A DEATH BED.-ALDRICH. Her suffering ended with the day; Yet lived she at its close, And breathed the long, long night away, In statue-like repose. But when the sun, in all his state, Illumed the eastern skies, She passed through glory's morning gate, SPRING.-STREET. Hark! that sweet carol! with delight And Nature, in her brightening looks, THE ISLAND.-R. H. DANA. The island lies nine leagues away : Along its solitary shore Of craggy rock and sandy bay, No sound but ocean's roar, Save where the bold, wild sea bird makes her home, Her shrill cry coming through the sparkling foam. But when the light winds lie at rest, The black duck, with her glossy breast, How beautiful! no ripples break the reach, NEW ENGLAND.-J. G. WHITTIER. Land of the forest and the rock, Of dark-blue lake and mighty river, Land of the beautiful and brave, The freeman's home, the martyr's grave, The nursery of giant men, Whose deeds have linked with every glen, The romance of some warrior dream! [James Fenimore Cooper was born in Burlington, New Jersey, September 15, 1789, and died September 14, 1851. He was the author of many novels, drawn from American scenes and character, which are highly and deservedly popular, and secured him a permanent place in the literature of his country. This lesson is taken from the Pioneers, an early work of his, and one of his best. In this he introduced for the first time his celebrated character of Natty Bumpo, or the Leather-stocking. The scene is laid on the borders of Lake Otsego, in the State of New York. Oliver Edwards is the hero of the story. Mohegan is an old Indian chief.] THERE were several places in the Otsego that were celebrated fishing grounds for perch. One was nearly opposite to the cabin, and another, still more famous, was near a point, at the distance of a mile and a half above it, under the brow of the mountain, and on the same side of the lake with the hut. Oliver Edwards pulled his little skiff to the first, and sat for a minute undecided whether to continue there, with his eyes on the door of the cabin, or to change his ground, with a view to get superior game. While gazing about him, he saw the lightcolored bark canoe of his old companions, riding on the water, at the point we have mentioned, and containing two figures, that he knew at once to be Mohegan and the Leather-stocking. This decided the matter, and the youth pulled, in a very few minutes, to the place where his friends were fishing, and fastened his boat to the light vessel of the Indian. While his eyes were glancing along the margin of the water, a tearing of the branches of the alder and dogwood caught his attention at a spot near them, and at the next moment a noble buck sprang from the shore, and buried himself in the lake. A full-mouthed cry followed, when the Leather-stocking's two dogs shot through the opening in the bushes, and darted into the lake also, bearing their breasts gallantly against the water. "I knew it, I knew it," cried Natty, when both deer and hounds were in full view; "the buck has gone by them with the wind, and it has been too much for the poor rogues; but I must break them of these tricks, or they'll give me a deal of trouble." He accordingly called off the hounds. They knew their master's voice, and after swimming in a circle, as if reluctant to give over the chase, and yet afraid to persevere, they finally obeyed, and returned to the land, where they filled the air with their cries. In the mean time, the deer, urged by his fears, had swum over half the distance between the shore and the boats, before his terror permitted him to see the new danger. But at the sound of Natty's voice, he turned short in his course, and for a few moments seemed about to rush back again, and brave the dogs. His retreat in that direction was, however, effectually cut off; and turning a second time, he urged his course obliquely for the centre of the lake, with an intention of landing on the western shore. As the buck swam by the fishermen, raising his nose high into the air, curling the water before his slim neck like the beak of a galley, the Leather-stocking began to sit very uneasy in his canoe. ""Tis a noble creature!" he exclaimed; "what a pair of horns! A man might hang up all his garments on the branches. Let me see-July is the last month, and the flesh must be getting good." While he was talking, Natty had instinctively employed himself in fastening the inner end of the bark rope, that served him for a cable, to a paddle, and rising suddenly on his feet, he cast this buoy away, and cried, "Strike out, John! let her go. The creature's a fool to tempt a man in this way." Mohegan drew the fastening of the youth's boat from the canoe, and with one stroke of his paddle sent the light bark over the water like a meteor. The buck was now within fifty yards of his pursuers, cutting the water gallantly, and snorting at each breath with terror and his exertions, while the canoe seemed to dance over the waves, as it rose and fell with the undulations made by its own motion. Leather-stocking raised his rifle and freshened the priming, but stood in suspense whether to slay his victim or not. "Shall I, John, or no?" he said. "It seems but a poor advantage to take of the dumb thing, too. I won't: it has taken to the water on its own nature, which is the reason that God has given to a deer, and I'll give it the lake play; so, John, lay out your arm and mind the turn of the buck; its easy to catch them, but they'll turn like a snake." The Indian laughed at the conceit of his friend, but continued to send the canoe forward with a velocity that proceeded much more from his skill than his strength. Both of the old men now used the language of the Delawares when they spoke. "Hugh!" exclaimed Mohegan, "the deer turns his head. Hawk-eye, lift your spear." Natty never moved abroad without taking with him every implement that might, by possibility, be of service in his pur suits. He did as Mohegan advised, and prepared to strike a blow, with the barbed weapon, into the neck of the buck. "Lay her more to the left, John," he cried; “lay her more to the left; another stroke of the paddle, and I have him.” While speaking, he raised the spear, and darted it from him like an arrow. At that instant the buck turned, the long pole glanced by him, the iron striking against his horn, and buried itself harmlessly in the lake. "Back water,” cried Natty, as the canoe glided over the place where the spear had fallen; "hold water, John." The pole soon reappeared, shooting upward from the lake; and as the hunter seized it in his hand, the Indian whirled the light canoe around, and renewed the chase. But this evolution gave the buck a great advantage; and it also allowed time for Edwards to approach the scene of action. "Hold your hand, Natty," cried the youth; "hold your hand; remember it is out of season." This remonstrance was made as the boat arrived close to the place where the deer was struggling with the water, his back now rising to the surface, now sinking beneath it, as the waves curled from his neck, the animal still sustaining himself nobly against the odds. "Hurrah!" shouted Edwards, inflamed beyond prudence at the sight; "mind him as he doubles — mind him as he doubles; sheer more to the right, Mohegan, more to the right, and I'll have him by the horns; I'll throw the rope over his antlers.” The dark eye of the old warrior was dancing in his head with a wild animation, and the sluggish repose in which his aged frame had been resting in the canoe was now changed to all the rapid inflections of practised agility. The canoe whirled with each cunning evolution of the chase, like a bubble floating in a whirlpool; and when the direction of the pursuit admitted of a straight course, the little bark skimmed the lake with a velocity that urged the deer to seek its safety in some new turn. It was the frequency of these circuitous movements, that, by |