Innocent Child and Snow-White Flower.. William Cullen Bryant 346

Psalm of Life

O him who in the love of Nature holds
Communion with her visible forms she speaks

A various language; for his gayer hours
She has a voice of gladness, and a smile
And eloquence of beauty, and she glides
Into his darker musings with a mild
And healing sympathy that steals away
Their sharpness ere he is aware.

-WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.

H! blest art thou whose steps may rove
Through the green paths of vale and grove;

Or, leaving all their charms below,

Climb the wild mountain's airy brow;

For thee the stream in beauty flows,
For thee the gale of summer blows,
And, in deep glen and wood-walk free,
Voices of joy still breathe for thee.

-FELICIA HEMANS.

REATHES there a man with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,

"This is my own, my native land?"

- WALTER SCOTT.

FOURTH READER.

THE WONDERFUL THINGS AROUND US.

I. OUR BEAUTIFUL WORLD.

1. THE OUTLOOK.

One afternoon when the school duties of the day were done, a bright, thoughtful boy sat at his window. He saw the river that swept past the garden wall.

On the other side of the river lay a beautiful valley, and beyond this, long lines of hills. Among these hills were small valleys leading into the one through which the river wound its way.

The boy beheld this delightful scene with a look of inquiry on his face.

What could he be thinking about? What did he wish to inquire about? Was it the curious curves of the hills, giving such grace to the landscape, that pleased him?

Bright pebbles on the river bank shone in the sunlight. Would he ask about these? Did he want to ask whence the water of the river came and where it went?

Little brooks in the midst of little valleys hur

ried on, growing larger and struggling harder till they were lost in the great river, and their valleys broadened out into, and became parts of, the great valley. Was he thinking of the lost brook or of the lost valley?

He remembered that his lessons had taught him

of vapor, of cloud, of dew, of rain, of snow, and of hail.

He said, "Can I not know something of mountains, hills, and valleys, of rocks and pebbles, of mud and sand, of spring and brook, of the river, whence it came, and where it goes? I will try."

2. THE WORLD.

"Great, wide, beautiful, wonderful world,

With the wonderful water around

you curled, And the wonderful grass upon your breast, World, you are beautifully drest."

How beautiful are the hills and valleys! How beautiful are the little streamlets as they flow down between the hills in their winding ways to join the great river, and how wonderful is this great river as it rushes on to pour its waters into the lake or ocean!

Have you ever seen the ocean? Have you ever seen a great lake? Have you ever seen a large river? I know you have seen a little brook and bathed your hands in its cooling waters.

Everywhere you look you see land or water. If it is land at which you look, you see hills or val