HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW. AN American poet, born at Portland, in Maine, in the year 1807, and still living, (1877.) Longfellow's chief works are, Voices of the Night; Evangeline; The Golden Legend; Hiawatha; The Courtship of Miles Standish; By the Fireside, etc. THE WRECK OF THE HESPERUS. It was the schooner' Hesperus, That sailed the wintry sea; And the skipper 2 had taken his little daughtèr, Blue were her eyes as the fairy-flax, Her cheeks like the dawn of day, And her bosom white as the hawthorn buds 3 That ope in the month of May. The skipper he stood beside the helm, His pipe was in his mouth, And he watched how the veering+ flaw 5 did blow The smoke now west, now south. Then up and spake an old sailòr, 66 "I pray thee put into yonder port, "Last night the moon had a golden ring, Colder and louder blew the wind, 1 Schooner, a vessel with two masts. 2 Skipper, the captain of a merchant vessel. 3 Ope, a poetical word for open. 5 Flaw, a sudden gust of wind. 4 Veering, changing. 7 Spanish Main, that part of the Atlantic Ocean which washes the north of South America. Down came the storm, and smote amain The vessel in its strength; She shuddered and paused, like a frighted steed, "Come hither! come hither! my little daughter, For I can weather the roughest gale He wrapped her warm in his seaman's coat He cut a rope from a broken spar, O father! I hear the church-bells ring, "'Tis a fog-bell on a rock-bound coast!" "O father! I hear the sound of guns, O say what "Some ship in distress, that cannot live 66 "O father! I see a gleaming light, O say what may it be?" But the father answered never a word,-- Lashed to the helm 2 all stiff and stark, The lantern gleamed through the gleaming snow Then the maiden clasped her hands and prayed And she thought of Christ, who stilled the wave 1 Amain, violently or with great force. 2 Lashed to the helm, tied or fastened to the instrument by which the vessel is guided. And fast through the midnight dark and drear, Towards the reef1 of Norman's Woe. A sound came from the land; The breakers were right beneath her bows, And a whooping billow swept the crew She struck where the white and fleecy waves But the cruel rocks, they gored her side Her rattling shrouds 3 all sheathed in ice, At day break, on the bleak sea-beach To see the form of a maiden fair Lashed to a drifting mast. The salt sea was frozen on her breast, The salt tears in her eyes; And he saw her hair, like the brown sea-wecd, On the billows fall and rise. Such was the wreck of the Hesperus, In the midnight and the snow: Christ save us all from a death like this, 1 Reef, a ridge of rocks lying near the surface of the water. 2 Breakers, waves broken by dashing over the rocks. 3 Shrouds, ropes reaching from the sides of a vessel to the top of the mast. 4 Went by the board. To go by the board, is for the mast of a ship to be broken and thrown over the bord or side. Hence the phrase is employed to denote complete destruction. THE REAPER AND THE FLOWERS. There is a reaper whose name is Death, He reaps the bearded grain1 at a breath, "Shall I have nought that is fair?” said he, He gazed at the flowers with tearful eyes, It was for the Lord of paradise He bound them in his sheaves. 3 "My Lord has need of these flowerets 3 gay," The reaper said, and smiled; "Dear tokens of the earth are they, Where He was once a child. "They shall all bloom in fields of light, And saints, upon their garments white, And the mother gave, in tears and pain, Oh, not in cruelty, not in wrath, The reaper came that day : Twas an angel visited the green earth, 1 Bearded grain, aged persons. 2 Flowers, children. little flowers. 3 Flowerets, ELIZA COOK. BORN in Southwark, London, in the year 1818, and still living (1877). She began at an early age to write for various periodicals. In 1840 published her first volume of poetry, which attracted much attention, and won for her considerable popularity. TRY AGAIN. King Bruce' of Scotland flung himself down, 'Tis true he was monarch, and wore a crown, For he had been trying to do a great deed, He had tried and tried, but couldn't succeed, He flung himself down in low despair, And after a while, as he pondered there, "I'll give it all up," said he. Now, just at the moment, a spider dropped, With its silken, filmy clue ;3 And the king, in the midst of his thinking, stopped, 'Twas a long way up to the ceiling dome, It soon began to cling and crawl Straight up, with strong endeavour ; Up, up it ran; not a second to stay, Till it fell still lower, and there it lay, 1 King Bruce, Robert Bruce, the hero of Bannockburn. page 20. 2 Pondered, weighed in the mind, or thought much. 3 Filmy clue, a fine, thin thread. 4 Divine, guess. See |