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9.

"Who planted this old apple-tree?"
The children of that distant day
Thus to some aged man shall say;
And, gazing on its mossy stem,

The gray-haired man shall answer them:
"A poet of the land was he,

Born in the rude but good old times;
"Tis said he made some quaint old rhymes
On planting the apple-tree.”

LANGUAGE STUDY.

I. Write the analysis of: tenderly; softly; lengthen; flowery; redden; fruitage; careless; childhood; loosen; helpless; mossy. Note that Bryant's simple, natural style, in this poem, calls for few words of Latin origin.

II. In stanza 1, point out a simple exclamative sentence; a compound imperative sentence; a simple declarative sentence.

Analyze this sentence:

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"O, when its aged branches throw
Thin shadows on the ground below,
Shall fraud and force and iron will

Oppress the weak and helpless still?"

III. As round the sleeping infant's feet" (1): what is the figure of speech? (See Definition 2.) "Our flag of stripe and star shall bear" (6) : what is the figure of speech? (See Definition 4.) "Fraud and force and iron will" (8): what is the figure of speech? (See Definition 7.) Transpose into the prose order,

"Wide let its hollow bed be made."

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Select beautiful pen-pictures. Which are the most touching passages?

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This sublime description is taken from the fifth chapter of the Book of Daniel.

(1) Belshazzar was made a participant in the kingdom by his father, and was left in control of the city of Babylon when his father went forth to meet the invading Persian army under Cyrus the Great. (5) Chaldeans: natives of Chaldea who were learned in astrology.(7) Nebuchadnezzar: king of Babylon in the fifth century B.C.(10) all...languages: i.e., people of all languages. — (11) he was deposed, etc.: it is recorded that Nebuchadnezzar was afflicted for several years by a strange form of madness, in which he imagined himself a beast of the field. (See Daniel iv. 32.) (14) In that . . . slain: Babylon was taken (538 B.C.) by the Persians, under Cyrus, while Belshazzar and his court were engaged in revelry; and Belshazzar was killed in the confusion of the early morning.

1. Belshazzar, the king, made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.

2. Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem.

3. Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem. They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.

4. In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king's palace; and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.

5. The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spake, and said to the wise men of Babylon,

"Whosoever shall read this writing, and show me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom."

6. Then came in all the king's wise men; but they could not read the writing, nor make known the interpretation thereof. Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his countenance changed in him, and his lords were astonied.

7. Now the queen, by reason of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banquet-house. And the queen spake and said,

"O king, live for ever! Let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed. There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and, in the days of thy father, light and understanding and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods was found in him: whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father—the king, I say, thy father-made master of

the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers, forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and showing of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation.'

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8. Then was Daniel brought in before the king. And the king spake and said unto Daniel,

"Art thou that Daniel, which art of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king, my father, brought out of Jewry? I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee. And now the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof; but they could not show the interpretation of the thing.

9. "And I have heard of thee, that thou canst make interpretations and dissolve doubts. Now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom."

10. Then Daniel answered and said before the king, "Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another. Yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation. O thou king! the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honor. And for

the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whom he would he slew, and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up, and whom he would he put down.

11. "But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind. hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him. And he was driven from the sons of men, and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses. They fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will.

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12. And thou, his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; but hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven.

13. "And they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou and thy lords have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know. And the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified.

14. "Then was the part of the hand sent from him, and this writing was written. And this is the writing that was written:

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"MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of the thing:

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