"And what did you see, my Mary,
All up on the Caldon-Low?"→
"I saw the blithe sunshine come down,
And I saw the merry winds blow."

“And what did you hear, my Mary,
All up on the Caldon-Hill?"
"I heard the drops of the water made,
And the green corn ears to fill."

"Oh tell me all, my Mary,

All, all that ever you know;
For you must have seen the fairies,
Last night, on Caldon-Low.”

"Then take me on your knee, mother,
And listen, mother of mine:
A hundred fairies danced last night,
And the harpers they were nine.

osta

"And merry was the glee of the harp-strings,
And their dancing feet so small;
But, oh, the sound of their talking
Was merrier far than all !"

"And what were the words, my Mary,
That you did hear them say 7?""
"I'll tell you all, my mother,
But let me have my way.

"And some, they played with the water, And rolled it down the hill;

6

And this,' they said, 'shall speedily turn
The poor old miller's mill;

"For there has been no water,
Ever since the first of May;
And a busy man shall the miller be
By the dawning of the day.

'Oh, the miller, how he will laugh,
When he sees the mill-dam rise!
The jolly old miller, how he will laugh
Till the tears fill both his eyes !'

"And some, they seized the little winds, That sounded over the hill.

And each put a horn into his mouth,
And blew so sharp and shrill.

"And there,' said they, 'the merry winds go,

Away from every horn;

And those shall clear the mildew dank,
From the blind old widow's corn.

"Oh, the poor, blind old widow,

Though she has been blind so long, She'll be merry enough when the mildew's gone, And the corn stands stiff and strong."

"And some, they brought the brown lint-seed, And flung it down from the Low;

"

And this,' said they, by the sun-rise,
In the weaver's croft shall grow.

"Oh, the poor, lame weaver,

How will he laugh outright,
When he sees his dwindling flax field
All full of flowers by night!'

"And then upspoke a brownie,

With a long beard on his chin, 'I have spun up all the tow,' said he, And I want some more to spin.

"I've spun a piece of hempen cloth, And I want to spin another;

A little sheet for Mary's bed,

And an apron for her mother!”

"And with that I could not help but laugh,
And I laughed out loud and free;
And then on the top of the Caldon-Low
There was no one left but me.

"And all, on the top of the Caldon-Low,
The mists were cold and gray,
And nothing I saw but the mossy stones
That round about me lay.

"But as I came down from the hill-top, I heard a jar below;

How busy the jolly miller was,

And how merry the wheel did go!

(Elliptical.)

[In the following lesson, and some others, ellipses are left to be filled up by the pupil. Let the reader supply the words which are omitted. In this lesson the rhyme will assist in suggesting the proper word. Such an exercise will be found interesting and very useful. It will give to the learner a ready command of language, and thus promote fluency in conversation, a very important and desirable accomplishment, and will contribute to the formation of a habit of ease and readiness in composition. The memory, the imagination, and the judgment are called into exercise, while at the same time all the more immediate objects of a reading lesson are equally well secured. The proper word can be written with a pencil in the vacant place within the brackets, or can be supplied by the pupil at the time of reading.]

HOME.

THERE is a land, of every land the pride,
Beloved by Heaven o'er the (
Where brighter suns dispense serener light,
And milder moons mparadise the (
A land of beauty, virtue, valor, truth,
Time-tutored age, and love-exalted (
The wandering mariner, whose eye explores
The wealthiest isles, the most enchanting (
Views not a realm so beautiful and fair,
Nor breathes the spirit of a purer (
In every clime the magnet of his soul,
Touched by remembrance, trembles to that (

f

);

For in this land of Heaven's peculiar grace,
The heritage of Nature's noblest (..),
There is a spot of earth supremely blessed,
A dearer, sweeter spot than all the (
Where man, creation's tyrant, casts aside
His sword and scepter, pageantry and (
While in his softened looks benignly blend
The sire, the son, the husband, brother, (
Here woman reigns; the mother, daughter, wife,
Strews with fresh flowers the narrow path of (
In the clear heaven of her delightful eye,
An angel-guard of loves and graces (
Around her knees domestic duties meet,
And fireside pleasures gambol at her (
“Where shall that land, that spot of earth be found?"
Art thou a man? a patriot? look (
);
Oh, thou shalt find, howe'er thy footsteps roam,
That land thy country, and that spot thy (

).

J. MONTGOMERY

Breathes there the man, with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath ( ),

This is my own, my native land?

Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned,
As home his footsteps he hath (

From wandering on a foreign strand?

If such there breathe, go mark him well;
For him no minstrel raptures (
High though his titles, proud his name,
Boundless his wealth as wish can (
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch, concentered all in (
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go (
To the vile dust from whence he sprung,

>

Unwept, unhonored, and (

);

),

LESSON LXXXIII.

ON THE NATURE OF CLOUDS.

CLOUDS are collections of vapor in the air, rendered visible by condensation. They seldom rise very high. Sometimes they rest upon the earth's surface, constituting what is termed fog. Sometimes they are a mile above the surface of the earth, sometimes more; but they seldom rise higher than two or three miles. Very thin, fleecy clouds, however, sometimes rise to the hight of four or five miles. But why do they not rise to the surface of the atmosphere? The density of the atmosphere rapidly diminishes upward. One half of the whole quantity of air is within about three miles of the earth. Above this hight, the air is unable to support any considerable quantities of vapor. Hence we see the reason why clouds rise no higher, and why the thinnest and lightest rise highest.

To an attentive observer, the clouds present many interesting subjects of contemplation. Their ever-varying forms, their beautiful and richly variegated colors, and their silent motion, varying often in velocity and direction, while they furnish the poet with a field in which his fancy may rove delighted, also afford to the student of nature many an interesting theme for reflection. At one time, dark and portentous fancy might easily imagine them the ruins of some ancient castle, or timeworn tower; at another, they gather in beautiful and glorious forms around the path of the descending sun, and seem to vie with that luminary itself in splendor. Sometimes they move swiftly over the face of the heaven, and soon recede from our view; sometimes they seem to meet each other, and soon, like hasty travelers, pass each other by, without a sign of recognition. At one time, while we gaze upon them, they vanish; at another, they gather into darker and heavier masses of settled gloom.

The principal circumstances which influence the form of clouds are, the motion of the air, and the formation and condensation of vapor. Substances so light as clouds, readily change form, when subjected to greater atmospheric pressure on one side than on the other. Different portions of the air move with different degrees of velocity. Hence, clouds situ