around the admiral with overflowing zeal; some embraced him, others kissed his hands.

The natives of the island, when, at the dawn of day, they had beheld the ships hovering on their coast, had supposed them monsters, which had issued from the deep during the night. They had crowded to the beach, and watched their movements with awful anxiety. Their veering about, apparently without effort, and the shifting and furling of their sails, resembling huge wings, filled them with astonishment. When they beheld their boats approaching and a number of strange beings, clad in glittering steel, or raiment of various colors, landing upon the beach, they fled in affright to the woods.

Finding however that there was no attempt to pursue or molest them, they gradually recovered from their terror, and approached the Spaniards with great awe, frequently prostrating themselves on the earth, and making signs of adoration.

The admiral particularly attracted their attention from his commanding height, his air of authority, his dress of scarlet, and the deference which was paid him by his companions, all of which pointed him out to be commander. When they had still further recovered from their fears, they approached the Spaniards, touched their beards, and examined their hands and faces, admiring their whiteness.

Columbus was pleased with their gentleness and confiding simplicity, and suffered their scrutiny with perfect acquiescence, winning them by his benignity. They now supposed that the ships had sailed out of the crystal firmament which bounded

their horizon, or had descended from above on their ample wings, and that these marvelous beings were inhabitants of the skies.

WASHINGTON IRVING.

Biography.-Washington Irving was born in the City of New York in 1783, and died in 1859.

When sixteen years old, Irving entered a law office; but soon found that he had no taste for the work. In 1804, he visited Europe, and on his return published "A History of New York," the style of which is both humorous and entertaining. Owing to financial reverses, Irving was obliged in 1815 to resort to literature as a means of support, and the beauty of his style soon captivated the reading public of England and America. In 1831, he was honored with the degree of LL.D. from Oxford University; and in 1842, was appointed United States Minister to Spain.

His best known works are "The Alhambra," "Tales of a Traveler," "Bracebridge Hall," "History of the Life and Voyages of Columbus," and "Life of Washington." An edition of his works in fifteen volumes has reached a sale of several hundred thousand copies.

Hark! the rattling roll of the musketeers,

And the ruffled drums and the rallying cheers,

And the rifles burn with a keen desire

Like the crackling whips of a hemlock fire,
And the singing shot and the shrieking shell,
And the splintered fire of the shattered hell,
And the great white breaths of the cannon smoke
As the growling guns by batteries spoke;
And the ragged gaps in the walls of blue
Where the iron surge rolled heavily through,

That the colonel builds with a breath again,

As he cleaves the din with his "Close up, men!"N And the groan torn out from the blacken'd lips, And the prayer doled slow with the crimson drips, And the beaming look in the dying eye

As under the clouds the stars go by,

"But his soul marched on," the captain said, "For the Boy in Blue can never be dead!”

And the troopers sit in their saddles all

Like statues carved in an ancient hall,

And they watch the whirl from their breathless ranks,

And their spurs are close to the horses' flanks,
And the fingers work of the saber hand-
O, to bid them live, and to make them grand!
And the bugle sounds to the charge at last,
And away they plunge, and the front is passed!
And the jackets blue grow red as they ride,
And the scabbards too that clank by their side,
And the dead soldiers deaden the strokes iron-shod
As they gallop right on o'er the plashy, red sod-
Right into the cloud all spectral and dim,
Right up to the guns black-throated and grim,
Right down on the hedges bordered with steel,
Right through the dense columns, then "right
about wheel!"N

Hurrah! A new swath through the harvest again!
Hurrah for the flag! To the battle, Amen!

BENJAMIN F. TAYLOR.

Biography. For a biographical sketch of Benjamin Franklin Taylor, see page 204.

Notes.-Close up, means join the broken parts of the ranks by a movement, usually from the left toward the right.

Boy in Blue is a name given to a United States soldier on account of the color of his uniform.

Right about wheel is a command for the soldiers to turn around and march in an opposite direction.

Elocution.-State whether or not the first few lines should be read in a suppressed tone of voice. How should the interjection "Hark!" be uttered? Do not emphasize and.

Language.—The repetition of the word "and" so often throughout the poem, indicates the excitement with which the thoughts are uttered.

What figure of rhetoric is used in the last line of page 354? In lines 9 and 10, page 355?

80.-LOST ON THE FLOES.

PART I.

un' en eŭm' bered, free; unburdened.

pěm'mi ean, thin pieces of meat

dried in the sun. su' per flu qùs, unnecessary. prē' mo ni'tion, previous notice. căçhè (kǎsh), a hole in the ground. în' dis pěn'sa blè, necessary.

at tribute, ascribe; consider as belonging.

eaùs' tie, a substance which, when applied, will burn the flesh. frăe' ture, breaking of a bone. ef faced', removed; destroyed. em bāle, pack.

eon'fig u ra'tion, form.

We were at work cheerfully, sewing away at the skins of some moccasins by the blaze of our lamps, when, toward midnight, we heard the noise of steps above, and the next minute Sontag, Ohlsen, and Petersen came down into the cabin. Their manner startled me even more than their unexpected appearance on board. They were swollen and haggard, and hardly able to speak.

Their story was a fearful one. They had left their companions in the ice, risking their own lives to bring us the news: Brooks, Baker, Wilson, and Pierre were all lying frozen and disabled. Where?

They could not tell somewhere in among the hummocks to the north and east; it was drifting heavily round them when they parted.

Irish Tom had stayed by to feed and care for the others; but the chances were sorely against them. It was in vain to question them further. They had evidently traveled a great distance, for they were sinking with fatigue and hunger, and could hardly be rallied enough to tell us the direction in which they had come.

My first impulse was to move on the instant with an unencumbered party: a rescue to be effective, or even hopeful, could not be too prompt. What pressed on my mind most was, where the sufferers were to be looked for among the drifts. Ohlsen seemed to have his faculties rather more at command than his associates, and I thought that he might assist us as a guide; but he was sinking with exhaustion, and if he went with us we must carry him.

While some

There was not a moment to lose. were still busy with the newcomers and getting ready a hasty meal, others were rigging out the Little Willie N with a buffalo cover, a small tent, and a package of pemmican; and, as soon as we could hurry through our arrangements, Ohlsen was strapped on in a fur bag, his legs wrapped in dogskins and eider down, and we were off upon the ice. Our party consisted of nine men and myself. We carried only the clothes on our backs.

N

The thermometer stood at −46 degrees, seventyeight degrees below the freezing point. A wellknown peculiar tower of ice, called by the men the "Pinnacly Berg," served as our first landmark;