EXERCISE VII. COMMON PEOPLE. T. S. ARTHUR. 1. "Are you going to call upon Mrs. Clayton and her daughters, Mrs. Márygold?” asked a neighbor, alluding to a family that had just moved into Sycamore Row. 2. "Nò, indeed, Mrs. Lemmington, that I am not. I don't visit everybody." 3. 66 I thought the Claytons were a very respectable family," remarked Mrs. Lemmington. 4. "Respectable! Everybody is getting respectable nowa-days. If they are respectable, it is very lately they have become so. What is Mr. Clayton, I wonder, but a schoolmaster! It's too bad that such people will come crowding themselves into genteel neighborhoods. The time was, when to live in Sycamore Row was guarantee enough for any one; but now, all kinds of people have come into it." 5. "I have never met Mrs. Clayton," remarked Mrs. Lemmington; "but I have been told that she is a most estimable woman, and that her daughters have been educated with great care. Indeed, they are represented as being highly ac complished girls." 6. "Well, I don't care what they are represented to be. I'm not going to keep company with a schoolmaster's wife and daughters; that's certain. 7. "Is there anything disgraceful in keeping a school?" 8. "No; nor in making shoes, either. But then, that's no reason why I should keep company with my shoemaker's wife; is it? Let common people associate together,—that's my doctrine." 9. "But what do you mean by common people, Mrs. Márygold?" 10. "Why, I mean common people. who have not come of a respectable family. Poor people. People 11. “I am not sure that I comprehend your explanation much better than I do your classification. If you mean, as you say, poor people, your objection will not apply with full force to the Claytons; for they are now in tolerably easy circumstances. As to the family of Mr. Clayton, I believe his father was a man of integrity, though not rich. And Mrs. Clayton's family I know to be without reproach of any kind." 12. "And yet they are common people for all that," persevered Mrs. Marygold. "Wasn't old Clayton a mere petty dealer in small wares. And was n't Mrs. Clayton's father a mechanic ?" 13. "Perhaps, if some of us were to go back a generation or two, we might trace out an ancestor who held no higher place in society," Mrs. Lemmington remarked quietly. "I have no doubt that I should." 14. "I have no fears of that kind," replied Mrs. Marygold, in an exulting tone. "I shall never blush when my pedigree is traced." 15. "Nor I either, I hope. Still, I should not wonder, if some one of my ancestors had disgraced himself; for there are but few families that are not cursed with a spotted sheep. But I have nothing to do with that, and ask only to be judged by what I am not by what my progenitors have been." 16. "A standard that few will respect, let me tell you." 17. "A standard that far the largest portion of society will regard as the true one, I hope," replied Mrs. Lemmington. "But surely, you do not intend refusing to call upon the Claytons for the reasons you have assigned, Mrs. Márygold?” 18. "Certainly I do. They are nothing but common people, and therefore beneath me. I shall not stoop to associate with ther." 19, "I think that I will call upon them. In fact, my object in dropping in this morning, was to see, if you would not accompany me," said Mrs. Lemmington. 20. "Indeed, I will not, and for the reasons I have given. They are only common people. You will be stooping," 21. No one stoops in doing a kind act. Mrs. Clayton is a stranger in the neighborhood, and is entitled to the courtesy of a call, if no more; and that I shall extend to her. If I find her to be uncongenial in her tastes, no intimate acquaintanceship need be formed. If she is congenial, I will add another to my list of valued friends. You and I, I find, estimate differently. I judge every individual by merit, you, by family or descent." 22. "You can do as you please," rejoined Mrs. Marygold, somewhat coldly. "For my part, I am particular about my associates. I will visit Mrs. Florence and Mrs. Harwood, and such as move in good society, but as to your school-teachers' wives and daughters, I must beg to be excused." 23. "Every one to her taste," rejoined Mrs. Lemmington, with a smile, as she moved towards the door where she stood for a few moments to utter some parting compliments, and then withdrew. 24. Five minutes afterwards she was shown into Mrs. Clayton's parlors, where, in a moment or two, she was met by the lady upon whom she had called, and received with an easy gracefulness that at once charmed her. A brief conversation convinced her that Mrs. Clayton was, in intelligence and moral worth, as far above Mrs. Marygold, as that personage imagined herself to be above her. Her daughters, who came in while she sat conversing with their mother, showed themselves to possess all those graces of mind and manner that win upon our admiration so irresistibly. An hour passed quickly and pleasantly, and then Mrs. Lemmington withdrew. 25. The difference between Mrs. Lemmington and Mrs. Marygold was simply this. The former had been familiar with what is called the best society from her earliest recollection, and, being, therefore, constantly in association with those looked upon as the upper class, knew nothing of the upstart self-estimation which is felt by certain weak, ignorant persons, who, by some accidental circumstance, are elevated far above the condition in which they moved originally. 26. She could estimate true worth in humble garb as well as in velvet and rich satins. She was one of those individu als who never passed an old and worthy domestic in the street without recognition, or stopping to make some kind inquiry-one who never forgot a familiar face, or neglected to pass a kind word to even the humblest who possessed the merit of good principles. QUESTIONS.-1. What rule for the rising inflection on Mrs. Marygold, 9th and 17th paragraphs? See Note L, page 30. 2. What kind of emphasis on I and you, 21st paragraph? See Note VII, page 22. 3. What kind of emphasis on best, 25th paragraph! See Note VI., page 21. EXERCISE VIII. 1. Trans-Fig'-ure, (from TRANS, implying change, and FIGURE, a form or shape,) is to change the form or figure; to transform. 2. THE SOUTHERN CROSS (in Latin, Crux Australis) is a brilliant little constellation, consisting of four principal stars, too far south, however, to be seen by us, in these northern regions. 3. THE POLAR STAR is a star of the second magnitude, forming the extremity of Ursa Minor, or the Little Bear. THE SEEN AND THE UNSEEN. EPHRAIM PEABODY. 1. Here is a whaling vessel in the harbor, her anchors up, and her sails unfurled. The last boat has left her, and she is now departing on a voyage of three, and, perhaps, four years in length. All that the eye sees is, that she is a fine ship, and that it has cost much labor to fit her out. Those on board will spend years of toil, and will then return, while the profits of the voyage will be distributed, as the case may be, to be squandered, or to be added to already existing hoards. So much appears. But there is an unpublished history, which, could it be revealed, and brought vividly before the mind, would transfigure' her, and enshrine her in an almost awful light. 2. There is not a stick of timber in her whole frame, not a plank or a rope, which is not, in some mysterious way, enveloped with human interests and sympathies. Let us trace this part of her history, while she circles the globe, and returns to the harbor from which she sailed. At the outset, the labor of the merchant, the carpenter, and of all employed on her, has not been mere sordid labor. The thought of their homes, of their children, and of what this labor may secure for them, has been in their hearts. 3. And they who sail in her, leave behind homes, wives, children, parents; and, years before they return, those who are dearest to them, may be in their tombs. What bitter partings, as if by the grave's brink, are those which take place, when the signal to unmoor calls them on board. There are among them young men, married, perhaps, but a few weeks before, and those of maturer years, whose young children cleave to their hearts as they go. 4. How deeply, as the good ship sails out into the open sea, is she freighted with memories and affections! Every eye is turned toward the receding coast, as if the pangs of another farewell were to be endured. Fade slowly, shores that encircle their homes! Shine brightly, ye skies, over those dear ones whom they leave behind! 5. They round the capes of continents, they traverse every zone, their keel crosses every sea; but still, brighter than the Southern Cross3 or the Polar Star,3 shines on their souls the light of their distant home. In the calm moonlight rise before the mariner the forms of those whom he loves; in the pauses of the gale, he hears the voices of his children. Beat upon by the tempest, worn down with labor, he endures all. Welcome care and toil, if these may bring peace and happiness to those dear ones who meet around his distant fireside! 6. And the thoughts of those in that home, compassing the |