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deep-sea lead. Not long will he stay at the bottom. for air, and this is a signal for the renewal of the battle. The boat is drawn up, and the lance is buried in his giant body. Not safe is the game till it is fairly bagged. Often, in the moment of victory, the vanquished leviathan settles quietly down in the deep sea; and no tackle can draw him up. The curses of the exhausted seamen are "not loud, but deep."

3. On the twenty-eighth of May, 1817, the Royal Bounty, an English ship, fell in with a great number of whales. There was neither ice nor land in sight. The boats were manned and sent in pursuit. After a chase of five hours, a harpooner, who had rowed out of sight of the ship, struck one of the whales. This was about four o'clock in the morning. The captain directed the course of the ship to the place where he had last seen the boats, and, at about eight o'clock, got sight of the boat, which displayed the signal for being fast. Soon after, another boat approached the first, and struck a second harpoon.

4. By mid-day', two more harpoons were struck'; but such was the astonishing vigor of the whale, that, although it constantly dragged through the water from four to six boats, together with sixteen hundred fathoms of line, it pursued its flight nearly as fast as a boat could row. Whenever a boat passed beyond its tail, it would dive. All endeavors to lance it were therefore in vain. The crews of the loose boats then moored themselves to the fast boats. At eight o'clock in the evening, a line was taken to the ship, with a view of retarding its flight, and topsails were lowered; but the harpoon "drew." In three hours, another line was taken on board, which immediately snapped.

5. At four in the afternoon of the next day', thirty-six hours after the whale was struck', two of the fast lines were taken on board the ship'. The wind blowing a moderately brisk breeze', the top-gallant sails were taken in', the courses hauled up', and the topsails clewed down': and in this situation she was towed directly to windward during an hour and a half, with the velocity of from one and a half to two knots, And then, though the whale must have been greatly exhausted, it beat the water with its fins and tail so tremendously', that the sea around was in a continual foam'; and the most hardy seamen' scarcely dared to approach it. At length', at about eight o'clock', after forty hours of incessant' exertion, this formidable and astonishingly vigorous animal was killed'.

6. But the most strange and dreadful calamity' that ever befell the wanderers of the sea, in any age', was that which

happened in 1820, to the ship Essex, of Nantucket'. Some of those who survived the terrible catastrophe, are yet alive', and bear their united testimony to the truth of the statements which one of them has published'. It is a story which no man, for any conceivable purpose', would be likely to invent'. The captain of the Essex is yet living upon his native island'; and it is a fact pregnant with meaning, that so vivid, to this day', is his recollection of the horrors which he witnessed', that he is never heard to mention the subject, and nothing can induce him to speak of it. He has abandoned the sea forever. The story bears the marks of truth upon it. It may be briefly told.

7. The Essex, a sound and substantial ship, sailed for the Pacific Ocean, on a whaling voyage, from Nantucket, on the 12th of August, 1820. On the 20th of November, a shoal of whales was discovered. Three boats were manned and sent in pursuit. The mate's boat was struck by a whale, and he was obliged to return to the ship to repair the damage. While thus engaged, a sperm whale, eighty-five feet long, broke water about twenty rods from the ship, on her weather bow. He was going at the rate of three knots an hour, and the ship at the same rate, when he struck the bows of the vessel just forward of the chains.

8. The shock produced by the collision of two such masses of matter in motion, may well be imagined. The ship shook like a leaf. The whale dived, passed under the vessel, grazed her keel, and appeared a ship's length distant, lashing the sea with his fins and tail, as if suffering the most horrible agony. He was evidently hurt by the collision, and rendered frantic with rage. In a few minutes he seemed to recover himself, and started, with great speed, directly across the bows of the vessel, to windward. Meantime the hands on board discovered the vessel to be gradually settling down by the bows; and the pumps were to be rigged. While engaged in fixing the pumps, one of the men exclaimed, "My God! here he comes upon us again'!"

Her

9. The whale had turned, at the distance of one hundred rods from the ship, and was making for her with double his former speed. His pathway was white with foam. He struck her bow, and the blow shook every timber in the ship. bows were stove in. The whale dived under the vessel and disappeared. The vessel immediately filled; and the crew took to the boat that had returned. All this was transacted in the space of a few minutes. The other boats rowed up, and when they came together', when a sense of their loneliness and help

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lessness came over them', no man had the power of utterance. They were in the midst of the illimitable sea'," far, far from land', in open whaleboats', relying only on God for succor', in this hour of their utmost need'.

10. They gathered what they could from the wreck; the ship went down; and, on the 22d of November, they put away for the coast of South America-distant, two thousand miles! How their hearts must have died within them, as they looked at the prospect before and around them! After incredible hardships and sufferings, on the 20th of December, they reached a low island. It was a mere sandbank, almost barren, which supplied them with nothing but water. On this island, desolate as it was, three of the men chose to remain, rather than to commit themselves again to the uncertain chances of the sea.

11. On the 27th of December, the three boats, with the remainder of the men, started in company from the island, for Juan Fernandez, a distance of two thousand five hundred miles! On the 12th of January, the boats parted company in a gale. Then commenced a scene of suffering, which cannot be contemplated without horror. The men died, one after another, and the survivors lived upon their flesh. In the captain's boat, on the first of February, three only were living; they cast lots to see which of them should die. It fell upon the youngest, a nephew of the captain. He seated himself in the bow of the boat, with calmness and fortitude-was shot and eaten !

The

12. The mate's boat was taken up by the Indian, of London, on the 19th of February, ninety-three days from the time of the catastrophe, with three living men of that boat's crew. captain's boat was taken up on the 23d of February, by the Dauphin, of Nantucket. The other boat was never heard from. The three men who were left on the island, were saved by a ship which was sent for their deliverance. No wonder that the heart of that brave man recoils and shudders, when this terrific scene is forced upon his recollection.

PROV. LIT. JOUR.

QUESTIONS. What is the character of the seaman's profession? What is that more particularly of the whalemen's? What are the most common accidents to which whalers are liable? How do they often lose their game when vanquished? Will you give an account of the capture of the whale first mentioned (3-5), and of the circumstance connected with it? Can you give a sketch of what occurred to the ship Essex in 1820? Narrate the adventures and fate of the crew, after the destruction of their vessel.

Give the rules for the inflections marked in the 5th and 6th paragraphs. Why have "vivid” and “ 'day the falling inflection? (Rule II.)

PRONUNCIATION.- Pret-ty, pro. prit-ty: ad-vent-ure, not ad-venter: ac-ci-dent, not ac-ci-dunt: oft-en, pro. of'n: nei-ther, not ny-ther: yet, not yit mod-er-ate-ly, not mod-er-it-ly: ag-o-ny, not ag-er-ny: des-o-late, not des-er-lit: for-ti-tude (pro. for-ti-tyude), not for-ti-tood, nor for-ti-tshude.

SPELL AND DEFINE.-1. Zealously, indisputably: 2. proximity: 3. harpooner, signal: 4 moored, retarding: 5. incessant: 6. vivid: 9. helplessness, illimitable, succor: 11. survivors, fortitude

LESSON IX.

EXERCISES.- My Uncle Toby was racked with pain. Rocked with whirlwinds. Victory will weaken the enemy. Think'st thou so meanly of

me? On the River Elbe. We saw the Elk. And he cried hold, hold, hold! The wolf whose howl's his watch. Fall'n, fall'n, fall'n, fall'n, fall'n from his high estate. There was no help for it. He watch'd and wept, he felt and prayed for all. It was a wilfully false account.

Words to be Spelled and Defined.

3. Flus' ter-ed, p. agitated, confused.
Pal'-si-ed, p. deprived of the power of

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9. Ob-lit'-er-ate, v. to efface, to destroy. E-lab'-or-ate, a. finished with gre t

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DEATH AT THE TOILET.

1. "WHAT can Charlotte be doing' all this while?" inquired her mother'. She listened-"I have not heard her moving for the last three quarters of an hour! I will call the maid and ask." She rung the bell, and the servant appeared.

2. " Betty', Miss Jones is not gone' yet, is' she? Go up to her room, Betty, and see if she wants' anything, and tell her it is half past nine o'clock'," said Mrs. Jones. The servant accordingly went up stairs, and knocked at the bed-room door, once, twice, thrice, but received no answer. There was a dead

silence, except when the wind shook the window. Jones have fallen asleep'? Oh! impossible'!

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Could Miss

3. She knocked again', but as unsuccessfully as before'. She became a little flustered; and, after a moment's pause, opened the door and entered. There was Miss Jones sitting at the glass. Why, ma'am'?" commenced Betty, in a petulant tone, walking up to her, "here have I been knocking for these five' minutes, and " Betty staggered, horror struck, to the bed, and uttering a loud shriek, alarmed Mrs. Jones, who instantly tottered up stairs, almost palsied with fright. Miss Jones was dead!

4. I was there within a few minutes, for my house was not more than two streets distant. It was a stormy night in March : and the desolate aspect of things without'; deserted streets, the dreary howling of the wind', and the incessant pattering of the rain', contributed to cast a gloom over my mind, when connected with the intelligence of the awful event that had summoned me out, which was deepened into horror by the spectacle I was doomed to witness.

5. On reaching the house, I found Mrs. Jones in violent hysterics, surrounded by several of her neighbors, who had been called to her assistance. I repaired to the scene of death, and beheld what I never shall forget.

6. The room was occupied by a white-curtained bed. There was but one window, and before it was a table, on which stood a lookingglass, hung with a little white drapery; and various paraphernalia of the toilet lay scattered about; pins', broaches, curling papers, ribbons', gloves', etc'.

7. An arm chair was drawn to this table, and in it sat Miss Jones, stone dead. Her head rested upon her right hand, her elbow supported by the table; while her left hung down by her side, grasping a pair of curling irons. Each of her wrists was encircled by a showy gilt bracelet.

8. She was dressed in a white muslin frock, with a little bordering of blonde. Her face was turned toward the glass, which, by the light of the expiring candle, reflected, with frightful fidelity, the clammy, fixed features, daubed with rouge and carmine, the fallen lower jaw, and the eyes, directed full into the glass, with a cold stare, that was appalling.

9. On examining the countenance more narrowly, I thought I detected the traces of a smirk of conceit and selfcomplacency, which not even the palsying touch of death could wholly

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