And be it the moral of my story, that, as the wasted and long-lost fountain is now known and prized again, so shall the virtues of cold water, too little valued since your fathers' days, be recognized by all.

13. Your pardon, good people! I must interrupt my stream of eloquence, and spout forth a stream of water, to replenish the trough for this teamster and his two yoke of oxen, who have come from Topsfield, or somewhere along that way. No part of my business is pleasanter than the watering of cattle. Look! how rapidly they lower the water-mark on the sides of the trough, till their capacious stomachs are moistened with a gallon or two a-piece, and they can afford time to breathe it in with sighs of calm enjoyment. Now they roll their quiet eyes around the brim of their monstrous drinking-vessel. An ox is your true toper.

Nathaniel Hawthorne.

NOTE.-In cases where a long and difficult lesson is met with, it is suggested that the piece be treated as a whole, but considered, first, in regard to its words (spelling and pronunciation); second, in regard to forms and technicalities (language-lessons); third, in regard to the meaning of the words as they are used in the piece; fourth, the historical, biographical, and other allusions; fifth, the style and thought of the piece; sixth, its elocution. In this way a piece like the one here given may profitably occupy the time of six recitations, and the pupil learn more from it than from a dozen easy pieces.

FOR PREPARATION.-I. The author of this piece ranks as the first of American prose-writers. Explain the allusions to "March meeting" (1) (for choosing town officers); "town treasurer" (2); "dram-seller on the mall at muster-day" (măll, a public shaded walk); “Cognac" (5); “Endicott" and "Winthrop " (11); "Sagamore" (12). Locate Salem on your map (the scene of this "stream of eloquence"), and the other places mentioned.

II. Explain spelling and pronunciation of trough (trawf), phy-şı'cian (fï-zish'un), ¤og'-nae (kōn'yåk), fî'-er-y, fĕr'-ule (fĕr'ril), lēaf-strewn (-strun), prě'-cious (prèsh'us), bug'-i-ness (biz'nes), çèl'-larş, oozed, rěm-inis'-çenç-eş.

III. Explain the composition of the words tip-top, manifold, rightfully, outcry, darksome, immemorial.

IV. Give, in your own words, the meaning of perpetuity, guardian, promulgating, municipality, trudged, potations, rubicund, miniature, Tophet, hospitality, titillation of the gout (see XLVIII., note I.), vicinity, consecrated, interrupt, replenish.

V. Who is talking in this piece? Explain the metaphors, "birthplace of waters, now their grave" (12); "stream of eloquence" (13). Explain the assertions in verses 3, 4, and 5, showing in what sense the Pump can boast of being "the head of the fire-department," "physician of the board of health," etc., etc. Follow out the personification of the Pump in each Note the style of the piece, and account for its liveliness. Change one of the paragraphs into a dull, monotonous one, expressing the same ideas.

verse.

LXXXVI. THE EVE BEFORE WATERLOO.

1. There was a sound of revelry by night,
And Belgium's capital had gathered then
Her beauty and her chivalry, and bright

The lamps shone o'er fair women and brave men;
A thousand hearts beat happily; and when
Music arose with its voluptuous swell,

Soft eyes looked love to eyes which spake again,
And all went merry as a marriage-bell;

But, hush! hark! A deep sound strikes like a rising knell!

2. Did ye not hear it ?—No; 'twas but the wind, Or the car rattling o'er the stony street.

On with the dance! let joy be unconfined;

No sleep till morn, when Youth and Pleasure meet
To chase the glowing hours with flying feet!
But, hark! that heavy sound breaks in once more,
As if the clouds its echo would repeat;

And nearer, clearer, deadlier than before!

Arm! arm! it is-it is the cannon's opening roar!

3. Ah! then and there was hurrying to and fro,
And gathering tears, and tremblings of distress,
And cheeks all pale, which but an hour ago

Blushed at the praise of their own loveliness; And there were sudden partings, such as press The life from out young hearts, and choking sighs Which ne'er might be repeated: who could guess If ever more should meet those mutual eyes,

Since upon night so sweet such awful morn could rise!

4. And there was mounting in hot haste: the steed,
The mustering squadron, and the clattering car,
Went pouring forward with impetuous speed,
And swiftly forming in the ranks of war;
And the deep thunder peal on peal afar;
And near, the beat of the alarming drum

Roused up the soldier ere the morning star;
While thronged the citizens with terror dumb,
Or whispering with white lips, "The foe! They
come! they come!"

5. And wild and high the "Cameron's gathering" rose!
The war-note of Lochiel, which Albyn's hills
Have heard and heard, too, have her Saxon foes:
How in the noon of night that pibroch thrills,
Savage and shrill! But with the breath which fills.
Their mountain pipe, so fill the mountaineers

With the fierce native daring which instils

The stirring memory of a thousand years,

And Evan's, Donald's fame rings in each clansman's ears!

6. And Ardennes waves above them her green leaves, Dewy with Nature's tear-drops, as they pass,

Grieving, if aught inanimate e'er grieves,
Over the unreturning brave—alas !

Ere evening to be trodden like the grass
Which now beneath them, but above shall grow
In its next verdure, when this fiery mass

Of living valor, rolling on the foe,

And burning with high hope, shall moulder cold and

low.

7. Last noon beheld them full of lusty life,

Last eve in Beauty's circle proudly gay,
The midnight brought the signal-sound of strife,
The morn, the marshaling in arms-the day,
Battle's magnificently stern array!

The thunder-clouds close o'er it, which when rent
The earth is covered thick with other clay,
Which her own clay shall cover, heaped and pent,
Rider and horse-friend, foe-in one red burial blent!
Lord Byron.

FOR PREPARATION.-I. An extract from "Childe Harold," Canto III. Locate on the map the scenes of this poem. How far from Belgium's capital? (LXXXVIII.). "Lochiel;' "Albyn's hills, and her Saxon foes;" "Cameron's gathering; " "pibroch;" "Evan's, Donald's fame "-explain these allusions. This forest of Ardennes (Shakespeare's forest of Arden was in Warwickshire?) is the wood of Soignies. Have you read, in Thackeray's "Vanity Fair," the description he gives of this night in Brussels? (the occasion being the ball given by the Duchess of Richmond; Wellington told his officers to be present, as he wished to conceal from the people of Brussels the near approach of the battle.)

II. Chiv'-al-ry (shiv'), vo-lupt'-u-ous, glow'-ing, squad'-ron, Lŏehiēl, Al'-byn (ăl′-bin), pi'-broeh, Ar-děnnes' (-děn'), griēv'-ing, vẽrd'ūre, bur'-i-al (běrʼri-al).

III. Explain the effect of the dashes and exclamation-points in this piece. IV. Revelry, chivalry, squadron, impetuous, clansman, blent (blended). V. Note the coloring of the picture: first, the revelry; beauty and chivalry; happy hearts; music and merry social intercourse; each one absorbed

in the pleasure of the moment, thoughtless of the welfare of the country or of the affairs of the nation; then, the sudden warning sound; the anxious questioning; the thoughtless and gay ridicule the alarm that is caused, resist the serious feeling that arises, and urge the renewal of the dance; but the sound grows nearer and clearer, and all become aware of the fact that the French army has attacked the forces of Wellington, posted within ten miles of the capital. The overwhelming interest of the occasion: all Europe looking on the last struggle with Napoleon; Napoleon, the great military genius of the age, and the French nation enthusiastic and devoted in his cause; his soldiers inspired with confidence by a hundred victories. On the other hand, the proud and stubborn English arrayed under their always successful leader, Wellington, "he that gained a hundred fights, nor ever lost an English gun" (from Tennyson's Ode-CXLIII.); who had defeated, one after another, Napoleon's best generals in the Spanish peninsula; the only man who had proved himself able to cope with the forces of Napoleon. Now, for the first time, Napoleon and Wellington meet face to face, and the solemn attention of the civilized world is fixed on the issue. If Napoleon is victorious, he will crush the English army, and then the German army, and no further opposition can be made to his power, which will then be supreme in Western Europe. In the 3d stanza (as here arranged-one being omitted because it breaks the connection by introducing a biographical item regarding Brunswick's chieftain), note private griefs caused, and in the next observe the contrast: all minds concentrated on the one great object, forgetful now of private interests and pleasure, fully aware of the immense importance of the battle now begun. In the 5th stanza, the martial music of the Scotch is described, to give coloring to the picture. Then, Ardennes' green leaves, and Nature's tear-drops, and the closing scene. The poem lays more stress on the private interest than on the national; is more pathetic than patriotic; but, on the whole, is the greatest of martial poems.

LXXXVII.-THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO.

1. Had it not rained on the night of the 17th of June, 1815, the future of Europe would have been changed. A few drops of water, more or less, prostrated Napoleon. That Waterloo should be the end of Austerlitz, Providence needed only a little rain; and an unseasonable cloud crossing the sky sufficed for the overthrow of a world!