VII. MY MOTHER'S BIBLE. GEO. P. MORRIS. 1. This book is all that's left me now! Here is our family tree : My mother's hand this Bible clasped ; 2. Ah! well do I remember those Whose names those records bear, Who round the hearthstone used to close And speak of what these pages said, In tones my heart would thrill! 3. My father read this holy book How calm was my poor mother's look, Her angel-face-I see it yet! What thronging memories come! Again that little group is met 4. Thou truest friend man ever knew, Thy constancy I've tried; Where all were false I found thee true, My counselor and guide. The mines of earth no treasure give That could this volume buy: In teaching me the way to live, QUESTIONS.-What is the character of this piece? What emotion does it chiefly express? Does it require to be read in loud tones? Does it require rapid speaking? Should the words be spoken sharply or gently? VIII. THE TURF SHALL BE MY FRAGRANT SHRINE. THOMAS MOORE. 1. The turf shall be my fragrant shrine ; 2. My choir shall be the moonlit waves, E'en more than music, breathes of Thee. 3. I'll seek, by day, some glade unknown, 4. Thy heaven, on which 'tis bliss to look, 5. I'll read thy anger in the rack That clouds awhile the day-beam's track; Of sunny brightness, breaking through! 6. There's nothing bright, above, below, Some feature of thy Deity. 7. There's nothing dark, below, above, Thy touch shall turn all bright again! This selection, like the preceding, requires smooth, gentle tones, with median stress. It has, however, less of tenderness, and requires more fullness and roundness of voice. The preceding selection is the more pathetic, this is the more dignified and noble. The pitch should be lower in this than in the preceding. IX.-FLOWERS. HORACE SMITH. 1. Day-stars that ope your eyes with morn, to twinkle 2. Ye matin worshipers, who bending lowly Before the uprisen sun, God's lidless eye, 3. Ye bright mosaics, that with storied beauty 4. In the sweet-scented pictures, heavenly Artist, With which thou paintest nature's wide-spread hall, What a delightful lesson thou impartest Of love to all! 5. Not useless are ye, flowers, though made for pleasure, Blooming in field and wood by day and night; From every source your presence bids me treasure Harmless delight. 6. "Thou wert not, Solomon, in all thy glory, 7. 'Neath cloistered boughs each floral bell that swingeth 8. Not to the dome where crumbling arch and column Which God hath planned; 9. To the cathedral, boundless as our wonder, Whose quenchless lamps the sun and moon supply, 10. There, as in solitude and shade I wander Through the green aisles, or, stretched along the sod, 11. Your voiceless lips, O flowers, are living preachers, 12. Ephemeral sages! What instructors hoary Yet fount of hope. 13. Posthumous glories, angel-like collection, Upraised from seed or bulb interred in earth, Ye are to me a type of resurrection And second birth. 14. Floral apostles, that in dewy splendor Weep without woe and blush without a crime, 15. Were I, O God! in churchless lands remaining, QUESTIONS.-1. What is "a libation"? What are said to be "sprinkled," and by what? 2. What are "matin wor shipers"? What are the "chalices" here mentioned? 3. Why are the flowers called "bright mosaics"? 7. What is the meaning of " ever " in the third line? 8. What are alluded to in the first two lines? In the last two? 9. What is meant by the expression "boundless as our wonder"? What is said to be boundless? Point out the passages that seem to you most beautiful. X.-REPULSIVE HOMES. CHARLES LAMB. 1. Homes there are, we are sure, that are no homes; the home of the very poor man, and another which we shall speak to presently. Crowded places of cheap entertainment, and the benches of ale-houses, if they could speak, might bear mournful testimony to the first. To them the very poor man resorts for an image of the home which he can not find at home. For a starved grate, and a scanty firing, that is not enough to keep alive the natural heat in the fingers of so many shivering children with their mother, he finds in the depths of winter always a blazing hearth, and a hob to warm his pittance of beer by. Instead of the clamors of a wife, made gaunt by famishing, he meets with a cheerful attendance beyond the merits of the trifle which he can afford to spend. 2. He has companions which his home denies him ; for |