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instances no doubt there were splendid exemplifications of some single qualification. Cæsar was merciful Scipio was continent Hannibal was patient. But it was reserved for Washington to blend them all in one and like the lovely masterpiece of the Grecian artist to exhibit in one glow of associated beauty the pride of every modèl and the perfection of every master.

4. As a general-he marshaled the peasant into a veteran and supplied by discipline the absence of experience. As a statesman he enlarged the policy of the cabinet into the most comprehensive system of general advantage. And such was the wisdom of his views and the philosophy of his counsels that to the soldier and the statesman he almost added the character of the sage.

5. A conqueror he was untainted with the crime of blooda a revolutionist he was free from any stain of treason for aggression commenced the contest and his country called him to the field. Libertyunsheathed his sword necessity stained victory returned it.

6. If he had paused here history might have doubted what station to assign him whether at the head of her citizens or her soldiers her heroes or her patriots. Bu the lastglorious act crowns his career and banishes all hesitation. Who like Washington after having emancipated a hemisphere resigned its crown and preferred the retirement of domestic life to the adoration of a land he might almost ba said to have created?

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7. How shall we rank thee upon glory's page,

Thou more than soldier and just less than sage!
All thou hast been reflects less praise on thee,
Far less than all thou hast forborne to be.

KEY TO THE USE OF MARKED LETTERS.

wè or we, end or old or old, on or

àge or age, åt or ăt, årt, áll, båre, åsk; end, her; ice or ice, in or in, fly, hymn; on, dỗ; måte or mute, up or up, füll; this; azure; reäl, (not rel); overshoot'; badnèss, (not niss); agèd, (not ājd); ġ as j.

INDEX TO EDITIONS.

THE figures refer to the pages where the same lessons may be found
in the two editions of this work.

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PART II.

READINGS.

SECTION I.

I.

1. THE MONTHS.

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ANUARY! Darkness and light reign ǎlike. Snow is on the' ground. Cold is in the air. The winter is blossoming in frost-flowers. Why is the ground hidden? Why is the earth' white? So hath God wiped out the past, so hath he spread the earth like an unwritten page, for ǎ new year! Old sounds are silent in the forest and in the air. Insects are dead, birds' are gone,' leaves have perished, and all the foundations of soil remain. Upon this lies, white and tranquil, the emblem of newness and purity, the virgin' robes of the yet unstained year!

2. FEBRUARY! The day gains upon the night. The strife of heat and cold is scarce" begun. The winds that come from the desolate north wander through forests of frost-cracking boughs, and shout in the air the weird" cries of the northern bergs" and ice-resounding oceans. Yet, as the month wears on, the silent work begins, though storms rage. The earth is hidden yět, but not dead. The sun is drawing near. The storms cry out.

But the sun is not heard in all the heavens. Yet he whispers words of deliverance into the ears of every sleeping seed and root 13 that lies beneath the snow. The day opens, but the night

shuts the earth with its frost-lock. They strive together, but

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the Darkness and the Cold are growing weaker. On some nights they forget to work.

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3. MARCH! The conflict is more turbulent,' but the victory is gained. The world awakes. There' come voices from longhidden birds. The smell of the soil is in the air. The sullen ice retreating from open field, and all sunny places, has slunk to the north of ĕvèry fence and rock. The knolls and banks that face the east or south sigh for release, and begin to lift up a thousand tiny palms.*

4. APRIL! The singing month. Many voices of many birds call for resurrection over the graves of flowers, and they come forth. Go, see what they have lost. What have ice, and snow, and storm, done unto them? How did they fall into the earth, stripped and bare? How do they come forth opening and glōrified? Is it, then, so fearful a thing to lie in the grave? In its wild career, shaking and scourged of storms through its orbit, the earth has scattered away no treasures. The Hand that governs in April governed in January. You have not lost what God has only hidden. You lose nothing' in struggle, in trial, in bitter distress. If called to shed thy joys as trees their leaves; if the affections be driven back into the heart, as the life of flowers to their roots, yet be patient. Thou shalt lift up thy leaf-covered boughs again." Thou shalt shoot forth from thy roots new flowers. Be patient. Wait. When it is February, April is not far off. Secretly the plants love each other.

5. MAY! O Flower-Month, per'fect the harvests of flowers! Be not niggardly. Search out the cold and resentful nooks' that refused the sun, casting back its rays from disdainful ice, and plant flowers even there. There is goodness in the worst. There is warmth in the coldness. The silent, hopeful, unbreathing sun, that will not fret or despond, but carries a plăcid brow through the unwrinkled heavens, at length conquers the very rocks, and lichens grow and inconspicuously blossom. What shall not Time do, that carries in its bosom Love?

1 Turbulent, (têr′ bu lent).

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Lichen, (li' ken), one of an order

· Awakes, (ǎ wāks), Note 1, p. 32. of flowerless plants, without distinc

There, (thår).

Palms, (påmz).

Nothing, (nůth' ing).

• Again, (å gån ́).

7 Nooks, (noks).

tion of leaf and stem, usually of scaly, expanded, front-like forms, but sometimes imitating the forms of branches of trees.

• Bosom, (büz um).

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