Ride of Ichabod Crane, The.-Washington Irving.

45

Sohrab and Rustum.-Matthew Arnold ..

77

Story of Ruth Bonython, The.-John Greenleaf Whittier

104

Surgeon's Child, The.-Frederic E. Weatherly.

67

Uncle Eph's Heaven.-Fred Emerson Brooks

Unrest in Paradise

150

123

MY

Y endeavor has been to compile a collection of recitations
that would be suitable for use both in schools and by
reciters. For that purpose, only literature of a high order
has been chosen, but with as great a variety as possible—
dramatic, dialect, humorous, society, and children's pieces. All
of the abridgments, with one exception, have been made by me.

My special thanks are due Messrs. John Brisben Walker,
Edgar Fawcett, Fred Emerson Brooks, Edgar Saltus, and the
other authors whose excellent pieces help to give value to this
collection.
F. M.

WERNER'S

Readings and Recitations

No. 16.

SOHRAB AND RUSTUM.

MATTHEW ARNOLD.

[The scene of the following episode is laid in Central Asia at a time when the Tartars and the Persians are at war. Sohrab is the commander of the Tartars and Rustum the champion of the Persians. Sohrab is Rustum's son, a fact unknown to the latter who believes that his one child is a girl, having been so informed by its mother, who thus forged the lie in order to prevent Rustum from making a warrior out of him. Sohrab, however, knows that Rustum is his father and has been always searching for him. As the epic opens the two armies are encamped opposite each other.]

ND the first gray of morning fill'd the east,

And the fog rose out of the Oxus stream.
But all the Tartar camp along the stream

Was hush'd, and still the men were plunged in sleep.
Sohrab alone, he slept not; all night long

He had lain wakeful, tossing on his bed;
But when the gray dawn stole into his tent,
He rose and took his horseman's cloak
And went abroad into the cold, wet fog,
Through the dim camp to Peran-Wisa's tent.
He found the old man sleeping on his bed
Of
rugs and felts, and near him lay his arms.
And Peran-Wiea heard him, though the step
Was dull'd, for he slept light, an old man's sleep;
And he rose quickly on one arm, and said:
"Who art thou? for it is not yet clear dawn.

Speak! Is there news, or any night-alarm?"
But Sohrab came to the bedside, and said:
"Thou know'st me, Peran-Wisa! It is I.
Thou know'st if, since from Ader-baijan first
I came among the Tartars and bore arms,
I still have served Afrasiab well, and shown,
At my boy's years, the courage of a man.
This, too, thou know'st: That while I still bear on
The conquering Tartar ensigns through the world,
And beat the Persians back on every field,

I seek one man,

-one man and one aloneRustum, my father, who, I hoped, should greet, Should one day greet, upon some well-fought field, His not unworthy, not inglorious son.

So I long hoped, but him I never find.

Come, then, hear now, and grant me what I ask,
Let the two armies rest to-day; and I
Will challenge forth the bravest Persian lords
To meet me, man to man. If I prevail,
Rustum will surely hear it; if I fall-
Old man, the dead need no one, claim no kin."

And Peran-Wisa took the hand

Of the young man in his and said:

"O Sohrab, an unquiet heart is thine!
Canst thou not rest among the Tartar chiefs,
And share the battle's common chance with us
Who love thee, but must press forever first,
To find a father thou hast never seen?
But, if this one desire indeed rules all,-
To seek out Rustum-seek him not through fight!
Seek him in peace, and carry to his arms,
O Sohrab, carry an unwounded son!
But far hence seek him, for he is not here.
For now it is not as when I was young,
When Rustum was in front of every fray;
But now he keeps apart, and sits at home,