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AMERICAN SCHOOL SERIES.

and I fancied I was yet with it, and that I was sailing on and on, upon the blue deep, and among regions where the happy and the lovely dwell forever.”

30. When Romance had reached this point of her story the mother smiled, and History tittered aloud. Poetry, however, drew to her side, and seemed entranced with the tale of the dark-eyed girl. But Romance, abashed by the ridicule she had excited, was silent.

31. Now, perchance, some of our readers may smile at this story; but it is not without significance. Our purpose is to teach the meaning of three words-history, poetry, and romance.

32. History is a true record of events; and, accordingly, the little girl whom we call History tells the exact story of the balloon.

33. Poetry is a display of fanciful thoughts, and deals much in comparison; and so our little Poetry gives a fanciful description of the scene, embellishing her tale with numerous illustrations.

34. Romance is a picture of wild and wonderful scenes and feelings; and our dark-haired maiden who deals in romance sets forth the fairy world of visions, and the sentiments that are reflected in her own heart.

LESSON CXXI.

HI-A-WATH A, the name of the hero of CRAFT, art, skill in a pursuit.

an Indian legend.

LORE, learning, knowledge.

PRONUNCIATION.-Pas'time 5b, la'bors 9, arʼrow 6, strength 25, ere 33, fleet'ness le

HIAWATHA.

1. OUT of childhood into manhood
Now had grown my Hiawatha :-
Skilled in all the games of hunters;
Learned in all the lore of old men;
In all youthful sports and pastimes;
In all manly arts and labors.

2. Swift of foot was Hiawatha;

He could shoot an arrow from him,
And run forward with such fleetness
That the arrow fell behind him.

3. Strong of arm was Hiawatha;

He could shoot ten arrows upward,

Shoot them with such strength and swiftness
That the tenth had left the bow-string

Ere the first to earth had fallen.

LONGFELLOW.

LESSON CXXII.

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PAM'PAS, a name given to vast prairies in South America.

PED'AL, (Latin pes, pedis, the foot,) a contrivance in a musical instrument, acted upon by the foot.

PI-A'NO-FOR'TE, (from the Italian prano, soft, and forte, loud,) a stringed musical instrument; sometimes called piano.

PO-TO-SI (pronounced po-to-see'), a city of Bolivia, near which are extensive silver-mines.

SAL'VER, a plate on which any thing is presented.

PRONUNCIATION.- -So-lic'it lc, ad-ven'tures 17 and 18, pi-a'no 33, Ba'bel 276, ex-traor'di-na-ry 33, sa-lut'ed 16, Su-ma'tra (Su-mah'tra) 7, so'fa 7, con-sumed' 16 and 19, cen'tu-ries 16 and 18, in'ter-est-ing 3b, in-ge-nu'i-ty 16, for ́ests 29.

THE RESULTS OF HUMAN INDUSTRY AND
ENTERPRISE.

1. I was dozing by my evening fireside, when one of those hasty visions passed before my mind, which sometimes seem to reveal the contents of volumes in the space of a few seconds.

2. It appeared as if every article of furniture in the room became suddenly alive and endowed with speech; and that each one came forward to solicit my attention, and beseech me to write its life and adventures.

3. The portly piano-forte, advancing with a sort of elephantine step, informed me that its rose-wood covering was violently torn from its birth-place in the forests of Brazil; its massive legs of pine grew in the wilds of Maine; the iron which formed its frame was dug from a mine in Sweden; its strings were fabricated in France; the brazen rods of the pedals were made of copper from Lake Superior, mixed with silver from the mines of Potosi; the covering of the keys was formed of the tusks of elephants from Africa; the varnish was from India; the hinges from Birmingham; and the whole were wrought into their present form at the world-renowned establishment of Messrs. Chickering & Co., Washington Street, Boston.

4. While I was musing on the singular fact that the four quarters of the globe had been ransacked for the materials of which to construct this singular instrument, I heard an extraordinary rattling in the china-closet.

5. On opening the door and looking in, I beheld with amazement every article,-plates, platters, bowls and tumblers, castors and

cream-pots, salvers and salt-dishes-attitudinizing, as if inspired with some extraordinary emotion. All began to speak at once, and

a confusion worse than that of Babel saluted my ears.

6. Amid the din I could gather only a few detached sounds. The set of phials in the castor-stand seemed to have the advantage in lungs, and I therefore caught the following sentences:

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7. "I," said Mustard, "was raised by an old woman in France, and manufactured in Paris." "And I," said Pepper, 66 was cultivated by the swarthy Malays of Sumatra, and made a voyage half round the world to get here.”

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8. "And I," said Ketchup, "came into existence as a mushroom, and was pickled in Louisville." "And I," said Soy, "was reared and manufactured in Japan." "And I," said Sweet Oil, came from the sunny climes of Italy." "And I," said Vinegar, with a scowl and a scream, "I came from hard cider!”

9. Bewildered by the clamors of the china-closet, I shut the door in the face of the tumultuous crowd; but, though I had silenced one source of annoyance, another was before me. The carpet rose and fell like waves beneath my feet; and at length one of the large circular figures stood erect, and, with goggle eyes and enormous mouth, addressed me as follows:

10. "I was born upon the backs of sheep that were fed in Asia Minor; I was spun by those who pray five times a day to Mahomet; the colors that decorate me were gathered from the three kingdoms of nature; and I was woven in a machine, the invention of which required twenty centuries."

11. Scarcely was this speech ended when I saw the mirror swaying rapidly back and forth; and after a moment it exclaimed, "Listen to me! The glass which forms my face was once the waste sand of the pit; this was purified and exalted by fire. I was then polished by the artisans of Paris.

12. "The quicksilver which gives me my magical power was dug from the mines of Almaden, a thousand feet below the surface of the earth; the gold which gilds my frame was washed from the mountains of California; and, having been brought on mules across the isthmus of Panama, was beaten to the thinness of the thirtythousandth part of an inch."

13. Hardly was this burst of rhetoric ended when the lamp declared that its oil once dwelt in the head of a whale seventy feet in length, which had plowed the Pacific for half a century.

14. A book that lay upon the table spoke of containing in its leaves a variety of rags, which were gathered from the four winds, and each of which could tell a tale.

15. A sofa said something of hair from the tails of wild horses, caught on the pampas of South America, and of lofty trees of

mahogany, cut down amid the mighty forests of Honduras. The scene grew more and more bewildering; and, as each object seemed to be endowed with a fiercer aspect and a louder tone, my heart beat violently, and I awoke.

16. But though my vision had departed, it left behind a train of curious and interesting reflections. I began to consider the results of human industry, ingenuity, and enterprise, bringing together in a single room, and for the use of a single individual, the products of the four quarters of the globe; thus weaving, as by a bond of mutual interest, every nation and kindred and tongue into one great partnership.

LESSON CXXIII.

BRINE, water impregnated with salt, the

sea.

COR'AL, a hard substance, red, white, or black, formed by a little animal in the ocean; it has sometimes the form of trees or shrubs.

DRIFT, (from drive,) that which is driven by wind or water; a heap of anything driven together.

DULSE, a kind of sca-weed.
FAN-COR-AL, Coral in the shape of a fan.
GOLD-FISH, a smail beautiful fish of a
yellowish or golden color.

LEA, an extensive plain, a meadow.
MUL'LET, a species of sea fish.
MURK'Y, dark, gloomy, cloudy.
SPANGLE, to besprinkle with spangles,
stars, or shining bodies.

PRONUNCIATION.-And 29, dew 16, moun'tain lc, bil'lows 6, clear 22, beau'ti-ful 16.

THE CORAL-GROVE.

1. DEEP in the wave is a coral-grove,

Where the purple mullet and gold-fish rove;
Where the sea-flower spreads its leaves of blue,
That never are wet with falling dew,
But in bright and changeful beauty shine,
Far down in the green and glassy brine.

2. The floor is of sand, like the mountain drift,
And the pearl-shells spangle the flinty snow;
From coral rocks the sea-plants lift

Their boughs, where the tides and billows flow;
The water is calm and still below,

For the winds and waves are absent there,
And the sands are bright as the stars that glow
In the motionless fields of upper air.

3. There, with its waving blades of green,

The sea-flag streams through the silent water;
And the crimson leaf of the dulse is seen

To blush, like a banner bathed in slaughter.
There with a light and easy motion,

The fan-coral sweeps through the clear, blue sea;

And the yellow and scarlet tufts of ocean
Are bending like corn on the upland lea;—
4. And life, in rare and beautiful forms.

Is sporting amid those bowers of stone,
And is safe when the wrathful spirit of storms
Has made the top of the waves his own.

5. And when the ship from his fury flies,

When the myriad voices of ocean roar,
When the wind-god frowns in the murky skies,
And demons are waiting the wreck on shore,—
Then far below, in the peaceful sea,

The purple mullet and gold-fish rove,

Where the waters murmur tranquilly

Through the bending twigs of the coral grove.

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PRONUNCIATION.-Verd'ure 16 and 18, lux-u'ri-ance 16, pop'u-lous 16, anx-i'e-ty 28, glit'ter-ing 36, pur-sue' 16 and 19, su-peʼri-or 16 and 19, ho-riʼzon 26c.

THE DISCOVERY.

1. It was on the morning of Friday, 12th October, 1492, that Columbus first beheld the New World. When the day dawned he saw before him a level and beautiful island, several leagues in extent, of great freshness and verdure, and covered with trees, like a continuous orchard.

2. Though every thing appeared in the wild luxuriance of untamed nature, yet the island was evidently populous; for the inhabitants were seen issuing from the woods, and running from all parts to the shore, where they stood gazing at the ships.

3. Columbus made signal for the ships to cast anchor, and the boats to be manned and armed. He entered his own boat, richly attired in scarlet, and bearing the royal standard, while Martin Alonzo Pinzon and his brother put off in company, in their boats, each bearing the banner of the enterprise. Immediately on landing, Columbus proceeded to take formal possession of the country.

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