His strong arm was as a branch of the mountain-oak. Joy was with him when he returned from the chase, and his wife and children rejoiced in his shadow, as beneath a spreading tree. 2. The eye of the war-chief was not dim,-his strength was not diminished. He came to the council-fire, and his brothers smiled in the beams of peace. Then the war-path was overgrown with grass, peace came as a river, and joy like the cataracts of the mountain. 3. These were the blessings of Ki-man-cheé and his brothers, when they drank at the forest spring and grew strong. But, alas! where now is Ki-man-cheé, "Swift foot of the prairie?" The Fire-Spirit came like the clouds of the north, and fire and death were on his wings. The shadows of darkness were before him, and the clouds and coldness of the night fell upon his track. 4. Then Ki-man-chee's eyes grew dim, his arm fell, his swift foot turned from the hunting-path, and his tread was like the heavy foot-fall of the wounded buffalo. He slept with the watch-dog in the sun, and when he awoke his strength was gone. Ki-man-cheé fell, and the clustering joys that waited at his cabin door, departed. 5. He fell like a tree in summer, torn by the lightning and the mountain blast, and all his green leaves withered. The red man fell before the Fire-Spirit, like the leaves of the forest. Such was the curse of the Fire-Waters-a river of death, swollen with blood, and its waves brought desolation. QUESTIONS.-1. What is said of Kimanchee's speed? 2. How did his family receive him when he returned from the chase? 3. What Le said of his eye! 4. How was he received at the council-fire? 5. What destroyed the noble Kimanchee? 6. What is the Fire-Spirit! 7. How did he look and act after the Fire-Spirit came upon him 8. How is the Fire-Spirit described in the last paragraph? Why the rising inflection on brothers, first paragraph Note L. p. 30. What pause after Fire-Waters, last paragraph? Section V. p. 43. LESSON XLV. SPELL AND DEFINE.-1. IR RE SPECT' IVE, without regard to. 2. PASS PORT, license, or permission to pass. 3. DIS TINC' TION, eminence. 4. AN' CES TORS, progenitors; forefathers. 5. IN OR' DIN ATE LY, excessively. 6. RECK' LESS, careless. 7. SPEC' TA CLE, sight. 8. ROUTES roads; ways. 9. AN NOUN' CED, proclaimed. 10. LIO' TORS, executioners. 11. REV E LA TIONS, disclosures of truth by God himself. 12. HAR MO' NI OUS, consistent. NATHANIEL BOWDITCH was born at Salem, Massachusetts, March 26th, 1773. He had no other educational advantages than those afforded in the common schools of his native town, in that period; and was taken from school at ten years of age. Yet, by continuous industry, in the midst of laborious and multiplied employments, he gained a knowledge of several foreign languages, and became one of the most eminent mathematicians and astronomers that this country has yet produced. VALUE OF CHARACTER. JOHN TODD. 1. In some circumstances men may command influence and receive tokens of honor irrespective of their own personal merits. Titles and estates, in some countries, may descend from father to son. But we cannot claim any such circumstances to aid us. have a name that is of any worth here, we must have character of our own. То 2. It is but a poor passport to distinction here, that a man had ancestors who were distinguished,-if this be all. Nay, in some respects, it is a positive disadvantage; because more is expected of such a one, than of others. Nor is it any disadvantage that your father was a mechanic, a farmer, or even a wood-sawyer. The nation will ever call Bowditch the great and the good, though he spent his boyhood in the shop of the tallow-chandler. 3. I am aware that we are often accused of being inordinately covetous; because it is said, nothing but wealth can make a man respectable here. I know that we are too covetous, and too greedy of gain, and too reckless in its pursuit; but I know that there is something vastly more valuable than wealth, in the estimation of our country, and that is character. Property, office, or station, can not be compared with it. 4. Within a short time we have witnessed a curious and beautiful spectacle. An old man, not in office, and never to be in office, not rich, but plain and simple in dress and appearance, has been passing through the every-day routes of travel in our country. Wherever he went, the community,-not his own or any other political party, but the community, embracing every party and every class of men, has risen up and gathered around that old man, and bowed in the most respectful manner. 5. He has been greeted in one place by the roar of cannon, and in another by the silence of the forge and the trip-hammer, and the stoppage of all machinery. All delighted to honor him, from the old man with the silvered head, to lisping infancy. His name, announced without any notice, would, in a few moments, call out the city's crowd, and the worth of the village, so that the journey of a plain citizen has been more glorious than the triumphs of the proudest general that iron-footed Rome ever welcomed. 6. He would have the lictors go before him, and his own car of triumph follow, and then the long train of prisoners in irons-about to be beheaded at the Capitol, and then the shouting army and the untold multitude drawn out to see the show. But, in the case before us, it was to honor a man who had never waded in blood, and never gained a name on the field of battle. 7. And what was the secret of all this? It was that this old man had earned a character, and there is nothing so valued in an intelligent community as character. Wealth may command respect to a certain degree, but it is so much easier to acquire money than character, that they can never be placed on the same level. 8. What is it in the highest and loftiest Being in the universe which calls creation around him in solemn and silent adoration, and in unshaken confidence? Is it the silver and the gold which are hís? Is it the cattle upon a thousand hills, or is it, that through ail his works, his providence and his revelations, which he has made to his creatures, he shows that he possesses a character so great, and so harmonious, so wise, and so good, that all his creation can not but cry aloud:-"Just and true are all thy ways?" QUESTIONS.-1. Can men sometimes command respect without personal merit? 2. What is necessary in order to have a name of any worth? 3. What is said of Dr. Bowditch? 4. Is it true that money alone secures respect? 5. What beautiful spectacle is mentioned as an illustration? 6. Which is the easier to acquire, money or character? 7. What is said of the character of God! Why the falling inflection on ways, last paragraph? Rule III p. 28 LESSON XLVI. SPELL AND DEFINE.-1. SELF-CON CEIT ED, vain. 2. BE SPOKE, addressed; spoke to. 3. DE CIDE', determine. 4. IN FORM A' TION, knowledge. 5. DIS PLAY' ED, shown; exhibited. 6. DE PEND' ENT, relying upon. 7. IM PLORE', beseech; entreat. 8. DE RID' ING, mocking. 9. MAG IS TE RI AL LY, arrogantly; proudly. 10. REG U LA TED, set right. 11. HES I TA' TION, doubt; reluctance. 12. CALCU LA' TION, reckoning. 13. CoN' FI DENCE, self-reliance; assurance. 14. Ev' I DENCE, proof. Articulate distinctly sts in trusts, mpt in prompt, str in strike, &c THE CLOCK AND THE DIAL. 1. It happened on a cloudy morn, "My learned friend', if in thy power, ANON 3. "Wait for him, then !" returned the clock. One winding serves me for a week, 4. While thus the boaster was deriding, A sunbeam, clear and strong, 5. On this the dial calmly said:— 6. (More prompt to advise than to upbraid,) Thou answerest without hesitation; "Observe my practice. Shun pretense. An answer meet supplies; Blush not to say; 'I can not tell;' Not speaking much, but speaking well, QUESTIONS.-1. What moral may be derived from this piece! LESSON XLVII. SPELL AND DEFINE-1. PEAS' ANT, a countryman; a rustic RET'I NUE, a train of attendants. 3. BLAND' LY, mildly; courteously. 4. BOOR' ISH, clownish; rude. 5. LoUT, an awkward fellow THE KING AND THE RUSTIC, OR ONE OR THE OTHER OLDHAM'S HUMOROUS SPEAKER. 1. In Henry's reign-the darling king, Whose praises still the Frenchmen sing— Was riding happily along *Henry, the Fourth. |