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DIC

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ICK DAWDLE had land worth two hundred a year, Yet from debt and from dunning he never was free; His intellect was not surprisingly clear,

But he never felt satisfied how it could be.

II.

The raps at his door, and the rings at his gate,

And the threats of a jail he no longer could bear;

So he made up his mind to sell half his estate,

Which would pay all his debts, and leave something to spare.

III.

He leased to a farmer the rest of his land

For twenty-one years; and on each quarter day The honest man went with the rent in his hand His liberal landlord, delighted, to pay.

IV.

Before half the term of the lease had expired,
The farmer one day, with a bag full of gold,
Said, "Pardon me, sir, but I long have desired
To purchase my farm, if the land can be sold.

V.

"Ten years I've been blest with success and with health;
With trials a few, -I thank God, not severe.

I am grateful, I hope, though not proud of my wealth,
But I've managed to lay by a hundred a year.”

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VI.

"Why, how," exclaimed Dick, "

can this possibly be?" (With a stare of surprise, and a mortified laugh ;) "The whole of my farm proved too little for me,

And you, it appears, have grown rich upon half."

SIR WALTER RALEIGH AND HIS TWO PLANTS.

VII.

"I hope you'll excuse me," the farmer replies,

"But I'll tell you the cause, if your Honor would know; In two little words all the difference lies,

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I always say come, and you used to say go."

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VIII.

Well, and what does that mean, my good fellow?" he said. 'Why this, sir, that I always rise with the sun; You said 'go' to your man, as you lay in your bed,

I say 'Come, Jack, with me,' and I see the work done."

R. S. Sharpe.

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VIII. - SIR WALTER RALEIGH AND HIS
TWO PLANTS.

URING the reign of Queen Elizabeth, now three

Dhundred years ago, that famous soldier and states

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man, Sir Walter Raleigh, did some very remarkable things. He made a voyage to America, where he discovered Virginia, which was named after the Virgin Queen, and, returning home, carried with him two plants, the use of which he had learned of the Indians.

2. One was the potato, which had never before been seen in a civilized country. The other was destined to become quite as celebrated, if not so useful. This was the tobaccoplant.

3. Shortly after Sir Walter's return home, a servant came into his room one morning and found him sitting before. the fire, with his head thrown back and with smoke pouring out of his mouth. The poor fellow, who had never heard of tobacco nor seen a pipe before, thought his master was on fire, and ran, in great terror, for water to put him out! Before Sir Walter had time to explain, a cold bucketful was dashed over him, and he was drenched from head to foot.

4. But very soon the old servant got used to seeing people with smoke coming out of their mouths, in his master's

house. Then all the young nobles of the court began to smoke because the famous Sir Walter did. He was a very accomplished smoker; he even claimed that he could tell, to a grain's weight, how much smoke came from his pipe.

5. "Prove it, Sir Walter," the Queen said to him one. day. "Your Majesty shall see the proof," he replied. And having weighed carefully the tobacco he put into his pipe, he smoked it in her presence. He then put the ashes on the scale, and found that they weighed much less.

6. "Truly, Sir Walter," laughed Elizabeth, "you have carried your point; for the difference in weight shows indeed how much has passed away in the smoke."

7. But while tobacco was held in such high favor, the other plant the poor, homely, useful potato was long — looked upon with contempt; like those plain, unpretending persons whom we are so apt to slight at first, but who often turn out to be our best friends.

8. Sir Walter found plenty of people ready to use his tobacco, but few willing to eat his potato. He urged its cultivation in England; "because," said he, "when the corn-harvest fails, as it so often does, then the people need not starve if they have plenty of potatoes."

9. The Queen listened to him, and caused the new veg-. etable to be served up at her own table, when the grand people who dined with her were obliged to eat of it. To revenge themselves upon the innocent potato, they went away and spread a report that it was actually poisonous.

10. There was some show of foundation for this false report, the potato belonging to the same order as the deadly nightshade and other poisonous plants. So, in spite of all that even the Queen could do, the English people refused to accept it as wholesome food, and it was left for the pigs.

11. Not until the reign of King Louis XVI. of France were the real virtues of this vegetable made known to the world. In this reign there lived a man who was very successful in growing plants for food. He found the potato

HIAWATHA'S HUNTING.

55

very different from the mealy palatable root which we now know and like so well; but he felt sure that, with cultivation, it could be made a great blessing to the country. 12. People laughed at him for his pains. But he went on growing the potato till he had brought it to perfection. Even then, no one would have eaten it if the King had not taken its part. The King had large pieces of ground planted with it, and he went about with the flower of the potato in his button-hole.

13. No one dared laugh at the King; and when he said potatoes were to be eaten, people began to find out how good and wholesome they were.

14. By degrees they were more and more liked. In these days there is no vegetable that is so highly prized. We could not well do without the potato; but we might dispense with tobacco.

IX.

HIAWATHA'S HUNTING.

I.

HEN the little Hiawatha

TH

Learned of every bird its language,
Learned their names and all their secrets,
How they built their nests in summer,
Where they hid themselves in winter,
Talked with them whene'er he met them,

Called them "Hiawatha's Chickens."

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II.

Of all beasts he learned the language,
Learned their names and all their secrets,
How the beavers built their lodges,
Where the squirrels hid their acorns,

How the reindeer ran so swiftly,

Why the rabbit was so timid,

Talked with them whene'er he met them,

Called them "Hiawatha's Brothers."

III.

Then Iagoo the great boaster, He the marvellous story-teller, He the traveller and the talker, Made a bow for Hiawatha;

From a branch of ash he made it,

From an oak-bough made the arrows, Tipped with flint, and winged with feathers, And the cord he made of deer-skin.

IV.

Then he said to Hiawatha!
"Go, my son, into the forest,
Where the red deer herd together,
Kill for us a famous roebuck,
Kill for us a deer with antlers!

V.

Forth into the forest straightway

All alone walked Hiawatha

Proudly, with his bow and arrows ;
And the birds sang round him, o'er him,

"Do not shoot us, Hiawatha !

Sang the robin, sang the bluebird,

"Do not shoot us, Hiawatha ! "

VI.

Up the oak-tree, close beside him, Sprang the squirrel, lightly leaping In and out among the branches; Coughed and chattered from the oak-tree, Laughed and said, between his laughing, "Do not shoot me, Hiawatha !”

VII.

And the rabbit from his pathway
Leaped aside, and at a distance
Sat erect upon his haunches,
Half in fear and half in frolic,
Saying to the little hunter,
"Do not shoot me, Hiawatha !"

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