wrapped
Hill, valley, grove, and town.

There has not been a sound to-day
To break the calm of nature;
Nor motion, I might almost say,
Of life, or living creature;

Of waving bough, or warbling bird,
Or cattle faintly lowing:

I could have half believed I heard
The leaves and blossoms growing.

I stood to hear-I love it well-
The rain's continuous sound;

Small drops, but thick and fast they fell,
Down straight into the ground.

For leafy thickness is not yet,

Earth's naked breast to screen;

Though every dripping branch is set
With shoots of tender green.

Sure, since I looked at early morn,

Those honeysuckle buds

Have swelled to double growth; that thorn
Hath put forth larger studs.

That lilac's cleaving cones have burst,
The milk-white flowers revealing;

Even now, upon my senses first

Methinks their sweets are stealing.

The very earth, the steamy air,

Is all with fragrance rife;

And grace and beauty everywhere

Are flushing into life.

Down, down they come-those fruitful stores,

Those earth-rejoicing drops!

A momentary deluge pours,

And thins, decreases, stops.

And ere the dimples on the stream
Have circled out of sight,

Lo! from the west a parting gleam
Breaks forth, of amber light.

But yet behold-abrupt and loud,
Comes down the glittering rain;
The farewell of a passing cloud,
The fringes of her train.

Definitions.—1. Gär'nered, gathered; laid up for harvest. 2. Con tin'u ous, without interruption. 3. Studs, stems. 4. Screen, protect. 5. Cleav'ing, stick

ing closely. 6. Cōnes, here, the meaning is flower buds. 7. Rife, abounding. 8. Mo'men tary, lasting only a moment. 9. Del'uge, flood. 10. Am'ber, yellow.

LESSON LXXV.

The Battle of Manila.

J. W. Buel.

PART I.

Boom! Boom! Boom! It is the dirge of the war guns drowning the voice of the sea. Swish and patter and screech; shrapnel, shell, and solid shot are filling the air with horrific sounds, and decks run red with the blood of sacrifice. Dewey is before Manila! Under the cover of night, past the sleeping forts where the enemy lay, through the treacherous waters where many a hidden mine was laid, brave Dewey led his fleet into the Bay of Manila on Sunday morning, May 1, 1898. No American will ever forget the date, and the story of his heroism will be told as long as there remains an ear to hear it, as long as our proud and grateful country can remember the names of Jones, Bainbridge, Perry, Decatur, and Lawrence.

On April 26, Commodore George Dewey was ordered from Hong-Kong to seek and destroy the Spanish fleet, which was known to be guarding the capital of the Philippines. Without delaying to ask for specific information about the strength of the enemy he sailed at once for Manila with his squadron of the following vessels: