15. By this time Martin had had fun enough for one day. He got up, poked his hair out of his eyes, and walked, as well as he could, toward home. The boys ran after him, calling out, “Martin Klover! Martin Klover! Only look at his clothes! What do you think of pigs?

16. When Martin reached home it was almost dark. The family had arrived some time before. As soon as his mother saw him, she lifted up both her hands and did not know what to say. She had never seen such a looking boy.

17. Martin had only bare bread for his supper that night, and was left to eat it in a room by himself, that he might think over the mischief he had done. And that he might think the harder he was placed upon a hard bench.

18. His mother left him three thick slices, but his grandmother, thinking he would starve, put inside the door a whole baker's loaf. Martin began with the loaf, then went on with the three thick slices.

19. The cat jumped in at the window, and he was very glad of her company. "Good little pussy!" he sobbed, good little pussy! Pussy loves Martin, don't she?" And pussy mewed that she did.

Renowned; celebrated. Polite; elegant; polished. Mis'chief. Harm; evil; damage.

Im-ag'ine. Conceive; think; fancy. | Fa'mous. Un-ex-pect'ed-ly. In an unexpect- Gen-teel'. ed manner; suddenly.

How did it happen that Martin did not go with the family? What did he find in the garret, and what did he do with the things he found? Tell the troubles which happened to Martin. What did his mother say when she saw him? What was Martin's punishment?

XXXVIII. THE FIRST SNOW-FALL

buş'i-ly heap'ing

1.

THE

HE snow had begun in the gloaming,
And busily all the night

Had been heaping field and highway
With a silence deep and white.

2. Every pine and fir and hemlock

Wore ermine too dear for an earl,
And the poorest twig on the elm-tree
Was ridged inch deep with pearl.

3. I stood and watched by the window
The noiseless work of the sky,

And the sudden flurries of snow-birds,
Like brown leaves whirling by.

4. I thought of a mound in sweet Auburn
Where a little headstone stood,
How the flakes were folding it gently,
As did robins the babes in the wood.

5. Up spoke our own little Mabel,

66

Saying, Father, who makes it snow?"
And I told of the good All-father
Who cares for us here below.

6. Again I looked at the snow-fall,
And thought of the leaden sky
That arched o'er our first great sorrow,
When that mound was heaped so high.

7. And again to the child I whispered,

"The snow that husheth all, Darling, the merciful Father

Alone can make it fall!"

Gloam'ing Morning or evening twi- | Er'mine. A species of animal and

1.

as-signed'

de-sign'

I

LIVE for those who love me,

Whose hearts are kind and true;
For the heaven that smiles above me,

And awaits my spirit too;
For all human ties that bind me,
For the task my God assigned me,
For the bright hopes left behind me,
And the good that I can do.

2. I live to learn their story,

Who suffered for my sake;

To emulate their glory,

And follow in their wake;
Bards, patriots, martyrs, sages,
The noble of all ages,

Whose deeds crown History's pages,

And Time's great volume make.

3. I live to hold communion

With all that is divine;

hail

Pa'tri-ots. Those who love and faith- Fic'tion. Something feigned; an in

fully serve their country.

vented story.

Mar'tyr. One who is put to death As-sist'ance. Help; aid.

Which stanza of this poem do you like best? Tell the names of men "whose deeds crown History's pages."

WH

bird, a creature so small in size and so rapid in movement! It would seem as easy to catch and imprison a sunbeam as to keep a humming-bird in a cage, or even in the room of a house. And yet it has been done. A lady in Danvers, in Massachusetts, in the course of a single summer, had four little humming-birds in her house, which became in some degree tame.

2. First she became possessed by accident of a nest with two half-fledged little mites in it, nearly starved to death. The parent birds had left them, and perhaps had been killed by some bird of prey. The nest was the prettiest and nicest of nests, an inch and a half across the top, made of the softest buff-colored down, and covered with wood lichens. It looked as if it grew on the tree where it was found.

3. The first thing to be done was to feed them, as humming-birds, and indeed all birds, require a great deal of food in proportion to their size and weight. So she made a thick syrup of sugar and water, and fed them with a small quill, cut away on one side, so that their long, needle-like bills could go into it. She was delighted to find that they drank it eagerly, and it suited them well, for they grew in size and strength. In due time they learned to sip it up themselves out of a little dish.

4. After some days they became fledged, and left their little nest. The lady would not imprison them in a cage,