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She led the way and at the vessel's stern

She took her seat, while many willing hands
Bound the straight mast and tightened the white sail.

So through the night the black ship kept her way,
The singing west wind ever at her heels,
And when the sun once more had climbed the sky,
They came to Pylos, Neleus' citadel,
Where, grouped upon the shore, the townsfolk stood
And offered up their bounteous sacrifice

To lord Poseidon, ruler of the sea.

Then spake the clear-eyed goddess to the lad:-
"No shyness now! The time for that is gone.
Go straight to Nestor yonder; there he sits.
Ask him yourself to tell the simple truth
For honesty and candor dwell in him."
Then answered her discreet Telemachus:
"How can I importune a great man thus?
Will he not think me overbold and rude?
In subtleties of speech I am not bred."

"Fear not," the goddess said, "for you will find

Some heaven-sent promptings when you come to speak."

So saying they set forth to meet their hosts.
Who welcomed them with eager, friendly hands,
And gave them food and drink in courteous wise.
This done the ancient Nestor thus began:

"Strangers, since now ye are with food refreshed,
Where do ye come from? Whither do ye go?
Are ye upon some urgent errand sent ?

Or do ye rove at pleasure o'er these seas?"

Then answered him discreet Telemachus:
"O Nestor, son of Neleus, honored sage!
From Ithaca we come some word to seek

Of my lamented father, who, men say,
Fought side by side with you in days gone by.
For none can tell us where Odysseus died,
Whether he was o'erwhelmed on land or sea.
I beg you tell me freely what you know,
Nor let your pity hide from me the truth."

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Then answered him the great Gerenian knight:
"O youth, what woes we suffered in those days-
Those years of fighting in the Trojan land!
Yet still your royal father brought us through,
And always in our thoughts we two agreed.
But not in safety did all reach their homes,
For bitter strife arose among us there.
Half of the host held back and would not sail,
I, with my ships, pressed onward, fearing ill.
And so, dear lad, in ignorance I came,
Having no news of those we left behind.
Go, visit Menelaus. He may know,
For he is lately come from distant lands

And from that vast and fearful unknown sea.
Ask him yourself to tell the simple truth,

For honesty and candor dwell in him.”

When he had ceased Athene answered him:

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"O Sire, these words of yours are fitly said;

But now the fading day has turned to night

And it is time that we should seek our rest."
Then did Athene and the youthful prince
Set off together for their hollow ship,
But Nestor chided them reproachfully:
"Am I a man who owns no goods nor gear ?
Have I not rugs and robes enough at home
To make you warm and comfortable there?
And shall the son of great Odysseus lie

On a ship's deck, while I am housed in ease?

Then said the goddess to him graciously:
"Well have you said, and surely it is meet
That prince Telemachus should heed your words.
He, then, will sleep to-night within your halls.
But as for me I go to the black ship

And tell my men their duties, for I am
The only man of years among them all."

But even as she spake the goddess changed
Her form, and they beheld a great sea bird
Who passed into the night. Awe fell on all.

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The old man marveled as he gazed, and cried,
"It was none other than Athene's self!

Dear child, you must not fail in strength of heart,

Since at your age the gods become your guides."

Telem ́achus the son of Odysseus. Pallas Athene (à the ́ne): the goddess of wisdom; Minerva. Ithaca: a rocky island, the home of Odysseus. - Pylos (pīlos): a city on the western coast of Greece, built by Neleus (nē lūs), who was said to be the grandson of Poseidon (pỏ sĩ don) or Neptune, the god of the ocean. Nestor: the wise old counselor of the Greeks. Gere ́nian: a native of Gerenia, a Grecian city. Menela'us: one of the Greek leaders. The Trojan War was fought because his wife Helen had been carried off by a Trojan prince. gear: property.

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TO A SKYLARK

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

Ethereal minstrel! pilgrim of the sky!

Dost thou despise the earth where cares abound?
Or, while the wings aspire, are heart and eye
Both with thy nest upon the dewy ground?
Thy nest which thou canst drop into at will,
Those quivering wings composed, that music still!

Leave to the nightingale her shady wood;

A privacy of glorious light is thine;

Whence thou dost pour upon the world a flood
Of harmony, with instinct more divine;

Type of the wise who soar, but never roam;
True to the kindred points of Heaven and Home!

THE BEGINNINGS OF TENNESSEE

THEODORE ROOSEVELT

THEODORE ROOSEVELT (rōs ́e vělt) was born in 1858 in New York City. As governor of his native state and as President he has proved himself a man of vigorous personality, high ideals, and a wide range of interests.

In 1769, the year that Boon first went to Kentucky, the first permanent settlers came to the banks of the 5 Watauga, the settlement being merely an enlargement of one in Virginia. At first the settlers thought that they were still in the domain of Virginia, for at that time the line marking her southern boundary had not been run so far west. Indeed, had they not considered the land as 10 belonging to Virginia they would probably not at the moment have dared to intrude farther on territory claimed by the Indians.

In 1771, one of the newcomers, who was a practical surveyor, discovered that the Watauga settlement came 15 within the limits of North Carolina. Hitherto the settlers had supposed that they were governed by the Virginian law, and that their rights as against the Indians were guaranteed by the Virginian government; but this discovery threw them back upon their own resources. 20 They suddenly found themselves obliged to organize a civil government under which they themselves should live, and at the same time to enter into a treaty on their