Buttercups and Daisies. but'-ter-cups, little yellow wild flowers. fro'-zen, subject to frost, chilly. hard'-ships, trials, cares of life. leaf'-less, bare, without leaves. pa'-ly, without colour, wan. pā'-tient, calm, not hasty. peep'-eth,beginning to appear. BUTTERCUPS and daisies, Buttercups and daisies Ere the snow-drop peepeth, Opes its paly gold; Somewhere on a sunny bank Buttercups are bright, Somewhere 'mong the frozen grass Peeps the daisy white. Little hardy flowers, Like to children poor, Playing in their sturdy health By their mother's door; Purple with the north wind, Yet alert and bold, What to them is weather! Are these human flowers. Gave them likewise hardy strength, And patient hearts to bear. Welcome, yellow buttercups; Welcome, daisies white; Ye are in my spirit Vision'd a delight! Coming, ere the spring-time, Speaking to our hearts of Him poem. 2. Can you QUESTIONS:-1. Name the writer of this name any other poems she has written? 3. What are the pretty flowers she has mentioned in the first verse? 4. What time of the year do they come? 5. What to tell us of? 6. What are the wild flowers named in the second verse? 7. What is the meaning of that line about the primrose-"Opes its paly gold"? 8. What is one quality of the buttercups and daisies mentioned in the third verse? 9. Having this quality, what does she say they are like? 10. Find out, in the fourth verse, what she calls the children of the poor. 11. If their Maker has given them "hardships,” “and a life of care," what else has He given them? 12. When we look on these pretty wild flowers, buttercups and daisies, and see how nicely they are made, of whom should we think? 13. How has He made all things? STEP together, boldly tread, Tread light! Left Right, Steady, boys, and step together! Step together, be each rank Dressed in line, from flank to flank, 'Mid the onset's fierce assault, Raised the iron rain to weather. Step together, be your tramp LESSON LVI. Flight of Birds. ac-quaint'-ed, familiar with. be-wil'-dered, stupefied, perplexed. com-mit'-ted, given, trusted. ex-per'-i-ment, trial, practical proof. mi'-gra-to-ry, changing residence, roving. ob-served', noticed. plu'-mage, feathers of a bird. SWALLOWS fly in the form of a wedge. The leading of the group is committed to a chief or captain, who takes his station at the thin end of the wedge. He gives place to another when tired, and goes to the end of one of the lines. It has been observed that old and young birds fly in separate companies, and that the old ones return to the place whence they set out, while the young do not. Males and females fly in separate lines though in the same company. Birds which differ in voice also keep separate lines during their migratory flights. In a flight of bullfinches, for instance, all those having a deep-toned voice fly on one side, while those with high tones fly on the other; bird catchers are acquainted with this fact. It becomes a question whether those birds are of the same species. It is possible that those with deep voices may have a flat skull, and the others a high one; if so, though the plumage may be the same, they are of different species, and, if put together, would probably not match. Birds generally migrate for the sake of food and climate. Some people have imagined that it was from the relation between the magnetism of their bones and that of the earth. As to the mode of progression, some birds run, others fly, others swim, others walk. Most of them fly; but the cassowary, ostrich, and penguin do not. Some sea-birds become quite bewildered on land, and seem to lose the power of flight, so that they may be kept without cutting their wings, if distant from the sea. |