Eddying and whisking, Spouting and frisking, Twining and twisting Around and around,— Collecting, disjecting, With endless rebound; Smiting and fighting, Dizzying and deafening the ear with its sound. Receding and speeding, And shocking and rocking, And whitening and brightening, And driving and riving and striving, And grumbling and rumbling and tumbling. And gleaming and streaming and steaming and beaming, ROBERT SOUTHEY. RAIN ON THE ROOF. [A vigorous action of the imagination will do much toward suggest, ing the proper form of expression.] When the humid showers gather over all the starry spheres, Every tinkle on the shingles has an echo in the heart, There in fancy comes my mother, as she used to years agone, Then my little seraph sister, with her wings and waving hair, And another comes to thrill me with her eyes' delicious blue, There is naught 'n art's bravuras that can work with such a spell ORATOR PUFF. [The "two tones" should be clearly brought out.] Mr. Orator Puff had two tones in his voice, The one squeaking thus, and the other down so; In each sentence he uttered he gave you your choice, For one half was B alt, and the rest G below. O, Orator Puff, One voice for an orator's surely enough! But he still talked away, 'spite of coughs and of frowns, That a wag once, on hearing the orator say, "My voice is for war," asked him," Which of them, pray?" O, Orator Puff, One voice for an orator's surely enough! Reeling homeward one evening, top-heavy with gin, "Sinking fund," the last words as his noddle came down. One voice for an orator's surely enough! "Oh! save!" he exclaimed, in his he-and-she tones, 66 Help me out! help me out! I have broken my bones!" "Help you out!" said a Paddy, who passed-"what a bother! Why, there's two of you there; can't you help one another ?" O, Orator Puff, One voice for an orator's surely enough! THOMAS MOORE. THE QUIET STREET. [Affording opportunity for many varieties of the calling voice.] There is enjoyment in the pathless woods, No thoroughfare allured the busy throng; It formed a cul-de-sac-this quiet street. I took possession of the second floor, A two-pair front-not elegant, but neat; I wooed the Muse one sunny afternoon, Hail, Luna!"-But what is that? A distant sound It cannot be "Hail, Luna!"—I'll be bound, No matter,-'twill be over very soon; There's a policeman somewhere on the beat. Hark! there's a trumpet, sadly out of tune, Waking the echoes of this quiet street. "Partant pour la Syril," the organ plays; And now a voice more powerful than sweet Hoarsely invokes the "Light of Other Days"— A ballad-singer's got into the street. The bands begin a Polka-sounds increase"Sekund edishun-Rooshians in retreat." "Hail, Luna!"-no, not that.-Hi, there, police, Is this permitted in a quiet street? Silence your brazen throats, you green-baize band; "Where the bright fountain, sparkling, never ceases Its gush of limpid music," "Wa-ter-cree-ses !'' "There let me linger, stretched beneath the trees, Tracing in air fantastic"-"Imagees !" "What varied dreams the vagrant fancy hatches, A playful Leda with her Jove-born"-"Matcher "° "She opens her treasure-cells, like Portia's caskets, And bids me choose her"-"Baskets, any baskets !" "In thoughts so bright the aching sense they blind, In their own lustrous languor"—"Knives to grind " "Visions like those the Interpreter, of Bunyan's, Displayed to Mercy and young Matthew"-"Onions !" "There is a spell that none can chase away, 6. From scenes once visited by" [Sing.] Old Dog Tray "There is a charm whose power must ever blend The past and present in its'—" Chairs to mend!" "Still Pan and Syrinx wander thro' the groves, Still Zephyr moves"—" Shavings for your stoves !” "And still unbanished falters on the ear," "Any beer! A-n-y_ B-e-e-r!” "Aye, and forever, while this planet rolls, To its sphere-music"-"Mackerel or Soles !" "While crushed Enceladus in torment groans Beneath his Etna shrieking"-" Stones, hearthstones!" "While laves the tideless sea the glittering strand Of Grecia"-[Sing.] "'Tis hard to give the hand!" "The spot they visited is holy ground, And echo answers"-[Sing.] "Bobbing all around!" “Hail, Luna!”—“Muffins !”—"Goddess of the Night!" This very day I'll leave this quiet street. LITTLE JIM. [Picture the scene-use care in the descriptive parts—impersonate.] The cottage was a thatched one, the outside old and mean And oh! to see the briny tears fast hurrying down her cheek, She gets her answer from the child: soft fall the words from him, "Tell father, when he comes from work, I said good-night to him, |