LESSON LXVII.

Spell and Define.

1. Chide, to scold at, to reprove.

1. Be-dew'ed, moistened, as with dew.

1. Em-balm'ed, preserved from decay.
2. Hal'low-ed, sacred, reverenced.
2. Be-tide', to befall.

3. Worship-ed, adored,

3. I'dol, a person much beloved.

3. Shat'ter-ed, disordered in body or mind.

4. Quiv'er-ing trembling.

4. Throbbing, beating forcibly.

ERRORS.1. Be-doo'ed for be-der'ed; 1. sot for sat; 1. sack red for sa'cred, 2. hollow-ed for hallow-ed; 3. wor'shup-ed for worship-ed; 3. shar'ter-ed for shat'ter-ed; 4. la'vy for lava; 4. mem'ry for mem'c ry.

THE OLD ARM-CHAIR.

ELIZA COOK.

1. I LOVE it, I love it; and who shall dare
To chide me for loving that old arm-chair?
I've treasured it long as a sainted prize,

I've bedewed it with tears, and embalmed it with sighs;

'Tis bound by a thousand bands to my heart;

Not a tie will break, not a link will start.
Would ye learn the spell? a mother sat there,
And a sacred thing is that old arm-chair,

2. In childhood's hour I lingered near
The hallowed seat with listening ear;
And gentle words that mother would give,
To fit me to die and teach me to live.
She told me shame would never betide,
With truth for my creed, and God for my guide;
She taught me to lisp my earliest prayer,

As I knelt beside that old arm-chair.

3. I sat and watched her many a day,

When her eye grew dim, and her locks were gray;
And I almost worshiped her when she smiled,
And turned from her Biblea to bless her child.

NOTE. -a The Bible is composed of parts written by different authors, at differen times, and in different languages. The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew; the New, in Greek, and the Apochrypha, in Greek and Latin. Our English translation was made by order of James I., king of England, by forty-seven dis⚫ tinguished scholars.

Years rolled on, but the last one sped,
My idol was shattered, my earth-star fled;
I learned how much the heart can bear,
When I saw her die in that old arm-chair.

4. 'Tis past! 't is past! but I gaze on it now
With quivering breath and throbbing brow.
'Twas there she nursed me, 't was there she died;
And memory flows with a lava tide.
Say it is folly, and deem me weak,

While the scalding drops start down my cheek;
But I love it, I love it; and cannot tear

My soul from a mother's old arm-chair.

QUESTIONS. 1. Why did the authoress love the old arm-chair? 2. What did the mother tell her daughter? 2. What did she teach her? 3. How did she love her mother? 3. In what languages was the Bible originally written? 3. By whom was our translation made? 4. Where did the mother of the authoress die ?

ERRORS.1. Sper'it for spir'it; 2. fol'ler for follow; 2. stat'oos for stat'ues; 5. sriek for shriek; 5. fend for fiend.

THE FROST SPIRIT.

J. G. WHITTIER.

1. He comes, he comes, the Frost Spirit comes! you may trace his footsteps now

On the naked woods, and the blasted fields, and the brown hill's withered brow.

He has smitten the leaves of the gray old trees, where their pleasant green came forth,

And the winds, which follow wherever he goes, have shaken them down to earth.

2. He comes, he comes, the Frost Spirit comes! from the frozen Labrador ;a

From the icy bridge of the northern seas," which the white bear wanders o'er;

Where the fisherman's sail is stiff with ice, and the luckless forms below,

In the sunless cold of the lingering night, into marble statues grow!

3. He comes, he comes, the Frost Spirit comes! on the rushing northern blast;

And the dark Norwegian pines have bowed, as his fearful breath went past.

With an unscorched wing he has hurried on, where the fires of Hecla glow

On the darkly beautiful sky above, and the ancient ice

below.

4. He comes, he comes, the Frost Spirit comes! and the quiet lake shall feel

The torpid touch of his glazing breath, and ring to the

skater's heel;

And the streams which danced on the broken rocks, or

sung to the leaning grass,

Shall bow again to their winter chain, and in mournful

silence pass.

Hecla, (hek'la); a volcanic

NOTES. —a Lab-ra-dor'; a dreary country in North America, east of Hudson's Bay. b Northern seas; the Arctic ocean, Polar sea, &c. mountain about a mile high, in the south-western part feet deep.

of Iceland; its crater is 100

5. He comes, he comes, the Frost Spirit comes! let us meet

him as we may,

And turn, with the light of the parlor fire, his evil power

away;

And gather closer the circle round when that fire-light dances high,

And laugh at the shriek of the baffled fiend, as his sounding wing goes by!

QUESTIONS.

1. What is meant by the Frost Spirit? 1. Where may you trace his footsteps? 2. From what places does he come? 2. What is Labrador? 3. What is Hecla? 5. How shall we drive away the evil power of the Frost Spirit?

2. Palm'-trees, date trees.

LESSON LXIX
Spell and Define.

3. Bar'ba-rism, a savage state.
6. Co-los'sal, very large.
6. Por'ti-coes, covered walks.

11. Prop'y-lon, the porch of an edifice.
11. Mi'ter-ed, adorned with a miter.
12. Sculp'ture, carved work.

13. Car, a chariot of war.
15. Scep'ter, a staff borne by kings.
17. Sanc'tu-a-ry, a holy place.
20. Gi'ants, men of extraordinary size.
24. Court, a piece of enclosed ground.
24. Col-on-nade', a row of columns.
28. Cymbals, musical instruments.

ERRORS. 3. Barb'rism for bar'ba-rism; 4. dis-troy'in for de-stroy'ing; 6. col. yums for columns; 8. con-ve'ni-ence for con-ven'ience; 11. stat'oos for stat'ues; 11. chist for chest; 13. hufs for hoofs; 19. wor'shup for wor'ship; 20. gen'er-ly for gen'er-al-ly; 28. an'yu-al for an'nu-al.

THE RUINS OF THEBES.

J. L. STEPHENS.

1. Ir was nearly noon, when, with a gentle breeze, we dropped into the harbor of Thebes. The sun was beating upon it with meridian splendor, and the inhabitants were seeking shelter in their miserable huts from its scorching rays.

2. When we were made fast near the remains of the ancient port, to which, more than thirty centuries ago, the Egyptian boatman tied his boat, a small group of Arabs,

NOTES.- —a Thebes (thebz); a city of ancient Egypt, situated on the Nile, about 260 miles south of the place where Cairo now stands. See Arabs, p. 260, note a

smoking under the shade of some palm-trees on a point above and two or three stragglers, who came down to the bank to gaze at us, were the only living beings we beheld in a city which had numbered its millions.

3. When Greece was just emerging from the shades of barbarism, and before the name of Rome' was known, Egypt was far advanced in science and the arts, and Thebes the most magnificent city in the world.

4. But the Assyrian came, and overthrew forever the throne of the Pharaohs. The Persian' war-cry rung through the crowded streets of Thebes; Cambyses laid his destroying hands upon the temples of its gods; and a greater than Babylon the Great, fell to rise no more.

5. The ancient city was twenty-three miles in circumfer ence. The valley of the Nile' was not large enough to contain it, and its extremities rested upon the bases of the mountains of Arabia and Africa.'

6. The whole of this great extent, is more or less strewed with ruins, broken columns, avenues of sphinxes,TM colossal figures, obelisks," pyramidal gateways, porticoes, blocks of polished granite, and stones of extraordinary magnitude; while above them, in all the nakedness of desolation, the

NOTES.―a Greece (Proper); an ancient country which included all of modern Greece, and a portion of the southern part of Turkey in Europe. The Grecian em. pire embraced a more extensive territory. b Rome; an ancient city, situated nearly on the site of modern Rome, in Italy. The Roman Empire, in its greatest prosperity, embraced nearly all the world then known. See Egypt, p. 310, note a. d The Assyr'ians inhabited the ancient country Assyria, situated in Asia, east of the Tigris river. e Pharaoh was the general name of the kings of Egypt. Per'sia was an extensive empire in the west of Asia. g Cam-by'ses (kam-by'sēz); the son of Cyrus the Great, and king of the Persians and Medes. He conquered Egypt, killed the king, and plundered the cities. h Bab'y-lon; an ancient city, supposed to have Deen situated on the river Euphrates in Asia, not far from the Persian gulf. It was 60 miles in circumference, according to the best authority. iSee Nile, p. 264, note b. * Arabia; a country in the south-western part of Asia, and bordering in part on Egypt. Afri-ca; one of the four great divisions of the world, situated south of Europe, and forming a peninsula to Asia. m See Sphinx, p. 258, note b. n Several obelisks have been carried from Egypt to Rome, one of which is 179 feet high, and beautifully adorned with sculpture.