paper cap, fashioned and pointed so as to bear a greater resemblance to the papal tiara than to the diadem of the ocean monarch. In one hand he held a huge speaking trumpet, and in the other he brandished, instead of a trident, the ship's grains with five prongs.

11. The other strangers to Old Neptune were subsequently compelled to go through the same ceremonies, in which I assisted with a hearty good will; and those who did not patiently submit to the indignities, received the roughest treatment. The shades of evening fell before the frolic was over, and the wonted order and discipline restored.

1. QUESTIONS.-What "line" is meant in the first paragraph? What is a "brig"? What "sea-god" is meant? Who were the "strangers"? 2. What is " a meridian altitude of the sun"? What is latitude, and of what was the latitude determined? Why did "Collins grin"? What is it to "hail the deck"? What is "the fore-topsail yard"? the "weather bow"? [See dictionary.] 4. What is the "forecastle"? "forescuttle"? 5. What is the "flying jib-boom"? Was there a boat approaching the ship? What would the speech "heave me a rope," &c., indicate? 7. What "scarifying process" is referred to? 10. What is "the papal tiara"? What is a "trident," and to whom is it considered as belonging? What is meant by "the ship's grains"? Why is the word five italicized? How should this piece be read?

V.-SNOW-BOUND.

J. G. WHITTIER.

1. The moon above the eastern wood
Shone at its full; the hill-range stood
Transfigured in the silver flood,

Its blown snows flashing cold and keen,
Dead white, save where some sharp ravine
Took shadow, or the somber green
Of hemlocks turned to pitchy black
Against the whiteness at their back.

For such a world and such a night
Most fitting that unwarming light,
Which only seemed where'er it fell
To make the coldness visible.

2. Shut in from all the world without,
We sat the clean-winged hearth about,
Content to let the north-wind roar
In baffled rage at pane and door,
While the red logs before us beat
The frost-line back with tropic heat;
And ever, when a louder blast
Shook beam and rafter as it passed,
The merrier up its roaring draught
The great throat of the chimney laughed.

;

3. The house-dog on his paws outspread
Laid to the fire his drowsy head,
The cat's dark silhouette on the wall
A couchant tiger's seemed to fall
And, for the winter fireside meet,
Between the andirons' straddling feet,
The mug of cider simmered slow,
The apples sputtered in a row,
And, close at hand, the basket stood
With nuts from brown October's wood.

4. What matter how the night behaved?
What matter how the north-wind raved?
Blow high, blow low, not all its snow
Could quench our hearth-fire's ruddy glow.
O Time and Change!—with hair as gray
As was my sire's that winter day,
How strange it seems, with so much gone
Of life and love, to still live on!
Ah, brother! only I and thou
Are left of all that circle now,—
The dear home faces whereupon
That fitful firelight paled and shone.

5. Henceforward, listen as we will,
The voices of that hearth are still ;
Look where we may, the wide earth o'er,
Those lighted faces smile no more.
We tread the paths their feet have worn,
We sit beneath their orchard trees,
We hear, like them, the hum of bees
And rustle of the bladed corn;
We turn the pages that they read,
Their written words we linger o'er,
But in the sun they cast no shade,
No voice is heard, no sign is made,
No step is on the conscious floor!

6. Yet Love will dream, and Faith will trust,
(Since He who knows our need is just,)
That somehow, somewhere, meet we must.
Alas for him who never sees

The stars shine through his cypress trees!
Who, hopeless, lays his dead away,
Nor looks to see the breaking day
Across the mournful marbles play!
Who hath not learned, in hours of faith,
The truth to flesh and sense unknown,
That Life is ever lord of Death,
And Love can never lose its own!

ANALYSIS OF SELECTION V.

Is this selection prose, or poetry? How do they differ from each other? [There are two kinds of difference, one of thought, and one of form. Thoughts that are beautiful, and those that appeal to the imagination, are poetical: thoughts that are concerned about simple matters-of-fact are prosaic. Much that is prose in form, is highly poetical in thought, because it is beautiful or imaginative. To show the difference in form, let the teacher read, correctly and naturally, a few lines of blank verse, and a few lines of prose, and let the pupil, not the teacher, observe and point out the difference.

One will be measured off to the ear; the other will not.] What is blank verse? rhyme? Which is illustrated in this selection? Is this piece didactic, descriptive, humorous, joyous, grave, or pathetic? How many of these characteristics belong to it? Show the differences between the different parts of the piece in this respect. With what kind of tones ought the different parts to be read?

First Stanza.

What is meant by the hill's being "transfigured"? What is the "silver flood alluded to? Why so called? Whose "blown snows"? What kind of white is "dead white"? How many exceptions to the dead white are mentioned, and what are they? Are the hemlocks really turned to "pitchy black"? Explain this. What "unwarming light" is meant? What was "most fitting"? Why was it fitting to the circumstances mentioned ?

Give the etymology and meaning of transfigured, ravine, somber, unwarming, coldness, visible.

Study carefully the emphases and inflections. Try the reading in various ways, and determine which best conveys the thought and feeling of the piece. Apply the rules laid down in the Principles and General Directions, in the first part of this book.

Second Stanza.

What is meant by the "clean-winged hearth"? Why is the "north-wind" mentioned,-why not the south-wind? Why is it said to roar in "baffled rage"? What is it to "beat the frost-line back"? What is "tropic heat"? Explain the last line of the stanza.

Give the etymology and meaning of content, tropic, passed, chimney.

Third Stanza.

What "seemed to fall"? What is a "couchant tiger"? A tiger's what is meant? What was for the winter fireside

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meet"? Why did "the apples sputter in a row"? Why is October said to be brown?

Give the etymology and meaning of silhouette, couchant, tiger, October.

Show why the scene, as described in the second and third stanzas, is a pleasant one.

Fourth Stanza.

Explain the fourth line. Why is the reference made to "Time and Change"? What "seems strange"? Why does it seem so? Ought old age to have less to love, than earlier life? Explain the last line.

Etymology and meaning of matter, sire, circle, faces, paled.

Fifth Stanza.

Whose voices are referred to here? What is the effect of the enumeration from the fifth line to the end of the stanza? Explain the last three lines. Why is the floor said to be "conscious"?

Give the etymology and meaning of voices, orchard, pages, sign, conscious.

Sixth Stanza.

Explain the first three lines. Who, or what is said to be "just"? For what purpose is the second line introduced? Meaning of "since"? Explain the fourth and fifth lines. What do the "stars" represent? the "cypress trees"? What "marbles" are meant? Explain the sixth, seventh, and eighth lines. What is meant by "flesh "?" sense"? What is the truth alluded to? In what sense is "Life" lord of "Death"? In what sense can "Love never lose its own"? Give the etymology and meaning of just, mournful, marbles.

Are the words in this selection mostly long or short? Are they chiefly common or uncommon words? Find by actual count what proportion of them are derived from Greek, Latin, or French words? Is it a merit or defect in a poem to have many foreign words? Point out as many as you can of the excellences of this selection.