Sanders' Union Fourth Reader / Embracing a Full Exposition of the Principles of Rhetorical Reading; with Numerous Exercises for Practice, Both in Prose and Poetry, Various in Style, and Carefully Adapted to the Purposes of Teaching in Schools of Every Grade

by Charles W. Sanders

CHAMBERS' JOURNAL.

FIRST VOICE.
1. Sunlight! tell the hidden meaning
Of the rays thou lettest fall;
Are they lessons writ in burning,
Like God's warning on the wall?
SECOND VOICE.
Strive, O man, to let a loving
Spirit cheer the sad and poor;
So shall many a fair hope blossom,
Where none grew before!
FIRST VOICE.
2. Stars! what is it ye would whisper,
With your pure and holy light?
Looking down so calm and tender
From the watch-tower of the night.
SECOND VOICE.
When thy soul would quail from scorning,
Keep a brave heart and a bold;
As we always shine the brightest
When the nights are cold.
FIRST VOICE.
3. Hast thou not a greeting for me,
Heaven's own happy minstrel-bird'?
Thou whose voice, like some sweet angel's,
Viewless, in the cloud is heard'?
SECOND VOICE.
Though thy spirit yearneth sky-ward,
Oh, forget not human worth!
I, who chant at heaven's portal,
Build my nest on earth.
FIRST VOICE.
4. River! river'! singing gayly
From the hill-side all day long,
Teach my heart the merry music
Of thy cheery, rippling song.
SECOND VOICE.
Many winding ways I follow;
Yet, at length, I reach the sea.
Man, remember that thy ocean
Is ETERNITY!

QUESTIONS.—1. What is meant by God's warning on the wall? See the 5th chap. of Daniel. 2. What is meant by minstrel-bird? Ans. The lark.

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[!-- Marker --] LESSON XXII.

GLARE, dazzling light.
BLITHE' LY, gayly; joyfully.
WROUGHT, worked; labored.
RE MORSE', painful regret.
WANE, decrease; grow less.
FAN' CIES, whims; notions.

A NON.' is an abbreviation of anonymous, which means without name; nameless. See SANDERS' ANALYSIS, page 88, Exercise 108.

SOWING AND HARVESTING.

ANON.

1. They are sowing their seed in the daylight fair,
They are sowing their seed in the noonday's glare,
They are sowing their seed in the soft twilight,
They are sowing their seed in the solemn night;
What shall their harvest be?
2. They are sowing their seed of pleasant thought,
In the spring's green light they have blithely wrought;
They have brought their fancies from wood and dell,
Where the mosses creep, and the flower-buds swell;
Rare shall the harvest be!
3. They are sowing the seeds of word and deed,
Which the cold know not, nor the careless heed,—
Of the gentle word and the kindest deed,
That have blessed the heart in its sorest need;
Sweet shall the harvest be!
4. And some are sowing the seeds of pain,
Of late remorse, and in maddened brain;
And the stars shall fall, and the sun shall wane,
Ere they root the weeds from the soil again;
Dark will the harvest be!
5. And some are standing with idle hand,
Yet they scatter seeds on their native land;
And some are sowing the seeds of care,
Which their soil has borne, and still must bear;
Sad will the harvest be!
6. They are sowing the seed of noble deed,
With a sleepless watch and an earnest heed;
With a ceaseless hand o'er the earth they sow,
And the fields are whitening where'er they go;
Rich will the harvest be!
7. Sown in darkness, or sown in light,
Sown in weakness, or sown in might,
Sown in meekness, or sown in wrath,
In the broad work-field, or the shadowy path,
SURE will the harvest be!