McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader. William Holmes McGuffey

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СКАЧАТЬ the lisping notes of the meadowlark, uttered in a shrill tone, and with a peculiar pensive modulation, are plainly audible, with short rests between each repetition.

      There is a little brown sparrow, resembling the hairbird, save a general tint of russet in his plumage, that may be heard distinctly among the warbling host. He is rarely seen in cultivated grounds, but frequents the wild pastures, and is the bird that warbles so sweetly at midsummer, when the whortleberries are ripe, and the fields are beautifully spangled with red lilies.

      There is no confusion in the notes of his song, which consists of one syllable rapidly repeated, but increasing in rapidity and rising to a higher key towards the conclusion. He sometimes prolongs his strain, when his notes are observed to rise and fall in succession. These plaintive and expressive notes are very loud and constantly uttered, during the hour that precedes the rising of the sun. A dozen warblers of this species, singing in concert, and distributed in different parts of the field, form, perhaps, the most delightful part of the woodland oratorio to which we have listened.

      At sunrise hardly a robin can be beard in the whole neighborhood, and the character of the performance has completely changed during the last half hour. The first part was more melodious and tranquilizing, the last is more brilliant and animating. The grass finches, the vireos, the wrens, and the linnets have joined their voices to the chorus, and the bobolinks are loudest in their song. But the notes of the birds in general are not so incessant as before sunrise. One by one they discontinue their lays, until at high noon the bobolink and the warbling flycatcher are almost the only vocalists to be heard in the fields.

XII. SHORT SELECTIONS IN POETRY. (94)

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      1. THE CLOUD.

      A cloud lay cradled near the setting sun,

       A gleam of crimson tinged its braided snow;

       Long had I watched the glory moving on,

       O'er the still radiance of the lake below:

       Tranquil its spirit seemed, and floated slow,

       E'en in its very motion there was rest,

       While every breath of eve that chanced to blow,

       Wafted the traveler to the beauteous west.

       Emblem, methought, of the departed soul,

       To whose white robe the gleam of bliss is given,

       And by the breath of mercy made to roll

       Right onward to the golden gate of heaven,

       While to the eye of faith it peaceful lies,

       And tells to man his glorious destinies.

      —John Wilson

      II. MY MIND.

      My mind to me a kingdom is;

       Such perfect joy therein I find,

       As far exceeds all earthly bliss

       That God or nature hath assigned;

       Though much I want that most would have,

       Yet still my mind forbids to crave.

      NOTE.—This is the first stanza of a poem by William Byrd (b, 1543, d. 1623), an English composer of music.

III. A GOOD NAME. (95)

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      Good name, in man or woman, dear my lord,

       Is the immediate jewel of their souls.

       Who steals my purse, steals trash; 'tis something, nothing;

       'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands;

       But he that filches from me my good name,

       Robs me of that which not enriches him,

       And makes me poor indeed.

       Shakespeare.—Othello, Act III, Scene III.

IV. SUNRISE.

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      But yonder comes the powerful king of day,

       Rejoicing in the east. The lessening cloud,

       The kindling azure, and the mountain's brow

       Illumed with liquid gold, his near approach

       Betoken glad. Lo! now apparent all,

       Aslant the dew-bright earth and colored air

       He looks in boundless majesty abroad,

       And sheds the shining day that, burnished, plays

       On rocks, and hills, and towers, and wandering streams,

       High gleaming from afar.

       Thomson.

V. OLD AGE AND DEATH. (95)

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      Edmund Waller, 1605–1687, an English poet, was a cousin of John Hampden, and related to Oliver Cromwell. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge. Waller was for many years a member of Parliament. He took part in the civil war, and was detected in a treasonable plot. Several years of his life were spent in exile in France. After the Restoration he came into favor at court. His poetry is celebrated for smoothness and sweetness, but is disfigured by affected conceits. ###

      The seas are quiet when the winds give o'er;

       So calm are we when passions are no more.

       For then we know how vain it was to boast

       Of fleeting things, too certain to be lost.

       Clouds of affection from our younger eyes

       Conceal that emptiness which age descries.

       The soul's dark cottage, battered and decayed,

       Lets in new light through chinks that time has made:

       Stronger by weakness, wiser men become,

       As they draw near to their eternal home.

       Leaving the old, both worlds at once they view,

       That stand upon the threshold of the СКАЧАТЬ