They all acknowledged the supremacy of the green-covered Spelling-Book, and bowed their heads in submission.

6. Just then a large Dictionary seemed to make a swoop among them, with a terrific noise, at which I started up, and found that my copy of Webster's Unabridged — the present of my kind uncle had fallen off the shelf on to the table, and had aroused me out of a pleasant little nap in which, it seemed, I had been indulging for a short time.

WORD ANALYSIS AND DEFINITIONS.

Phi los'o phy (philo, love; sophy, wisdom), the love of, or search after, wisdom; science.

Su prem'a cy (suprem(e), highest; acy, state of being), state of being the highest, or having the supreme authority or influence.

Tel'e graph (tele, far off; graph, to mark or write), an instrument to convey information to persons at a long distance.

LESSON III.

BETTER THAN DIAMONDS.

1. I was standing in the broad, crowded street of a large city. It was a cold winter's day. There had been rain; and although the sun was then shining brightly, yet the long icicles hung from the eaves of the houses, and the wheels. rumbled loudly as they passed over the frozen ground. There was a clear, bright look, a cold, bracing feeling in the air, and a keen northwest wind, which quickened every step.

2. Just then a little child came running along, a poor, illclad child: her clothes were scant and threadbare; she had no cloak, and no shawl; and her little bare feet looked red and suffering. She could not have been more than eight years old. She carried a bundle in her hand. Poor little shivering child! Even I, who could do nothing else, pitied her. As

she passed me, her foot slipped upon the ice, and she fell, with a cry of pain; but she. held the bundle tightly in her hand, and, jumping up, although she limped sadly, endeavored to run on as before.

3. "Stop, little girl, stop!" said a soft, sweet voice; and a beautiful lady, wrapped in a large shawl, and with furs all around her, came out of a jeweler's store close by. "Poor little child," she said, “are you hurt'? Sit down on this step and tell me." How beautiful she looked as she spoke to her! “O, I can not," said the child; "I can not wait,—I am in such a hurry! I have been to the shoemaker's, and mother must finish this work to-night, or she will never get any more shoes to bind."

4. "To-night?" said the beautiful woman,-"to-night ?" "Yes," said the child,- for the stranger's kind manner had made her bold, "yes; for the great ball to-night; and these satin slippers must be spangled, and-" The lady took the bundle from the child's hand, and unrolled it. You do not know why her face flushed, and then turned pale; but I looked into the bundle, and on the inside of the slipper I saw a name a lady's name

tell it.

written; but I shall not

5. "And where does your mother live, little girl?" asked the lady. So the child told her where, and then she told her that her father was dead, that her little baby brother was sick, and that her mother bound shoes that they might have bread; but that sometimes they were very hungry, and sometimes they were very cold; and that her mother sometimes cried, because she had no money to buy milk for her little sick brother.

6. And then I saw that the lady's eyes were full of tears; and she rolled up the bundle quickly, and gave it back to the little girl,but she gave her nothing else; no, not even one sixpence; and, turning away, went back into the store from which she had just come out. As she went away, I saw

the glitter of a diamond pin. Presently she came back, and, stepping into a handsome carriage, rolled off.

7. The little girl looked after her for a moment, and then, with her little bare feet colder than they were before, ran quickly away. I followed the little girl through a narrow, damp street, and into a small, dark room; and I saw her mother-her sad, faded mother, but with a face so sweet, so patient hushing and soothing a sick baby.

8. And the babe slept; and the mother laid it on her own lap, and the bundle was unrolled, and a dim candle helped her with her work; for, though it was not night, yet her room was very dark. Then, after a while, she kissed her little girl, and bade her warm her frost-bitten feet over the scanty fire in the grate, and gave her a small piece of bread, for she had no Then she heard her say her evening prayer, and, folding her tenderly to her bosom, blessed her, and told her that the angels would take care of her.

more.

9. The little child slept and dreamed-O, such pleasant dreams!--of warm stockings, and new shoes; but the mother sewed on, alone. And as the bright spangles glittered on the satin slipper, came there no repining into her heart? When she thought of her little child's bare, cold feet, and of the scant morsel of dry bread, which had not satisfied her hunger, came there no visions of a bright room, and gorgeous clothing, and a table loaded with all that was good and nice, one little portion of which, spared to her, would send warmth and comfort to her humble dwelling'?

10. If such thoughts came, and others,—of a pleasant cottage, and of one who had dearly loved her, and whose strong arm had kept want and trouble from her and her babes, but who could never come back,-if these thoughts did come repiningly, there came also another; and the widow's hands were clasped, and her head bowed low in deep contrition, as I heard her say, "Father, forgive me; for Thou docst all things well, and I will yet trust Thee."

11. Just then the door opened softly, and some one entered. Was it an angel? Her dress was of spotless white, and she moved with a noiseless step. She went to the bed where the sleeping child lay, and covered it with soft, warm blankets. Then presently a fire sparkled and blazed there, such as the little old grate had never known before. Then a huge loaf was upon the table, and fresh milk for the sick babe. Then she passed gently before the mother, and, drawing the unfinished slipper from her hand, placed there a purse of gold, and said, in a voice like music, "Bless thy God, who is the God of the fatherless and the widow,"-and she was gone; only, as she went out, I heard her say, "Better than diamonds! better than diamonds!"

(Adapted.)

ANALYSIS. The subject of the piece. The appearance of the child described. What the beautiful lady did and said when she saw the child. What the child told her. Why did her face flush when she looked into the bundle? What she did then. The little girl's home and mother. The mother's thoughts. What relief was brought to her? Who was the angel, do you suppose? What was "better than diamonds"? What does the piece teach?

LESSON IV.

COMPLETION OF THE PACIFIC RAILROAD.

1. It is Monday morning. We are in the first cars that ever crossed the continent of America. We are on a plateau, surrounded by dreary mountains. That bold headland yonder is the object at which thousands of men have been looking for six years. It is Promontory Point, on the very back-bone of the continent. Engines and trains from the East, and engines and trains from the West, some covered with flags, stand facing each other. A rod or two between them has, as yet, no ties and no rails.

62

2. One man, West Evans, who has furnished the Central Company with two hundred and fifty thousand ties, and who had furnished the first tie put down, was there with the last, -a beautiful specimen of the California laurel, which was duly

laid down, and then taken up and preserved. The ties of the Central road were all sawed, of red wood; those of the Union were hewed.

3. At the appointed time, the master spirits of the two roads meet. White workmen from the East and olive Chinamen from the West meet, bearing the last sleepers and the last rails. A few boards, set up like a roof, is the telegraph office. A few tents, bearing the sign of "Saloon," or "Restaurant," compose the place. A rough flag-staff, with our dear