THE FIFTH READER.

I.

- THE FISH I DIDN'T CATCH.

REMEMBER my first fishing-excursion as if it were

I many times in my

but yesterday. I have been happy many times in my life, but never more intensely so than when I received that first fishing-pole from my uncle's hand, and trudged off with him through the woods and meadows.

2. It was a still, sweet day of early summer; the long afternoon shadows of the trees lay cool across our path; the leaves seemed greener, the flowers brighter, the birds merrier, than ever before.

3. My uncle, who knew by long experience where were the best haunts of pickerel, considerately placed me at the most favorable point. I threw out my line as I had so often seen others do, and waited anxiously for a bite, moving the bait in rapid jerks on the surface of the water, in imitation of the leap of a frog. Nothing came of it. "Try again," said my uncle.

4. Suddenly the bait sank out of sight. "Now for it," thought I; "here is a fish at last." I made a strong pull, and brought up a tangle of weeds. Again and again I cast out my line with aching arms, and drew it back empty. I looked to my uncle appealingly. "Try once more," he said; we fishermen must have patience."

5. Suddenly something tugged at my line, and swept off with it into deep water. erel wriggling in the sun.

Jerking it up, I saw a fine pick

Uncle!" I cried, looking back

in uncontrollable excitement, "I've got a fish!"

6. "Not yet," said my uncle. As he spoke there was a plash in the water; I caught the arrowy gleam of a scared fish shooting into the middle of the stream; my hook hung empty from the line. I had lost my prize.

7. Overcome by my great and bitter disappointment, I sat down on the nearest hassock, and for a time refused to be comforted even by my uncle's assurance that there were more fish in the brook. He refitted my bait, and, putting the pole again in my hands, told me to try my luck once

more.

8. "But remember, boy," he said, with his shrewd smile, "never brag of catching a fish until he is on dry ground. I've seen older folks doing that in more ways than one, and so making fools of themselves. It's no use to boast of anything until it's done, nor then, either, for it speaks for itself."

9. How often since I have been reminded of the fish I did n't catch! When I hear people boasting of a work as yet undone, and trying to anticipate the credit which belongs only to actual achievement, I call to mind that scene by the brookside; and the wise caution of my uncle in that particular instance takes the form of a proverb of universal application : NEVER BRAG OF YOUR FISH BEFORE YOU CATCH HIM."

J. G. Whittier.

EXERCISE.

READ THESE SENTENCES, FIRST AS GIVEN; THEN AGAIN, SUPPLYING

WORDS OR PHRASES OF SIMILAR MEANING IN PLACE OF THOSE IN ITALICS.

1. I remember my first fishing-excursion.

2. I trudged off through the woods and meadows.

3. Suddenly the bait sank out of sight.

4. I cast out my line, and drew it back empty.

5. Suddenly something tugged at my line.

6. Jerking it up, I saw a fine pickerel wriggling in the sun.
7. I saw a scared fish shooting into the middle of the stream.
8. I sat down on the nearest hassock. [Tuft of coarse grass.]
9. My uncle assured me there were more fish in the brook.
10. I call to mind that scene by the brookside.

11. It's no use to boast of anything until it's done.

W

II.

The fishes that swam to the surface
Were looking for something to eat,
And I thought that the hapless young insect
Would surely afford them a treat.

III.

"Poor thing!" I exclaimed, with compassion,
"Your trials and dangers abound;

For if you escape being eaten,

You cannot escape being drowned.”

Which, soon to the land re-ascending,
Spread its wings in the breezes to dry.

VI.

O, sweet was the truth that was whispered,
That mortals should never despair,

For He who takes care of the insect

Much more for His children will care!

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VII.

And though to our short-sighted vision
No way of escape may appear,

Let us trust, for when least we expect it,
The help of our Father is near.

MAR

ARY OSBORNE and Augustina sat together behind a screen of rocks and bushes, and peeped out to the place where two boys, George and Johnny, were standing near the shore of the pond.

2. 'This is the place, Johnny," said George. "Now we must pick up all the stones we can find, and get them ready, and then watch the water, and just as soon as we see a head come up above the lily-pads, we must let drive."

3. In a word, George had brought Johnny down to the shore of the pond at the watering-place, with a view to pelting the poor frogs that lived in the water there, among the lily-pads and bulrushes which grew at a little distance from the shore.

4. "Tubh!" said one of the frogs.

"There 'exclaimed George, " don't you hear him, John

ny?"

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'Yes," replied Johnny," but I don't see him."

5. "He is out that way," said George, and then suddenly he threw the stone with great force. The two girls heard the splash it made in the water, but could not see where it struck.

6. "Did you hit him?" asked Johnny.

"I don't know," said George. "I did not see him; I only fired at a venture."

7. "They are pelting the frogs," said Augustina, in a whisper.

Yes," replied Mary Osborne, speaking also very softly. "Do you think we had better go and tell them they must not do it?"

STONING THE FROGS.

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8. "No," said Augustina; "that would not do any good. They will do just as they have a mind to for all that we can say."

One of them is not very big," said Mary Osborne.

9. "No, Johnny is a small boy," replied Augustina, “but he will do just as the big one says. Besides, if we say anything to them, it is as likely as not that they will begin to pelt us with their stones. But hark here is somebody

coming."

10. Augustina began gently to push away some of the leaves so that she could see better.

"It is a man coming on a horse," said she. "He is turning down from the road. He is coming to water his horse. I hope he will find out what the boys are doing, and will give them a good scolding.".

11. The man upon the horse did find out what the boys were doing, for George was in the act of throwing a stone when the man first came in sight of him, as he turned down toward the shore. And he did give them a good scolding, at least, what the boys called such.

12. All the while the man had been talking with the boys, his horse had been drinking. The horse having now drank enough, the man turned him round and went back toward the road, saying as he went,

"Now remember, boys! When I am gone, leave the frogs alone, and don't pelt them any more."

So saying, the man and the horse disappeared. 13. "Who is that man?" asked Johnny.

"I don't know," said George, looking out at the same time over the water to see if he could discover another frog. Whoever he is, we won't mind what he says."

14. "No, but I'll tell you what it is," said Johnny. "What is it?" asked George, beginning to take aim. 15. "If he had only let us have his horse, we might have gone out and got some pond-lilies."

Hoh!" exclaimed George, in a tone of great contempt. “That man would not let us have his horse to get pondlilies."

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