kine, cows; Kühe.

in-cau'-tious, careless; unvorsichtig.

il-lu'-mine, to make light; erleuchten.

squal'-id, dirty; schmußig.

quad'-ru-ped, an animal having four feet; Vierfüßler.

The hollow winds begin to blow,

The clouds look black, the glass is low;
The soot falls down, the spaniels sleep,
And spiders from their cob-webs peep.
Last night the sun went pale to bed,
The moon in halos hid her head;
Hark! how the chairs and tables crack!.
Old Betty's joints are on the rack:
Her corns with shooting pains torment her,
And to her bed untimely sent her;
Loud quack the ducks, the sea-fowl cry,
The distant hills are looking nigh.
How restless are the snorting swine!
The busy flies disturb the kine;
Low on the grass the swallow wings;
The cricket too, how sharp she sings!
Puss, on the hearth, with velvet paws
Sits wiping o'er her whiskered jaws;
The smoke from chimney's right ascends,
Then spreading back to earth it bends;
Through the clear stream the fishes rise
And nimbly catch the incautious flies.
The glow-worms, num'rous, clear and bright,
Illumined the dewy hill last night!
At dusk the squalid toad was seen
Like quadruped stalk o'er the green.
The whirling wind the dust obeys,
And in the rapid eddy plays;

The frog has changed its yellow vest,
And in a russet coat is dressed.

Behold the rooks, how odd their flight!
They imitate the gliding kite;

In fiery red the Sun doth rise,

She wades through clouds to mount the skies.
"Twill surely rain, we see with sorrow;

No working in the fields to-morrow!

XXI. -THE WONDERFUL CHIP.

nar'-ra-tive, an account; Erzählung.

chap'-el, a small church; Kapelle.

Jennett.

re-quest', an asking; a demand; Bitte; Forderung.
su-per-in-tend', to oversee; beaufsichtigen.
in-ex-press-i-ble, indescribable; unbeschreiblich.

mys-te'-ri-ous, impossible to understand; geheimnisvoll.

1. The following narrative, by Mr. Williams, the missionary, describes in a striking manner the feelings of an untaught people when observing for the first time the effects of written communications.

2. "In the erection of my chapel," says he, "having come to the work one morning without my square, I picked up a chip, and with a piece of charcoal wrote upon it a request that Mrs. Williams would send me that article.

3. "I called a chief, who was superintending a part of the work, and said to him, 'Friend, take this; go to our house, and give it to Mrs. Williams.

4. "He was a singular-looking man, remarkably quick in his movements, and had been a great warrior; but, in one of the numerous battles he had fought, he had lost an eye; and, giving me an inexpressible look with the other, he said, 'Take that! She will call me a fool and scold me if I carry a chip to her.' 'No,' I replied, 'she will not; take it and go immediately; I am in haste.'

5.

Perceiving me to be in earnest, he took it and asked, 'What must I say?' I replied, 'You have nothing to say; the chip will say all I wish.'

6. "With a look of astonishment and contempt he held up the piece of wood and said, 'How can this speak? Has this a mouth?' I desired him to take it immediately, and not spend so much time talking about it.

7. "On arriving at the house, he gave the chip to Mrs. Williams, who read it, threw it away, and went to the tool-chest. The chief, wishing to see the result of this mysterious proceeding, followed her closely. On receiving the square from her, he said, 'Stay, daughter; how do you know that this is what Mr. Williams wants?'

6

8. "Why,' she replied, did you not bring me a chip just now?' 'Yes,' said the astonished warrior, but I did not hear it say any thing.' 'If you did not, I did,' was the reply, for it made known to me what he wanted; and all you have to do is to return with it as quickly as possible.'

9. "With this the chief leaped out of the house; and, catching up the mysterious piece of wood, he ran through the settlement with the chip in one hand and the square in the other, holding them up as high as his hands could reach, and shouting as he went, 'See the wisdom of these English people! They can make chips talk! They can make chips talk!'

I

10. "On giving me the square, he wished to know how it was possible thus to converse with persons at a distance. gave him all the explanation in my power; but it was a circumstance involved in so much mystery that he actually tied a string to the chip, hung it round his neck, and wore it for some time.

11. "During several days, we frequently saw him surrounded by a crowd, who where listening with intense interest while he narrated the wonders the chip had performed."

XXII. THE GREAT PLAGUE OF LONDON.

cem'-e-ter-y, a grave-yard; Kirchhof; Gottesacker.
fren'-zy, madness; Wahnsinn; Raserei.

cir'-cu-late, to spread; in Umlauf seßen; verbreiten.
de-nounce', to give notice of; ankündigen.
judg'-ment, a calamity sent by God; Strafgericht.
ten'-ant-less, unoccupied; unbewohnt.

de-cline', to turn aside; abbiegen.

con'-tact, a touching, or meeting; Berührung.

awe, great fear mingled with reverence; Ehrfurcht; Scheu. rav'-ing, raging; Raserei.

de-lir'-i-um, insanity; Jrrsinn.

in-fect', to poison with disease; anstecken.

1. In the daytime, officers were always on the watch to withdraw from public view the bodies of those who expired in the street. During the night, the tinkling of a bell announced the approach of the pest-cart, making its round to receive the victims of the last twenty-four hours. No coffin was prepared; no funeral service was read; no mourners were permitted to follow the remains of their relations or friends. The cart proceeded to the nearest cemetery, and shot its burden into the common grave.

2. The sufferings of the sick often threw them into fits of frenzy. They burst the bands by which they were tied to their beds; they threw themselves from the windows; they ran naked into the streets, and plunged into the river. Wild tales were circulated; numbers assembled on different cemeteries to see the ghosts of the dead walk round the pits in which their bodies had been deposited. Men who felt themselves called to act the part of prophets appeared in the city.

3. One of these walked through the streets naked, bearing on his head a pan of burning coal, and denouncing the judgments of God on the sinful inhabitants. Another proclaimed aloud, "Yet forty days, and London shall be

destroyed." A third might be met, sometimes by day, sometimes by night, walking with a hurried step, and exclaiming with a deep hollow voice, "Oh the great and dreadful God!"

4. London presented a scene of misery. Rows of houses stood tenantless, and open to the winds; others, in almost equal numbers, showed the red cross on the doors, by which the seats of the disease were made known to the public.

5. The chief streets, so lately trodden by the feet of thousands, were overgrown with grass. The few persons who ventured abroad walked in the middle; and, when they met, declined on opposite sides, to avoid the contact of each other.

6. But if the stillness of the streets filled the minds with awe, there was something more appalling in the sounds which now and then burst on the ear. At one moment were heard the ravings of delirium, or the wail of woe, from the infected dwelling; at another, the merry song, or the loud and careless laugh, issuing from the tavern.

Charles Dickens.

XXIII-A CURIOUS COLONY.

bleak, cold; cheerless; desolate; kalt; traurig; einsam.
pi-o-neer', one who prepares the way for others; Bahnbrecher.
en-sue', to follow; folgen.

con-struc ́-tion, form; Bau.

se'-ries, succession; Reihenfolge.

ex-haust'-ion, the state of being deprived of strength; Erschöpfung.

1. On the bleak rocky shores of a small group of islands near that cold region at the north-western corner of North America which is known as Alaska, a strange sight is to be seen in the summer. Hither, early in May every year,