sense of comfort impossible to express. Then he said aloud, and so earnestly that Demi heard him:

5. "I do want to learn, and I will try. I never went to school, but I couldn't help it; and, if the fellows don't laugh at me, I guess I'll get on first-rate-you and the lady are so good to me."

"They sha'n't laugh at you. If they do, I'll-I’ll— tell them not to," cried Demi, quite forgetting where he was.

The class stopped in the middle of 7 times 9, and every one looked up to see what was going on.

6. Thinking that a lesson in learning to help one another was better than arithmetic just then, Mr. Bhaer told them about Nat, making such an interesting and touching little story out of it, that the good-hearted lads all promised to lend him a hand, and felt quite honored. to be called upon to impart their stores of wisdom to the chap who fiddled so capitally. This appeal established the right feeling among them, and Nat had few hindrances to struggle against, for every one was glad to give him a "boost" up the ladder of learning.

Louisa M. Alcott.

FOR PREPARATION.-I. Have you read Miss Alcott's "Little Men"? This extract from "Little Men" describes the kind manner in which a poor homeless boy was received into the private school at Plumfield. Nat Blake had been found in a damp cellar, sick and friendless, mourning for his dead father and his lost violin, with which he had earned his scanty living as a street musician.

II. Eaş'-i-er, bright'-ened (brit'nd), lis'-tened (lis'nd), touch'-ing, hon'-ored (on'ẽrd), Bhaer (pronounced like "bâre "), Franz (fränts).

III. Nat is a nickname (for Nathaniel). Easy, easier, easiest: what change in the meaning does the addition of er and est make? "Father's beating "-what does 's express? What is omitted in can't?-sha'n't (ll and o)?

IV. Ignorance, diligently, reduced, despair, accuracy, students, intricacies, incredulous, discouraged, plod, immensely, established, appeal, hindrances.

V. "Quaked inwardly" (i. e., his heart beat hard with fear)? Notice the acts of kindness: having him say his lessons where the others could not hear his blunders (such an act shows what is called a "delicate consideration for Nat's feelings; it is not sufficient to be kindly disposed toward others, but we should delicately consider their feelings); then, the gentle manner of encouraging the boy to self-respect, by giving him credit for what he already knew, such as playing the violin. Notice the expressions: "They know heaps," "get on first-rate," "fiddle," "sha'n't," "boost." (These expressions do not shock us when we hear them spoken by boys and uneducated people; but when we see them in print we mark them as slang, or "vulgarisms," because they are only "colloquial," and are avoided by refined people. The writer of a story is obliged to use these expressions in order to paint the characters of the persons of the story; but we should learn to avoid them in writing, and even in conversation.)

VII. THE VOICE OF SPRING.

1. I come, I come! ye have called me long;
I come o'er the mountains, with light and song.
Ye may trace my step o'er the waking earth
By the winds which tell of the violet's birth,
By the primrose stars in the shadowy grass,
By the green leaves opening as I pass.

2. I have breathed on the South, and the chestnut flowers
By thousands have burst from the forest bowers,
And the ancient graves and the fallen fanes
Are veiled with wreaths on Italian plains;
But it is not for me, in my hour of bloom,
To speak of the ruin or the tomb!

3. I have looked o'er the hills of the stormy North,
And the larch has hung all his tassels forth;

The fisher is out on the sunny sea,

And the reindeer bounds o'er the pastures free,
And the pine has a fringe of softer green,

And the moss looks bright, where my step has been.

4. I have sent through the wood paths a glowing sigh,
And called out each voice of the deep blue sky,
From the night bird's lay through the starry time,
In the groves of the soft Hesperian clime,

To the swan's wild note by the Iceland lakes,
When the dark fir branch into verdure breaks.

5. From the streams and founts I have loosed the chain; They are sweeping on to the silvery main,

They are flashing down from the mountain brows,
They are flinging spray o'er the forest boughs,
They are bursting fresh from their sparry caves,
And the earth resounds with the joy of waves.

Felicia Hemans.

FOR PREPARATION.-I. Eight of the thirteen verses of this piece are omitted. Can you describe the plants mentioned—violet, primrose, chestnut, larch, pine, moss? "Hesperian clime" (refers to the western countries of Europe, which have a mild climate through the influence of the ocean winds that blow from the west in the temperate zones).

II. An'-cient (an'shent), veiled (vald), wreaths (reethz), rein'-deer, sigh (s), bough (bou), voiçe, bright (brit), moun'-tains (-tinz).

III. Make a list of the name-words in the first and second stanzas (words used as names of objects; e. g., mountains, light, song, step, earth, winds, violet's, birth, stars, grass, leaves, etc.).

IV. Trace, bowers, glowing, clime, verdure, " silvery main," "loosed the chain," resounds, “fallen fanes” (ruined temples).

V. How is the approach of spring to be known? ("Trace my steps by soft winds, primroses, green leaves.") Is the reindeer referred to (3) the one used in Lapland instead of the horse or the cow, or one kept in a park as a curiosity? (Mrs. Hemans lived in the north of Wales. Reference to the "Iceland lakes" shows that she thought of the effect of spring on the northern, winter-bound countries.)

VIII. DAN, THE FIREBRAND.

1. "Please, ma'am, could I speak to you? It is something very important," said Nat, popping his head in at the door of Mrs. Bhaer's room.

It was the fifth head which had popped in during the last half-hour; but Mrs. Jo was used to it, so she looked up, and said briskly :

"What is it, my lad?"

2. Nat came in, shut the door carefully behind him, and said, in an eager, anxious tone :

"Dan has come!"

"Who is Dan?"

"He's a boy I used to know when I fiddled 'round the streets. He sold papers, and was kind to me. I saw him the other day in town, and told him how nice it was here, and he's come."

3. "But, my dear boy, that is rather a sudden way to pay a visit."

"Oh, it isn't a visit; he wants to stay, if you will let him!" said Nat, innocently.

"Well, but I don't know about that," began Mrs. Bhaer, rather startled by the coolness of the proposition.

4. "Why, I thought you liked to have poor boys come and live with you, and be kind to them, as you were to me," said Nat, looking surprised and alarmed.

"So I do; but I like to know something about them first. I have to choose them, because there are so many. I have not room for all. I wish I had."

"I told him to come because I thought you'd like it; but if there isn't room, he can go away again," said Nat, sorrowfully.

5. The boy's confidence in her hospitality touched Mrs. Bhaer, and she could not find the heart to disappoint his hope and spoil his kind little plan; so she said :

"Tell me about this Dan."

"I don't know anything, only he hasn't got any folks, and he's poor, and he was good to me; so I'd like to be good to him, if I could."

6. "Excellent reasons, every one. But really, Nat, the house is full, and I don't know where I could put him," said Mrs. Bhaer, more and more inclined to prove herself the haven of refuge he seemed to think her.

"He could have my bed, and I could sleep in the barn. It isn't cold now, and I don't mind. I used to sleep anywhere with father," said Nat, eagerly.

7. Something in his speech and face made Mrs. Jo put her hand on his shoulder, and say, in her kindest tone: Bring in your friend, Nat; I think we must find room for him without giving him your place."

66

Nat joyfully ran off, and soon returned, followed by a most unprepossessing boy, who slouched in and stood looking about him, with a half-bold, half-sullen look, which made Mrs. Bhaer say to herself, after one glance:

"A bad specimen, I am afraid."

8. "This is Dan," said Nat, presenting him as if sure of his welcome.

"Nat tells me you would like to come and stay with us," began Mrs. Jo, in a friendly tone.

"Yes," was the gruff reply.

"Have you no friends to take care of you?"
"No."

6

"Say No, ma'am,'" whispered Nat.

"Sha'n't, neither!" muttered Dan.