QUESTIONS.—1. What is the first sign of the coming of winter? 2. What, the second? 3. What, the third? 4. What are some of the pleasures of winter? 5. What is said of the poor in winter? 6. What is the use of the apostrophes in the words autumn's, o'er, pleasure's, 'midst, &c.?
[!-- Marker --] LESSON XXXI.
LIVE' LONG, whole; entire.
EAVES, edges of a roof.
E' VEN TIDE, evening.
STRIV' EN, struggled; contended.
RE LIEV' ED, mitigated; alleviated.
WRETCH' ED NESS, distress; destitution.
OF FENSE', fault; crime.
PEN' I TENCE, repentance; contrition.
EL' O QUENT LY, forcibly; persuasively.
CHILD TIRED OF PLAY.
N.P. WILLIS.
1. Tired of play`! tired of play`!
What hast thou done this livelong day`?
The birds are silent´, and so is the bee`;
The sun is creeping up steeple and tree`;
The doves have flown to the sheltering eaves´,
And the nests are dark with the drooping leaves´;
Twilight gathers´, and day is done`,—
How hast them spent it`,—restless one´?
2. Playing`? But what hast thou done beside,
To tell thy mother at eventide`?
What promise of morn is left unbroken`?
What kind word to thy playmates spoken`?
Whom hast thou pitied, and whom forgiven`?
How with thy faults has duty striven`?
What hast thou learned by field and hill,
By greenwood path, and by singing rill`?
3. There will come an eve to a longer day',
That will find thee tired`,—but not of play'!
And thou wilt lean, as thou leanest now,
With drooping limbs, and aching brow,
And wish the shadows would faster creep,
And long to go to thy quiet sleep.
Well were it then, if thine aching brow
Were as free from sin and shame as now!
Well for thee, if thy lip could tell
A tale like this, of a day spent well.
4. If thine open hand hath relieved distress',—
If thy pity hath sprung to wretchedness',—
If thou hast forgiven the sore offense',
And humbled thy heart with penitence',—
If Nature's voices have spoken to thee
With her holy meanings eloquently',—
If every creature hath won thy love',
From the creeping worm to the brooding dove',—
If never a sad, low-spoken word
Hath pled with thy human heart unheard',—
Then`, when the night steals on, as now,
It will bring relief to thine aching brow,
And, with joy and peace at the thought of rest,
Thou wilt sink to sleep on thy mother's breast.
QUESTIONS.—1. What had the child been doing? 2. What questions did the mother ask? 3. What did she tell the child would come? 4. What is meant by eve to a longer day, third verse? 5. What, by quiet sleep, same verse? 6. What ought we to do in life, in order to have a joyful and peaceful death? 7. What rule for the rising inflection on restless one, first verse? See page 32, Note I. 8. What rule for the falling inflection on playing, second verse? See page 29, Rule II. 9. What rule for the rising inflections in the fourth verse? Rule V., page 31.