One will be measured off to the ear; the other will not.] What is blank verse? rhyme? Which is illustrated in this selection? Is this piece didactic, descriptive, humorous, joyous, grave, or pathetic? How many of these characteristics belong to it? Show the differences between the dif ferent parts of the piece in this respect. With what kind of tones ought the different parts to be read?

First Stanza.

What is meant by the hill's being "transfigured?" What is the "silver flood" alluded to? Why so called? Whose "blown snows"? What kind of white is "dead white"? How many exceptions to the dead white are mentioned, and what are they? Are the hemlocks really turned to "pitchy black"? Explain this. What "unwarming light" is meant? What was "most fitting"? Why was it fitting to the circumstances mentioned ?

Give the etymology and meaning of transfigured, ravine, somber, unwarming, coldness, visible.

Study carefully the emphases and inflections. Try the reading in various ways, and determine which best conveys the thought and feeling of the piece. Apply the rules laid down in the Principles and General Directions, in the first part of this book.

Second Stanza.

What is meant by the "clean-winged hearth"? Why is the 66 north-wind" mentioned,—why not the south-wind? Why is it said to roar in "baffled rage"? What is it to "beat the frost-line back"? What is "tropic heat"? Explain the last line of the stanza.

Give the etymology and meaning of content, tropic, passed, chimney.

A tiger's what is meant? What was "for the winter fireside meet"? Why did "the apples sputter in a row"? Why is October said to be brown?

Give the etymology and meaning of silhouette, couchant, tiger, October.

Show why the scene, as described in the second and third stanzas, is a pleasant one.

Fourth Stanza.

Explain the fourth line. Why is the reference made to "Time and Change"? What "seems strange"? Why does it seem so? Ought old age to have less to love, than earlier life? Explain the last line.

Etymology and meaning of matter, sire, circle, faces, paled.

Fifth Stanza.

Whose voices are referred to here? What is the effect of the enumeration from the fifth line to the end of the stanza? Explain the last three lines. Why is the floor said to be "conscious"?

Give the etymology and meaning of voices, orchard, pages, sign, conscious.

Sixth Stanza.

Explain the first three lines. Who, or what is said to be "just"? For what purpose is the second line introduced? Meaning of "since"? Explain the fourth and fifth lines. What do the "stars" represent ? the “ cypress trees"? What "marbles" are meant? Explain the sixth, seventh, and eighth lines. What is meant by "flesh"? "sense"? What is the truth alluded to? In what sense is "Life" lord of "Death"? In what sense can "Love never lose its own"? Give the etymology and meaning of just, mournful, marbles.

Are the words in this selection mostly long or short? Are they chiefly common or uncommon words? Find by actual count what proportion of them are derived from Greek, Latin, or French words? Is it a merit or defect in a poem to have many foreign words? Point out as many as you can of the excellences of this selection.

VI. THE VINDICTIVE MATE.

J. S. SLEEPER.

1. It often happens that a crew, composed wholly or in part of old sailors, will, at the commencement of a voyage, make an experiment on the temper and character of the officers. When this is the case, the first night after leaving port will decide the question whether the officers or the men will have command of the ship. If the officers are not firm and peremptory; if they are deficient in nerve, and fail to rebuke, in a prompt and decided manner, aught bordering on insolence or insubordination in the outset, farewell to discipline, to good order and harmony, for the remainder of the passage.

2. Captain Bacon was a man of slight figure, gentlemanly exterior, and pleasant countenance. Although his appearance commanded respect, it was not calculated to inspire awe; and few would have supposed that beneath his quiet physiognomy and benevolent cast of features, were concealed a fund of energy and determination of character which could carry him safely through difficulty and danger.

3. Mr. Bachelder, the second mate, was a young man of intelligence, familiar with his duties, and blessed with kind and generous feelings. Unlike Smith, he was neither a blackguard nor a bully. After some little consultation among the old sailors who composed the starboard watch, it was thought advisable to begin with him, and ascertain if there was any grit in his composition.

4. It was about six bells-eleven o'clock at night—when, the wind hauling to the north-west, Mr. Bachelder called out, "Forward there! lay aft and take a pull of the weatherbraces."

5. One of the men, a smart, active fellow, who went by the name of Jack Robinson, who had been an unsuccessful candidate for the office of boatswain, replied in a loud and distinct tone, "Ay, ay."

6. This was agreed on as the test. I knew the crisis had come, and awaited with painful anxiety the result.

Mr. Bachelder rushed forward into the midst of the near the end of the windlass.

group

"Who said 'Ay, ay'?" he inquired in an angry tone. "I did," replied Robinson.

"You did! Don't you know how to reply to an officer in a proper manner?

"How should I reply?" said Robinson, doggedly.

7. "Say Ay, ay, sir,' when you reply to me," cried Bachelder, in a tone of thunder-at the same time seizing him by the collar and giving him a shake-" and," continued he, "don't undertake to cut any of your shines here, my lad! If you do, you will be glad to die the death of a miserable dog. Lay aft, men, and round in the weather braces!"

8. "Ay, ay, sir! Ay, ay, sir!" was the respectful response from every side.

The yards were trimmed to the breeze, and when the watch gathered again on the forecastle, it was unanimously voted that it would not do!

9. Notwithstanding the decided result of the experiment with the second mate, one of the men belonging to the larboard watch, named Allen, determined to try conclusions with the captain and chief mate, and ascertain how far they would allow the strict rules of discipline on shipboard to be infringed. Allen was a powerful fellow, of huge proportions, and tolerably good features, which, however, were overshadowed by a truculent expression. Although of a daring disposition, and unused to subordination, having served for several years in ships engaged in the African slave-trade, the nursery of pirates and desperadoes, he showed but little wisdom in trying the patience of Smith.

10. On the second night after leaving port, the ship being under double-reefed topsails, the watch was summoned aft to execute some duty. The captain was on deck, and casually remarked to the mate, "It blows hard, Mr. Smith; we may have a regular gale before morning!"

11. Allen was at that moment passing along to windward of the captain and mate. He stopped, and before Smith could reply, said in a tone of insolent familiarity, “Yes, it blows hard, and will blow harder yet! Well, who cares? Let it blow and be hanged!"

12. Captain Bacon seemed utterly astonished at the impudence of the man; but Smith, who was equally prompt and energetic on all occasions, and who divined the object that Allen had in view, in lieu of a civil rejoinder dealt him a blow on the left temple, which sent him with violence against the bulwarks. Allen recovered himself, however, and sprang on the mate like a tiger, clasped him in his sinewy embrace, and called upon his watchmates for assist

ance.

13. As Smith and Allen were both powerful men, it is uncertain what would have been the result had Smith fought the battle single-handed. The men looked on, waiting the result, but without daring to interfere. Not so the captain. When he saw Allen attack the mate he seized a belaying pin, that was loose in the fife-rail, and watching his opportunity, gave the refractory sailor two or three smart raps over the head and face, which embarrassed him amazingly, caused him to release his grasp on the mate, and felled him to the deck!

14. The mate then took a stout rope's end and threshed him until he roared for mercy. The fellow was terribly punished, and staggered forward, followed by a volley of threats and anathemas.

15. But the matter did not end here. At twelve o'clock Allen went below, and was loud in his complaints of the barbarous manner in which he had been treated. He swore revenge, and said he would lay a plan to get the mate into the forecastle and then square all accounts. Robinson and another of the starboard watch, having no idea that Smith could be enticed below, approved of the suggestion, and intimated that they would lend him a hand if necessary. They did not know Smith !

16. When the watch was called at four o'clock, Allen did not make his appearance. In about half an hour the voice of Smith was heard at the forecastle ordering him on deck. 17. "Ay, ay, sir," said Allen, "I am coming directly." "You had better do so," said the mate, "if you know when you are well off."

“Ay, ay, sir!"

18. Allen was sitting on a chest, dressed, but did not