10. Still from the village green a vow 11. Yes! where love nestles thou canst teach Hearts also shall thy lessons reach 12. Stript is the haughty one of pride, 13. Hush, feeble lyre! weak words refuse To yon exulting thrush the Muse 14. His voice shall chant in accents clear, Till the first silver star appear, The sovereignty of May. -Wordsworth. Queen of the May. Formerly it was usual on the morning of the first of May for the young people to go out early into the country and gather flowers and hawthorn branches. They brought them home about sunrise, and decorated the doors and windows in the village with them. The fairest maid of the village also was crowned with flowers as the "Queen of the May." She was placed in a bower made of flowers, near the May-pole, round which they danced nearly the whole day. aspire, to breathe after. disport, to move in gaiety or sport. Flora, goddess of flowers. forlorn, forsaken. lieges, subjects. lustre, brightness. mellow, soft, ripe. mysterious, obscure, secret. quickening, life-giving. sprightly, airy, full of life. sway, influence, government. tremulous, trembling, shaking. WHY AN APPLE FALLS. 1. "I have somewhere read," said Willie, "that Sir Isaac Newton was led to make some of his great discoveries by seeing an apple fall from a tree. But I do not see anything wonderful in the fall of an apple. Why should not an apple fall when its stem is broken?" "Let me ask you in return," said Uncle John, "if you see any reason why an apple should fall when its stem is broken? Can you tell why anything falls to the ground?" 2. "I suppose an apple falls from a tree when its stem is broken," said Willie, "because-because-there is nothing to hold it up any longer. It is forced to fall. It cannot help it.' "Just so, just so," said Uncle John; "it is forced to fall. It cannot help it. But what is it that forces the apple to fall? Do you think the apple has any power to move itself?" 3. Willie thought a while, and then said that he did. not suppose the apple could move itself. "But I should like to know," said he, "what makes it fall." "That is the very question that Newton asked himself," said Uncle John. "And when he could answer that question he could answer a great many more questions that had long puzzled all the philosophers before him." 4. "But I do not see yet what makes the apple fall,” said Willie. "There must be something that pulls it down to the earth." "Just so, just so," said Uncle John. "The earth pulls the apple to it." 5. "But I do not see the earth pull it," said Willie; "and I do not see how the earth can pull it.” "Nor does anybody know how it can do it. All we know is the fact that there is a force or power in the earth which draws the apple, and that power Newton calls attraction. We say, the earth attracts the apple to it. The earth attracts us also, and keeps us from falling off." 6. "But do not other bodies have this power of attraction?" asked Willie. "Certainly. The apple has the same kind of power; but its power is very small, compared with the power of the great earth itself. One body thus acts upon any other body just in proportion to the amount of matter it contains and its nearness to the other. If I lift up a stone it is heavy because the earth attracts or draws it downward, and the more matter the stone contains the heavier it is." 7. "But what would happen," asked Willie, "if the earth should suddenly lose this power of attraction?" "If the earth should lose this power," Uncle John replied, "and the sun and the moon should retain their powers of attraction the same as now, everything on the earth would be drawn away to the sun or the moon; and the earth itself would fall in pieces and be drawn away also." 8. "Then the power which makes an apple fall to the earth," said Willie, "is pretty important after all, although I at first thought there was nothing wonderful about it." "It is one of those great laws," said Uncle John, "which God has made to bind the universe together, and which helps to keep the earth and the other planets in their places."-American. Questions on the lesson :-How was Newton led to make some of his great discoveries? What did Willie think of the fall of an apple? What explanation did he think sufficient? What was he led at last to say about it? When his uncle told him that the earth pulled the apple down, what two objections still remained? What name is given to this drawing power? What other bodies were shown to have this power? What would follow if the earth lost this power of attraction? attract, to draw to. planet, a heavenly body moving round the sun. puzzle, to cause doubt. retain, to keep back. universe, all created things. 1. 2. RURAL SOUNDS. Nor rural sights alone, but rural sounds, The tone of languid Nature. Mighty winds, That sweep the skirt of some far-spreading wood Of ancient growth, make music not unlike The dash of Ocean on his winding shore, And lull the spirit while they fill the mind; Unnumbered branches waving in the blast, And all their leaves fast fluttering, all at once. 3. Nor less composure waits upon the roar Of distant floods, or on the softer voice Of neighbouring fountain; or of rills that slip 4. Nature inanimate employs sweet sounds, Ten thousand warblers cheer the day, and one The livelong night: nor these alone, whose notes Nice-fingered art must emulate in vain, But cawing rooks, and kites that swim sublime |