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3. Sure, since I look'd, at early morn,
Those honey-suckle buds

Have swelled to double growth; that thorn
Hath put forth larger studs.

That lilac's cleaving cones have burst,
The milk-white flowers revealing;
Even now upon my senses first,

Methinks their sweets are stealing.

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And grace and beauty every where
Are bursting into life.

Down, down they come, those + fruitful stores!
Those earth-rejoicing drops!

A momentary +deluge pours,

Then thins, decreases, stops.

And ere the dimples on the stream
Have circled out of sight,

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Lo! from the west, a parting gleam
Breaks forth of amber light.

ANONYMOUS.

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QUESTIONS. What season is described in this lesson? What is said concerning the stillness of every thing? What, concerning the rain? What, concerning the appearance of the earth's surface? What is said of the trees and shrubs? What, of the light?

At what pauses in this lesson is the rising inflection proper? Where, the falling inflection?

In the 4th stanza, which are the adjectives? What does "rife" qualify? Parse "stores" and "drops." Which are the adverbs in the same stanza? Which are the verbs? Which of them are in the indicative mood? Which are in the present tense? Which, in a past tense? What interjection is there in this stanza? Why is the interjection se called?

ARTICULATION.

Straggling, stretch'd, strand, strength, stress.

They stretch'd straggling along the strand. He placed the chief ttress upon strength and alacrity. The enterprize lagg'd and dragg'd heavily. The goods were box'd and tax'd. Track'st and track'dst are from track.

LESSON XLVII.

UTTER distinctly all the consonants in the following words found in this lesson: frequently, rambling, recline, listlessly, rippling, branches, abstracted, middle, inscrutable, croaking, cruel, relaps'd, traps, commingled, grudges, scratch, indispensable, privileges, giggle, crack, rattlesnake, inaccessible, composedly.

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1. I FREQUENTLY spend a morning in the country, rambling alone in the melancholy woods; sometimes resting myself against the bark of a time-worn tree; sometimes lingering on the woody hights looking far over the surrounding world. At other times, I recline listlessly by the side of some clear brook, over whose rippling way the branches meet, and form nature's choicest canopy.

2. Here I indulge my memory and imagination in a thousand devious wanderings. I recall the distant shadows of departed time that have by degrees faded almost into oblivion, and send my mind on errands to the future. At times, I become so completely abstracted from the scenes around, as to forget where I am, and to lose almost the consciousness of being. I ruminate, I ponder, and I dream.

3. On one of these occasions, about the middle of the month of August, when the dog-star rages, and all nature sinks into a sort of luxurious repose, I had become somewhat tired with a ramble longer than usual, and laid myself listlessly along the margin of a little twittering stream, that stole its winding way among the deep obscurities of the wood, diffusing coolness, and inviting to repose..

4. Through the arched canopy of foliage that overhung the little stream, I could see it coursing its way on each hand among the rocks, glittering as if by moonlight, and disappearing after a thousand meanderings. It is impossible, at least with me it is impossible, to resist the influence of such a scene. Reflecting beings like ourselves, sink into a sort of melancholy reverie, under the influence of the hallowed quiet that reigns all around.

5. As I thus lay, in languid listlessness, along the stream, as quiet as the leaves that breathed not a whisper above me, I gradually sunk into almost unconsciousness of all the world and all it holds. The little birds sported about, careless of my presence, and the insects pursued that incessant turmoil, which seems never to cease, until winter lays his icy fetters on all nature, and drives them into their inscrutable hiding-places.

6. There is a lapse in the recollection of the current of my thoughts at that moment, a short period of forgetfulness, from which I was roused by a hoarse, croaking voice, exclaiming, "Cruel, savage monster, what does he here?" I looked all around, and could see only a hawk seated on the limb of a dry trec, eyeing me, as I fancied, with a peculiar expression of hostility.

7. In a few minutes, I again relapsed into a profound reverie, from which I was awakened once more by a small squeaking whisper, "I dare say the blood-thirsty villain has been setting traps for us." I looked again, and at first sight, could see nothing from which I supposed the voice might proceed, but, at the same time, imagined that I distinguished a sort of confused whisper, in which many little voices seemed commingled.

8. My curiosity was awakened, and peering about quietly, I found it proceeded from a collection of animals, birds, and insects,

gathered together for some unaccountable purpose. They seemed very much excited, and withal in a great passion about something, all talking at once. Listening attentively, I could distinguish one from the other.

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9. "Let us pounce upon the tyrant, and kill him in his sleep," cried a bald eagle: "for he grudges me a miserable little lamb now and then, though I don't require one above once a week. See! where he wounded me in the wing, so that I can hardly get an honest living, by prey."

10. "Let me scratch his eyes out," screamed a hawk, "for he will not allow me peaceably to carry off a chicken from his barnyard, though I am dying of hunger, and come in open day to claim my natural, indispensable right.'

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11. "Ay, ay," barked the fox, "he interferes in the same base manner with my privileges, though I visit his henroost in the aight, that I may not disturb him."

12. "Agreed," hissed a rattlesnake, "for he won't let me bite him, though he knows it is my nature, and kills me according to Scripture.' And thereupon, he rattled his tail, curled himself in spiral volumes, and darted his tongue at me in the most fearful manner.

13. "Agreed," said a great fat spider, which sat in his net, surrounded by the dead bodies of half a dozen insects, "agreed, for the bloody-minded savage takes delight in destroying the fruits of my honest labors, on all occasions.'

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14. "By all means," buzzed a great blue-bottle fly, "for he will not let me tickle his nose, of a hot summer day, though he must see with half an eye, that it gives me infinite satisfaction."

15. "Kill him,” cried a little ant, that ran foaming and fretting about at a furious rate, "kill him without mercy, for he don't mind treading me into a million of atoms, a bit more than you do killing a fly," addressing the spider. "The less you say about that, the better," whispered the spider.

16. "Odds fish!" exclaimed a beautiful trout, that I should like very much to have caught, popping his head out of the brook, "Odds fish! kill the monster by all means; hook him, I say, for he entices me with worms, and devours me to gratify his + insatiable appetite.".

17. "To be sure," said a worm, "kill him as he sleeps, and I'll cat him afterward; for though I am acknowledged on all hands to be his brother, he impales me alive on a hook, only for his

amusement."

18. "I consent," cooed the dove, "for he has deprived me of my mate, and made me a disconsolate widow." Upon which, she began to mourn so piteously, that the whole assembly deeply + sympathized in her forlorn condition.

19. "He has committed a million of murders," cried the spider. "He drowns all my kittens," mewed the cat. "He tramples upon me without mercy," whispered the toad, "only because I'm ao beauty." "He is a treacherous, cunning villain," barked the lox. "He has no more mercy than a wolf," screamed the hawk. "He is a bloody tyrant," croaked the eagle. "He is the common enemy of all nature, and deserves a hundred and fifty thousand deaths," exclaimed they all in one voice.

20. I began to be heartily ashamed of myself, and was casting about how I might slip away from hearing these pleasant reproaches; but curiosity and listlessness together kept me quiet, while they continued to discuss the best mode of destroying the tyrant. There was, as is usual in such cases, great diversity of opinion.

21. "I'll bury my talons in his brain," said the eagle. "I'll tear his eyes out," screamed the hawk. "I'll whip him to death with my tail," barked the fox. "I'll sting him home," hissed the rattlesnake. "I'll poison him," said the spider. "I'll fly-blow him," buzzed the fly. "I'll drown him, if he'll only come into my brook, so I will," quoth the trout.

22. "I'll drag him into my hole, and do his business there, I warrant," said the ant; and thereupon there was a giggle among the whole set. "And I'll-I'll"-said the worm. "What will

"What

you do, you poor Satan?" exclaimed the rest in a titter. will I do? Why I'll eat him after he's dead," replied sir worm; and then he strutted about, until he unwarily came so near that he slipped into the brook, and was snapped up in a moment by the

trout.

23. The example was contagious. + "Oho! you are for that sport," mewed the cat, and clawed the trout before he could get his head under water. "Tit for tat," barked Reynard, and snatching pussy up in his teeth, was off like a shot. "Since 't is the fashion," said the spider, "I'll have a crack at that same bluebottle," and thereupon he nabbed the poor fly in a twinkling. "By your leave," said the toad, and snapped up the spider in less than no time. "You ugly thief of the world," hissed the rattlesnake in great wrath, and indignantly laying hold of the toad, managed to swallow him about half way, where he lay in all his glory.

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