REVERENCE Father, Thy hand Hath rear'd these venerable columns; Thou Dids't weave this verdant roof. Thou dids't look down All these fair ranks of trees. "Forest Hymn." BRYANT. SADNESS To many it We buried the old year in silence and sadness. brought misfortune and affliction. The wife hath given her husband and the husband his wife at its stern behest; the father hath consigned to its cold arms the son in whom his life centered, and the mother hath torn from her bosom her tender babe and buried it and her heart in the cold, cold ground. EDWARD BROOKS. SCORN I scorn to count what feelings, withered hopes, "Catiline." CROLY. SUBLIMITY Thou glorious mirror! where the Almighty's form Calm or convulsed,-in breeze, or gale, or storm,— Dark heaving;-boundless, endless, and sublime,— The image of Eternity, the throne Of the Invisible; even from out thy slime The monsters of the deep are made; each zone Obeys thee, thou goest forth, dread, fathomless, alone! "Childe Harold." BYRON. SURPRISE Gone to be married!-gone to swear a peace! False blood to false blood joined! Gone to be friends! It is not so;-thou hast mis-spoke, mis-heard! Be well advised, tell o'er thy tale again, It cannot be:-thou dost but say 'tis so. SHAKESPEARE. TERROR Now o'er the one half world Nature seems dead; and the wicked dreams abuse Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace, Moves like a ghost.-Thou sure and firm-set earth, And take the present horror from the time, Which now suits with it. "Macbeth." SHAKESPEARE. THREAT Do you think to frighten me? You! Do you think to turn me from any purpose that I have or any course I am resolved upon, by reminding me of the solitude of this place and there being no help near? Me, who am here designedly? If I had feared you, should I not have avoided you? If I feared you, should I be here in the dead of night, telling you to your face what I am going to tell? But I tell you nothing until you go back to that chair-except this once again. Do not dare to come near me not a step nearer. I have something lying here that is no love trinket; and sooner than endure your touch once more, I would use it on you-and you know it while I speak-with less reluctance than I would on any other creeping thing that lives. TRIUMPH Mark ye the flashing oars, And the spears that light the deep? MISCELLANEOUS 1. Information, speculation; fluctuation, ruination. 2. Squeers left the room, and shortly afterward returned, dragging Smike by the collar, or rather by that fragment of his jacket which was nearest the place where his collar ought to have been. "Now what have you got to say for yourself? Stand a little out of the way, Mrs. Squeers, my dear; I've hardly got room enough." 1 By permission of The Smart Set, New York. "Spare me, sir!" "Oh, that's all you've got to say, is it? Yes, I'll flog you within an inch of your life, and spare you that." One cruel blow had fallen on him, when Nicholas Nickleby cried "Stop!" "Who cried "Stop'?" "I did. This must not go on." "Must not go on?" "No! Must not! Shall not! I will prevent it! You have disregarded all my quiet interference in this miserable lad's behalf; you have returned no answer to the letter in which I begged forgiveness for him, and offered to be responsible that he would remain quietly here. Don't blame me for this public interference. You have brought it upon yourself, not I." "Sit down, beggar!" "Wretch, touch him again at your peril! I will not stand by and see it done. My blood is up, and I have the strength of ten such men as you. By Heaven! I will not spare you, if you drive me on! I have a series of personal insults to avenge, and my indignation is aggravated by the cruelties practised in this cruel den. Have a care, or the consequences will fall heavily upon your head!" Squeers, in violent outbreak, spat at him, and struck him a blow across the face. Nicholas instantly sprung upon him, wrested his weapon from his hand, and, pinning him by the throat, beat the ruffian till he roared for mercy. He then flung him away with all the force he could muster, and the violence of his fall precipitated Mrs. Squeers over an adjacent form; Squeers, striking his head against the same form in his descent, lay at his full length on the ground, stunned and motionless. "Nicholas Nickleby." DICKENS. CHAPTER XII BIBLE READING In Nehemiah 13, 8 are these words: "And they read in the book, in the law of God, distinctly; and they gave the sense, so that they understood the reading." This verse contains a concise treatise on the art of Bible reading. Before a reader, however, can give the sense to others, he must have a deep realization of the truth he is uttering. Careful analysis will give a clear understanding of the thought, and "brooding" over it will awaken true feeling. The reader's mental attitude should be one of dignity, genuineness and simplicity. He should feel that he is delivering a message to himself as well as to others. He must be thoroughly in sympathy with his theme and the occasion. The common faults in Bible reading are monotony, artificiality, pomposity, drawling, mannerism, familiarity, lifelessness, indistinctness, excessively high pitch, somberness, and rocking to and fro of the body. The principal divisions of Bible reading are: 1. Narrative, or the story-telling style. As the name implies it is colloquial in character and divided into familiar and elevated, the latter requiring greater fervor, force, and dignity than the former. It usually comprises a series of pictures and the portrayal of character. 2. Didactic, or the teacher's style, is directed more particularly to the reason and judgment of the hearer. Spe 180 |