various parts of this state, which conveys a poison of a nature so deadly, that, compared with it, even the venom of the rattlesnake is harmless. To guard our readers against this foe of human kind, is the object of this lesson. 2. This worm varies much in size. It is frequently an inch in +diameter, but, as it is rarely seen, except when coiled, its length can hardly be conjectured. It is of a dull lead color, and gener ally lives near a spring or small stream of water, and bites the unfortunate people, who are in the habit of going there to drink. The brute creation it never molests. They avoid it with the same *instinct that teaches the animals of Peru to shun the deadly coya. 3. Several of these reptiles have long infested our settlements, to the misery and destruction of many of our fellow citizens. Í have, therefore, had frequent opportunities of being the melancholy spectator of the effects produced by the subtile poison which this worm +infuses. + 4. The symptoms of its bite are terrible. The eyes of the patient become red and fiery, his tongue swells to an immoderate size, and obstructs his utterance; and delirium of the most horrid character, quickly follows. Sometimes, in his madness, he attempts the destruction of his nearest friends. 5. If the sufferer has a family, his weeping wife and helpless infants are not unfrequently the objects of his frantic fury. In a word, he exhibits, to the life, all the detestable passions that rankle in the bosom of a savage; and, such is the spell in which his senses are locked, that, no sooner has the unhappy patient recovered from the paroxysm of insanity, occasioned by the bite, than he seeks out the destroyer, for the sole purpose of being bitten again. 6. I have seen a good old father, his locks as white as snow, his step slow and trembling, beg in vain of his only son to quit the lurking place of the worm. My heart bled when he turned away; for I knew the fond hope, that his son would be the "staff of his declining years," had supported him through many a sorrow. + 7. Youths of America, would you know the name of this reptile? It is called the Worm of the Still. JOHN RUSSELL. QUESTIONS.- -What is manufactured at the "still" here spoken of? Why is intemperance worse than the bite of the most venomous serpent? What is the coya? What part of a still is called the "worm?" Why is it so called? In the last paragraph parse "youths." See Analyt. Grammar, Rule 5. LESSON XXIII. REMARK. It will be a good exercise for the pupil to stand at a distance from the teacher, and then try to read so loud and distinctly, that the teacher may hear with perfect ease each syllable that is pronounced. PRONOUNCE Correctly. - Trough, (pro. trauf,) not troth: per-pe tu-i-ty, not per-pe-tew-i-ty: pat-tern, not pat-tun: of-fi-cers, not of-fi-suz: lan-tern, not lan-tun: i-ron, pro. i-urn: thirst-y, not thus-ty. Hol'-lands, n. a kind of gin. 6. Po-ta'-tions, n. draughts. Ru'-bi-cund, a. inclined to redness. 10. Tit-il-la'-tion, n. the state of being tickled. 14. Mo-nop'-o-lize,v, to obtain the whole. Con-sum-ma'-tion, n. completion, perfection of a work. THE TOWN PUMP. (Scene. The corner of two principal streets.-The Town Pump talking through its nose.) 1. NOON, by the north clock"! Noon, by the east"! High noon, too, by those hot sunbeams which fall', scarcely aslope', upon my head, and almost make the water bubble and smoke in the trough under my nose'. Truly', we public characters have a tough time' of it! And among all the town officers, chosen at the yearly meeting, where is he that sustains, for a single year, the burden of such manifold duties as are imposed, in perpetuity, upon the Town Pump. 2. The title of town treasurer is rightfully mine, as guardian of the best treasure the town has. The + overseers of the poor ought to make me their chairman, since I provide bountifully for the pauper, without expense to him that pays taxes. I am at the head of the fire department, and one of the physicians of the board of health. As a keeper of the peace, all water-drinkers confess me equal to the constable. I perform some of the duties of the town clerk, by promulgating public notices, when they are pasted on my front. 3. To speak within bounds, I am chief person of the municipality, and exhibit, moreover, an admirable pattern to my brother officers, by the cool, steady, upright, downright, and impartial discharge of my business, and the constancy with which I stand to my post. Summer or winter, nobody seeks me in vain; for all day long I am seen at the busiest corner, just above the market, stretching out my arms to rich and poor alike; and at night I hold a lantern over my head, both to show where I am, and to keep people out of the gutters. 4. At this sultry noontide, I am cupbearer to the parched popu lace, for whose benefit an iron goblet is chained to my waist. Like a dramseller on the public square, on a +muster day, I cry aloud to all and sundry, in my plainest accents, and at the very tiptop of my voice. Here it is', gentlemen'! Here is the good liquor! Walk up', walk up', gentlemen', walk up', walk up! Here is the superior stuff! Here is the unadulterated ale of father Adam"! better than Cogniac', Hollands', Jamaica', strong beer', or wine of any' price; here it is, by the hogshead or the single glass, and not a cent to pay! Walk up, gentlemen, walk up and help yourselves! 5. It were a pity, if all this outcry should draw no customers. Here they come. A hot day, gentlemen. Quaff and away again, so as to keep yourselves in a nice, cool sweat. You, my friend, will need another cupfull to wash the dust out of your throat, if it be as thick there as it is on your cowhide shoes. I see that you have trudged half a score of miles to-day, and, like a wise man, have passed by the taverns, and stopped at the running brooks and wellcurbs. Otherwise, betwixt heat without and fire within, you would have been burnt to a cinder, or melted down to nothing at all, in the fashion of a jellyfish. 6. Drink, and make room for that other fellow, who seeks my aid to quench the fiery fever of last night's potations, which he drained from no cup of mine. Welcome, most rubicund sir! You and I have been great strangers hitherto; nor, to confess the truth, will my nose be anxious for a closer intimacy, till the fumes of your breath be a little less potent. + 7. Mercy on you, man! The water absolutely hisses down your red-hot gullet, and is converted quite into steam in the *minature +Tophet, which you mistake for a stomach. Fill again, and tell me, on the word of an honest toper, did you ever, in cellar, tavern, or any other kind of dramshop, spend the price of your children's food, for a swig half so delicious? Now, for the first time these ten years, you know the flavor of cold water. Good-by; and whenever you are thirsty, recollect that I keep a constant supply, at the old stand. 8. 'Who next? Oh, my little friend, you are just let loose from school, and come hither to scrub your blooming face, and drown the memory of certain taps of the ferule, and other school-bov troubles, in a draught from the Town Pump. Take it, pure as the current of your young life; take it, and may your heart and tongue never be scorched with a fiercer thirst than now. 9. There, my dear child, put down the cup, and yield your place to this elderly gentleman, who treads so tenderly over the paving stones, that I suspect he is afraid of breaking them. What! he limps by, without so much as thanking me, as if my hospitable offers were meant only for people who have no wine-cellars. 10. Well, well, sir, no harm done, I hope! Go, draw the cork, tip the decanter; but when your great toe shall set you a roaring, it will be no affair of mine. If gentlemen love the pleasant titillation of the gout, it is all one to the Town Pump. This thirsty dog, with his red tongue +lolling out, does not scorn my hospitality, but stands on his hind legs, and laps eagerly out of the trough. See, how lightly he capers away again! Jowler, did your worship ever have the gout? 11. Your pardon', good people'! I must interrupt my stream of eloquence, and spout forth a stream of water, to replenish the trough for this teamster and his two yoke of oxen, who have come all the way from Staunton, or somewhere along that way. No part of my business gives me more pleasure than the watering of cattle. Look! how rapidly they lower the water-mark on the sides of the trough', till their capacious stomachs are moistened with a gallon or two apiece, and they can afford time to breathe, with sighs of calm enjoyment. Now, they roll their quiet eyes around the brim of their monstro is drinking vessel. An ox is your true toper. 12. I hold myself the grand reformer of the age. From my spout, and such spouts as mine, must flow the stream that shall cleanse our earth of a vast portion of its crime and anguish, which has gushed from the fiery fountains of the still. In this mighty enterprise, the cow shall be my great confederate. Milk and water! 13. Ahem! Dry work, this speechifying, especially to all unpracticed orators. I never conceived, till now, what toil the temperance lecturers undergo for my sake. Do, some kind Christian, pump a stroke or two, just to wet my whistle. Thank you, sir. But to proceed. 14. The Town Pump and the Cow! Such is the glorious partnership, that shall finally monopolize the whole business of quenching thirst. Blessed consummation! Then, Poverty shall pass away from the land, finding no hovel so wretched, where her squalid form may shelter itself. Then, Disease, for lack of other victims, shall gnaw his own heart and die. Then, Sin, if she do not die, shall lose half her strength. 15. Then, there will be no war of households. The husband and the wife, drinking deep of peaceful joy, a calm bliss of temperate affections, shall pass hand in hand through life, and lie down, not reluctantly, at its protracted close. To them, the past will be no turmoil of mad dreams, nor the future an eternity of such moments as follow the delirium of the drunkard. Their dead faces shall express what their spirits were, and are to be, by a lingering smile of memory and hope. 16. Drink, then, and be refreshed! The water is as pure and cold as when it slaked the thirst of the red hunter, and flowed beneath the aged bough, though now this gem of the wilderness is treasured under these hot stones, where no shadow falls, but from the brick buildings. But, still is this fountain the source of health, peace, and happiness, and I behold with certainty and joy, the approach of the period, when the virtues of cold water, too little valued since our father's days, will be fully appreciated and recognized by all HAWTHORNE. QUESTIONS.- In what respect, and why may the Town Pump be considered as assisting in the various town offices? Describe the various characters who are supposed to approach the pump for a drink, and the pump's remarks to them. What benefits arise from the use of water as a drink? What change has taken place in this respect? Parse "pardon," in the 11th paragraph. "Pump" and "cow," in the 14th. Which are the adverbs in the last sentence? Which are the conjunctions? Which are the nouns, and what is the possessive singular of each one of them? TO TEACHERS. The EXERCISES on ARTICULATION which are placed between the Reading Lessons, will be found of great value, and the pupil should study and practice them frequently and thoroughly. In the Second and Third Readers the Exercises are Bystematic and extensive. In this Reader they are designed for review and general practice, and are therefore of a more miscellaneous character, but ir clude all the elements of articulation. |