across Vendale and back again, from cloud to cloud and cliff to cliff,
till the very rocks in the stream seemed to shake; and Tom looked up at
it through the water and thought it the finest thing he ever saw in his
life.
4. But out of the water he dared not put his head; for the rain came
down by bucketfuls, and the hail hammered like shot on the stream and
churned it into foam; and soon the stream rose, and rushed down, higher
and higher, and fouler and fouler, full of beetles and sticks and
straws and worms and this, that, and the other.
Tom could hardly stand against the stream, and hid behind a rock. But
the trout did not; for out they rushed from among the stones, and began
gobbling the beetles and leeches in the most greedy and quarrelsome way.
6. And now, by the flashes of lightning, Tom saw a new sight--all the
bottom of the stream alive with great eels, turning and twisting along,
all down stream and away. They had been hiding for weeks past in the
cracks of the rocks and in burrows in the mud, and Tom had hardly ever
seen them, except now and then at night; but now they were all out,
and went hurrying past him so fiercely and wildly that he was quite
frightened.
7. And, as they hurried past, he could hear them say to each other: "We
must run, we must run. What a jolly thunder storm! Down to the sea,
down to the sea!"
And then the otter came by with all her brood, saying: "Come along,
children; we will breakfast on salmon to-morrow. Down to the sea, down
to the sea!"
8. "Down to the sea?" said Tom. "Everything is going to the sea, and
I will go, too. Good-bye, trout." But the trout were so busy gobbling
worms that they never turned to answer him; so that Tom was spared the
pain of bidding them farewell.
9. And now, down the rushing stream, guided by the bright flashes of
the storm; past tall birch-fringed rocks, which shone out one moment as
clear as day, and the next were dark as night; past dark hovers under
swirling banks; on through narrow strids and roaring cataracts, where
Tom was deafened and blinded for a moment by the rushing waters; along
deep reaches, where the white water lilies tossed and flapped beneath
the wind and hail; past sleeping villages; under dark bridge arches,
and away and away to the sea.
10. And Tom could not stop and did not care to stop; he would see the
great world below, and the salmon, and the breakers, and the wide, wide
sea.
II
11. And when the day came, Tom found himself out in the salmon river.
And after a while he came to a place where the river spread out into
broad, still, shallow reaches so wide that little Tom, as he put his
head out of the water, could hardly see across.
12. And there he stopped. He got a little frightened. "This must be
the sea," he thought. "What a wide place it is! If I go on into it,
I shall surely lose my way or some strange thing will bite me. I will
stop here and look out for the otter or the eels, or some one to tell
me where I shall go."
13. So he went back a little way and crept into a crack of the rock,
just where the river opened out into the wide shallows, and watched for
some one to tell him his way; but the otter and the eels were gone on
miles and miles down the stream.
14. There he waited, and slept, too, for he was quite tired with
his night's journey; and when he woke, the stream was clearing to a
beautiful amber hue, though it was still very high.
15. Tom went on down, and, as he went, all the vale looked sad. The red
and yellow leaves showered down into the river; the flies and beetles
were all dead and gone; the chill autumn fog lay low upon the hills,
and sometimes spread itself so thickly on the river that he could not
see his way.
16. But he felt his way instead, following the flow of the stream day
after day, past great bridges, past boats and barges, past the great
town with its wharves and mills and tall smoking chimneys, and ships
which rode at anchor in the stream; and now and then he ran against
their hawsers and wondered what they were, and peeped out and saw the
sailors lounging on board, and ducked under again, for he was terribly
afraid of being caught by man and turned into a chimney sweep once
more.
[Illustration: Past the ships which rode at anchor in the stream]
17. Poor little fellow! It was a dreary journey for him; and more than
once he longed to be back in Vendale, playing with the trout in the
bright summer sun. But it could not be. What has been once can never
come over again. And people can be little babies, even water-babies,
only once in their lives.
18. Besides, people who make up their minds to go and see the world, as
Tom did, must needs find it a weary journey. Lucky for them if they do
not lose heart and stop half way, instead of going on bravely to the
end, as Tom did.
19. But Tom was always a brave, determined little English bulldog, who
never knew when he was beaten; and on and on he held, till he saw a
long way off the red buoy through the fog. And then he found, to his
surprise, the stream turned round and running up inland.
20. It was the tide, of course; but Tom knew nothing of the tide. He
only knew that in a minute more the water, which had been fresh, turned
salt all around him. And then there came a change over him. He felt
strong and light and fresh, and gave, he did not know why, three skips
out of the water, a yard high, and head over heels, just as the salmon
do when they first touch the noble, rich salt water, which, as some
wise men tell us, is the mother of all living things.
21. He did not care now for the tide being against him. The red buoy
was in sight, dancing in the open sea; and to the buoy he would go, and
to it he went. He passed great shoals of bass and mullet, leaping and
rushing in after the shrimps, but he never heeded them nor they him;
and once he passed a great, black, shining seal who was coming in after
the mullet.
22. The seal put his head and shoulders out of water and stared at him.
And Tom, instead of being frightened, said: "How d'ye do, sir? What a
beautiful place the sea is!"
23. And the old seal, instead of trying to bite him, looked at him with
his soft, sleepy, winking eyes and said: "Good tide to you, my little
man; are you looking for your brothers and sisters? I passed them all
at play outside."
24. "Oh, then," said Tom, "I shall have playfellows at last!" And
he swam on to the buoy and got upon it--for he was quite out of
breath--and sat there and looked round for water-babies; but there were
none to be seen.
III
25. The sea breeze came in freshly with the tide and blew the fog away,
and the little waves danced for joy around the buoy, and the old
buoy danced with them. The shadows of the clouds ran races over the
bright, blue bay, and yet never caught each other up; and the breakers
plunged merrily upon the wide white sands and jumped up over the rocks
to see what the green fields inside were like, and tumbled down and
broke themselves all to pieces and never minded it a bit, but mended
themselves and jumped up again.
26. And the terns hovered over Tom like huge, white dragon-flies
with black heads; and the gulls laughed like girls at play; and the
sea-pies, with their red bills and legs, flew to and fro from shore
to shore and whistled sweet and wild. And Tom looked and looked and
listened; and he would have been very happy if he could only have seen
the water-babies.
27. Then, when the tide turned, he left the buoy and swam round and
round in search of them; but in vain. Sometimes he thought he heard
them laughing; but it was only the laughter of the ripples. And
sometimes he thought he saw them at the bottom; but it was only white
and pink shells.
28. And once he was sure he had found one, for he saw two bright eyes
peeping out of the sand. So he dived down and began scraping the sand
away, and cried: "Don't hide; I do want some one to play with so much!"
And out jumped a great turbot, with his ugly eyes and mouth all awry,
and flopped away along the bottom, knocking poor Tom over. And he
sat down at the bottom of the sea and cried salt tears from sheer
disappointment.
29. To have come all this way and faced so many dangers, and yet to
find no water-babies! How hard! Well, it did seem hard; but people,
even little babies, cannot have all they want without waiting for it,
and working for it, too, my little man, as you will find out some day.
IV
30. And Tom sat upon the buoy long days, long weeks, looking out to the
sea and wondering when the water-babies would come back; and yet they
never came.
31. Then he began to ask all the strange things which came in and out
of the sea if they had seen any; and some said "Yes," and some said
nothing at all. He asked the bass and the pollock; but they were so
greedy after the shrimps that they did not care to answer him a word.
32. Then there came in a whole fleet of purple sea snails, floating
along, each on a sponge full of foam, and Tom said: "Where do you come
from, you pretty creatures? and have you seen the water-babies?"
33. And the sea snails answered: "Whence we come, we know not; and
whither we are going, who can tell? We float out our life in the
mid-ocean, with the warm sunshine above our heads and the warm Gulf
Stream below; and that is enough for us. Yes, perhaps we have seen the
water-babies. We have seen many strange things as we sailed along."
And they floated away, the happy, stupid things, and all went ashore
upon the sands.
34. Then there came in a great, lazy sunfish, as big as a fat pig cut
in half; and he seemed to have been cut in half, too, and squeezed in
a clothes-press till he was flat; but to all his big body and big fins
he had only a little rabbit's mouth, no bigger than Tom's; and when Tom
questioned him he answered him in a little, squeaky, feeble voice:
35. "I'm sure I don't know; I've lost my way. I meant to go to the
Chesapeake, and I'm afraid I've got wrong somehow. Dear me! it was all
by following that pleasant warm water. I'm sure I've lost my way."
And when Tom asked him again, he could only answer: "I've lost my way.
Don't talk to me; I want to think."
36. Then there came up a shoal of porpoises, rolling as they
went--papas and mammas and little children--and all quite smooth and
shiny, because the fairies French polish them every morning; and they
sighed so softly as they came by that Tom took courage to speak to
them; but all they answered was, "Hush, hush, hush!" for that was all
they had learned to say.
[Illustration: Tom and the lobster]
37. And then Tom left the buoy and used to go along the sands and
round the rocks, and come out in the night and cry and call for the
water-babies; but he never heard a voice call in return. And at last,
with his fretting and crying, he grew lean and thin.
38. But one day among the rocks he found a playfellow. It was not
a water-baby, alas! but it was a lobster; and a very distinguished
lobster he was, for he had live barnacles on his claws, which is a
great mark of distinction in lobsterdom.
39. Tom had never seen a lobster before, and he was mightily taken with
this one, for he thought him the most curious, odd, ridiculous creature
he had ever seen; and there he was not far wrong, for all the ingenious
men and all the scientific men and all the fanciful men in the world
could never invent, if all their wits were boiled into one, anything so
curious and so ridiculous as a lobster.
40. He had one claw knobbed and the other jagged; and Tom delighted in
watching him hold on to the seaweed with his knobbed claw while he cut
up salads with his jagged one, and then put them into his mouth after
smelling at them like a monkey.
41. Tom asked him about water-babies. Yes, he said, he had seen
them often. But he did not think much of them. They were meddlesome
little creatures that went about helping fish and shells which got
into scrapes. Well, for his part, he would be ashamed to be helped by
little, soft creatures that had not even a shell on their backs. He had
lived quite long enough in the world to take care of himself.
42. He was a conceited fellow, the old lobster, and not very civil to
Tom. But he was so funny and Tom so lonely that he could not quarrel
with him; and they used to sit in holes in the rocks and chat for
hours.
* * * * *
I. =Bŭr´rō̍_w_s̝=: holes in the ground made for homes by certain
animals. =Hȯv´ẽrs̝=: covers; shelters. =Swĩrl´ĭng=: whirling.
=Strĭds=: passages between steep rocks or banks, so narrow that
they look as if they might be crossed at a stride. =Căt´ȧ răcts=:
great falls of water over steep places.
II. =Bärġ´ĕs̝=: roomy boats to carry goods or passengers,
=Ha̤_w_s̝´ẽrs̝=: large ropes. =Buoy=: a floating object chained in
place to mark a channel or to show the position of something under
the water, as a rock. =Bȧs=_s_, =Mŭl´lĕt=: kinds of fish.
III. =Tẽrns̝=, =Gŭl_l_s̝=: long-winged seabirds. =Sē_a_-pī_e_s̝=:
shore birds, sometimes called oyster catchers. =Ȧ _w_rȳ´=: twisted
toward one side.
IV. =Pŏl´lȯ_c_k=: a sea-fish something like the cod. =Pleasant warm
water=: the Gulf Stream. What can you tell about it? =Shō_a_l=: a
great number; a crowd--said especially of fish. =Pôr´pȯ_i_s ĕs̝=:
sea animals. =Bär´nȧ cl_e_s̝=:small shell fish which fasten
themselves on rocks, timbers, other animals, etc.
* * * * *
We trout lead a happy life. We swim about in the brooks. We shine
like silver as we dart to and fro in the clear, cool water. We play
in the shallow water; we hide in the deep pools. On warm days we
lie in the shadow of the rocks.
Change the sentences so that only one trout shall speak: as, I lead
a happy life.
* * * * *
Do not think of your faults, still less of others' faults; in every
person who comes near you, look for what is good and strong; honor
that; rejoice in it; and, as you can, try to imitate it; and your
faults will drop off like dead leaves when their time comes.
RUSKIN
Psalm XXIV
The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they
that dwell therein.
For He hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the
floods.
Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in His
holy place?
He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his
soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the
God of his salvation.
This is the generation of them that seek Him, that seek Thy face, O
Jacob. Selah.
Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting
doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty
in battle.
Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting
doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory.
Selah.
[Illustration:
From the painting by Rosa Bonheur
Brittany Sheep]
A Good Samaritan
BY GEORGE MACDONALD
George Macdonald (1824 ----): A Scottish poet and novelist. Among
his novels are "Robert Falconer," "Malcolm," "David Elginbrod," and
"Annals of a Quiet Neighborhood." Macdonald wrote several books for
children, of which the best known are "At the Back of the North
Wind" and "The Princess and the Goblin."
1. The thousand streets of London gray
Repel all country sights;
But bar not winds upon their way,
Nor quench the scent of new-mown hay
In depth of summer nights.
2. And here and there an open spot,
Still bare to light and dark,
With grass receives the wanderer hot;
There trees are growing, houses not--
They call the place a park.
3. Soft creatures with ungentle guides,
God's sheep from hill and plain,
Flow thitherward in fitful tides,
There weary lie on woolly sides,
Or crop the grass amain.
4. In Regent's Park one cloudless day
An over-driven sheep,
Arrived from long and dusty way,
Throbbing with thirst and hotness lay,
A panting woolly heap.
5. But help is nearer than we know
For ills of every name:
Ragged enough to scare the crow,
But with a heart to pity woe,
A quick-eyed urchin came.
6. Little he knew of field or fold,
Yet knew what ailed; his cap
Was ready cup for water cold;
Though rumpled, stained, and very old,
Its rents were small--good-hap!
7. Shaping the rim and crown he went
Till crown from rim was deep.
The water gushed from pore and rent;
Before he came one-half was spent--
The other saved the sheep.
* * * * *
=Rē̍ pĕl´=: drive away. =Ŭn ġĕn´tl_e_=: not gentle; rough.
=Fĭt´fụl=: changeable. =Ȧ mā_i_n´=: busily.
The Spartan Three Hundred
I
1. About five hundred years before the birth of Christ, almost all the
nations of Asia were under the rule of Xerxes, the king of Persia, whom
the Greeks called the Great King. Xerxes had conquered tribe after
tribe and nation after nation, until the greater part of the known
world acknowledged his rule.
2. But the little free states along the eastern Mediterranean still
remained unconquered, and against these states of Greece Xerxes was
leading all the power of his mighty empire.
Ten years before, at the battle of Marathon, a small Greek army had
defeated the Persian hosts, and Xerxes was resolved to avenge this
humiliation.
3. At the battle of which I am going to tell you, the overwhelming
numbers of the Persians did indeed win the victory, but the honor and
glory of the day rest with the little band of Greek heroes who fought
to the death for the freedom of their country.
4. The Persian army in advancing on Greece were obliged to march
through a narrow pass, with the sea on one side and a steep precipice
on the other. This pass was called Thermopylæ, and it was here that
the Greeks resolved to make a stand. They did not know till they had
marched to Thermopylæ that behind the pass there was a mountain path by
which soldiers might climb round and over the mountain and fall upon
their rear.
5. The Greek army encamped in the pass, between the narrow, northern
gateway by which the enemy must enter, and a gateway to the south. They
were protected in front by an old wall which they repaired.
[Illustration: This man rode up close to the Greek camp.]
6. The Greek general was Leonidas, a Spartan king. He had with
him three hundred Spartans and a few thousand soldiers from other
cities of Greece. The Persians outnumbered them a hundred to one.
This small force was only the advance guard of the Greek army. But
Leonidas thought that with it he could at least hold the pass till his
countrymen could join him.
7. When Xerxes came near Thermopylæ, he sent a horseman forward to spy
out the position of the Greeks who dared oppose him. This man rode
up close to the Greek camp and saw the Spartans amusing themselves,
running and wrestling, and combing out their long hair.
8. They took no notice of him, and he rode back to tell the king how
few they were and how unconcerned. Xerxes sent for a Greek who was in
his camp and asked what these things meant.
9. The Greek replied: "O king, I have told you before of these men,
and you have laughed at me. They have come to fight with you for this
pass. It is the Spartan custom to dress the hair with great care before
a battle. Be assured that if you conquer the Spartans no other nation
in the world will dare stand against you, O king. For you are now to
engage with the noblest city and kingdom of all among the Greeks, and
the most valiant men."
10. Xerxes did not believe what the Greek said. He waited four days
to give the little band time to retreat. Then, as it still held its
ground, in a rage he bade his warriors take the Greeks alive and bring
them into his presence. Accordingly, the attack was made, but the
Persians could not break a way into the Spartan ranks. Fighting in
the narrow space at the mouth of the pass, they were unable to avail
themselves of their numbers.
[Illustration: "They have come to fight with you for this pass."]
11. In wave after wave all day long they dashed themselves against the
Greeks, and left their dead lying at the mouth of the pass. Thereby it
was made clear to everyone, and not least to the great king himself,
that men were many, but heroes few.
II
12. The next day the king ordered his own bodyguard, called the Ten
Thousand Immortals, to attack the holders of the pass. The Immortals
were the picked soldiers of the whole army, but they fared no better
than the others. Three times the king sprang from his throne in dismay
as he saw his soldiers driven back with great loss. And on the third
day the Persians fought with no better success.
13. While the king was in doubt what to do, a treacherous Greek came
and told him about the path over the mountains. Xerxes at once sent
soldiers along that path to attack the Greeks from the rear.
14. When the guards who had been stationed on the mountain brought news
of the coming of the Persians, the Greeks were not agreed as to what
they should do. Some wanted to retreat and abandon a position which it
was now impossible to hold.
15. Leonidas bade them depart; but for him and his countrymen it was
not honorable to turn their backs on any foe. For the manner of the
Spartans was this: to die rather than yield. However sorely beset
or overwhelmed by numbers, they never left the ground alive and
unvictorious.
16. Leonidas had two kinsmen in the camp whom he tried to save by
giving them messages and letters to Sparta. But one answered that he
had come to fight, not to carry letters; and the other said that his
deeds would tell all that Sparta wished to know. Another Spartan,
when told that the enemy's archers were so numerous that their arrows
darkened the sun, replied: "So much the better; we shall fight in the
shade."
[Illustration: A Spartan soldier]
17. Some of the Greeks retired, but a few resolved to stay with the
brave Spartans. And now the Greeks under Leonidas did not wait to be
attacked in front and rear, but marched out into the wide part of
the pass and assailed the Persians. The Persian officers drove their
soldiers forward with whips. The poor wretches were pierced with the
Greek spears, hurled into the sea, or trampled under foot.
18. The Spartans, knowing that death awaited them, were desperate, and
displayed the utmost possible valor. When their spears were broken,
they assailed the Persians with their swords. And when the swords gave
out, they fought with their daggers, and even with their hands and
teeth, till not one living man remained among them.
19. When the sun went down, there was only a mound of slain, bristling
with spears and arrows.
The heroic Spartans were buried on the spot where they fell, and over
them was raised a column with the inscription: "Strangers, go tell at
Sparta that we lie here obedient to its laws."
20. The column and its inscription have long since perished, but the
glory of the Three Hundred will endure forever.
* * * * *
I. =Xerx´es.= =Hu mil´i a´tion=: shame; disgrace. =Ther mop´y læ.=
=Lē ŏn´ĭ das.= =As sured´=: sure; certain. =Val´iant=: brave.
II. =Ȧ băn´dȯn=: give up. =Băd_e_=: ordered. =Sōr_e´_ly̆=: greatly.
=Rē̍ tīr_e_d´=: went away. =Ăs sā_i_l_e_d´=: attacked. =Văl´or=:
courage. =In scrip´tion=: that which is inscribed or written,
especially on a building or monument.
The Fairy Life
BY WILLIAM SHAKSPERE
Come unto these yellow sands,
And then take hands:
Courtesied when you have and kissed
The wild waves whist,
Foot it featly here and there;
And, sweet sprites, the burden bear.
Hark, hark!
"Bow-wow,"
The watch-dog's bark:
"Bow-wow."
Hark, hark! I hear
The strain of strutting chanticleer
Cry, "Cock-a-diddle-dow!"
* * * * *
=Whĭst=: still; quiet. =Fē_a_t´ly̆=: nimbly. =Sprīt_e_s=: spirits;
fairies. =Bûr´d_e_n=: the chorus of a song.
Charles Dickens
1. Charles Dickens, one of the most popular of English novelists, was
born in 1812 at Portsmouth, where his father was a government clerk.
When he was two years old, the family moved to London, and thence to
Chatham dockyard.
2. Charles Dickens's father was poor; but, fortunately for the
book-loving boy, among the few family possessions was a small library
of good books, and he spent many hours poring over "The Vicar of
Wakefield," "Robinson Crusoe," and the essays in "The Tatler," "The
Spectator," and "The Idler." He and a boy cousin amused themselves
during their holidays by getting up private theatricals, for which
Charles wrote a play, "The Sultan of India," which was greatly admired
by his boy friends.