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be concealed talents that will move a nation and dazzle a world, when they, in their turn, might justly be made a laughing-stock, on account of their inefficiency.' BANVARD.

II.

6. THE BOY.

HERE'S something in ǎ noble boy,
A brave, free-hearted, careless one,
With his uncheck'd, unbidden joy,

His dread of books and love of fun,
And in his clear and ready smile,
Unshaded by a thought of guile,

And unrepress'd' by sadness,-
Which brings me to my childhood back,
As if I trod its very track,

And felt its very gladness.

2. And yet, it is not in his play,

When every trace of thought is lost,
And not when you would call him gay,

That his bright presence thrills me most:
His shout may ring upon
the hill,

His voice be echo'd in the hall,
His merry laugh like music trill,
And I in sadnèss hear it all,-
For, like the wrinkles on my brow,
I scarcely notice such things now,-
3. But when, ămid the earnest game,
He stops, as if he music heard,
And, heedless of his shouted name
As of the cărol3 of a bird,
Stands gazing on the empty air,
As if some dream were passing there ;-
'Tis then that on his face I look-
His beautiful but thoughtful face-
And, like a long-forgotten book,
Its sweet familiar meanings trace,—

1 Inefficiency, (în`ef fish' en sf), want of power or exercise of power to produce effective action.

2

1 Un`re pressed', not subdued or mastered.

Căr' ol, a song of great joy.

A

4. Remembering a thousand things
Which passed me on those golden wings,
Which time has fetter'd now;

Things that came ō'er me with a thrill,

And left me silent, sad, and still,

And threw upon my

brow

A holier and a gentler cast,

That was too innocent to last.

5. 'Tis strange how thoughts upon a child
Will, like a presence, sometimes press,
And when his pulse is beating wild,
And life itself is in excess1-

When foot and hand, and ear and eye,
Are all with ardor' straining high-
How in his heart will spring

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III.

7. PETER OF CORTONA.

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PART FIRST.

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N. P. WILLIS,

LITTLE shepherd, about twelve years old, one day abandoned the flock which had been committed to his care, and set off for Florence, where he knew no one but a lad of his own age, almost as poor as himself, and who, like him, had left the village of Cortona,' to become a scullion in the kitchen of the Cardinal' Sacchetti." A far nobler object conducted Peter 1 Ex cess', that which exceeds or 7 Cor tō' na, a town of Tuscany. surpasses what is usual or necessary. 'Ar dor, warmth or heat of passion or affection; eagerness.

3 Mysterious, secret ; not easily understood.

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Scull' ion, a servant who cleans pots and kettles, and does other kitchen work.

9 Car di nal, one of the seventy priests of the Pope's council, or sacred college, from among whom and by the votes of whom the pope is elected.

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to Florence. He knew that that city contained an academy of fine arts, a school of painting, and the little shepherd was ambitious of being a painter.

2. After searching throughout the city, he stopped at the gate of the Cardinal's palace, and inhaling from a distance the odor of the kitchen, he waited patiently until his lordship was served, in order to speak to his friend Thomas. He had to wait a long time; but, at last, the much wished-for moment of the interview arrived.

3. "Here you are, Peter; and what are you going to do in Florence?" "I am going to learn painting."

4. "You had much better follow my example, and learn to cook; at all events, you are sure of not having to die of hunger.” "You eat, then, as much as you like here?" said Peter.

5. "I believe you," replied the little scullion; "and might give myself a fit of indigestion' ěvèry day, if I were so disposed." "In that case," replied Peter, "I see we may manage věry well. As you have too much, and I have not enough, you can find food, and I shall find appetite, and we shall get on very well together."

6. "Yes, that will do," said Thomas. "Very well, then, let it do at once," resumed Peter; "for as I have not dined, we may as well begin from this very moment the arrangement I had come to propose to you."

7. Thomas made him creep up secretly into the garret where he slept, offered him half his bed, told him to wait awhile, and that he would soon return with some of the remains of the Cardinal's dinner. We need not say whether the repast was a měrry one. Thomas had an excellent heart, and Peter an excellent appetite.

8. "Now, then, as you are well lodged, and well fed, the only question is, how are you going to work?" "Like every one else who draws with pencils and paper."

9. "But," urged Thomas, "you have money, then, to buy pencils and paper?" "I! I have no money at all; but I said to myself, as I came along, Thomas, who is a scullion in the Cardinal's kitchen, can not fail to have money; and since he is rich, it is just the same as if I were so."

1 In di gěs' tion, want of ability to prepare the food in the stomach and change it into blood.

10. Thomas scratched his ear, and replied that, so far as a few bones to pick were concerned, there was no want of those in the house; but as to money, he must wait at least three years longer, before he had any right to ask for wages.

11. Peter resigned himself to his fate. The walls of his garret were white; Thomas supplied the young artist with more charcoal than he could use for his sketches, and Peter set vigorously to work to draw on the walls. We know not by what means little Thomas succeeded in procuring a small piece of money; but the child had too good a heart to be wanting in honesty, therefore we must believe that the little scullion had legitimately' obtained the half-pistole' which he one day triumphantly brought to his companion.

12. What joy was there, then! The artist could now have pencils and paper. He went out at break of day to study the pictures in the churches, the monuments in the public squares, and the views around the city; and in the evening, with an empty stomach, but with a mind well filled with what he had seen, he furtively returned to the garret, where he was always sure to find his dinner ready, and placed by Thomas under the măt'tress, less for the purpose of concealment, than to keep it warm during his friend's absence.

3

IV.

8. PETER OF CORTONA.

PART SECOND.

HE charcoal sketches soon disappeared under more correct designs, for Peter covered with his best drawings the walls of the narrow cell, in which the friendship of a child had afforded him so generous an asy'lum.*

2. One day, the Cardinal Sacchetti, whose palace was undergoing repair, visited, in company with the architect, the upper

'Le git' i mately, honestly; in a secretly; by theft. lawful manner.

2 Pis tōle', a gold coin of Spain, worth about three dollars and sixty cents. In other countries it varies in value from three to five dollars.

* Furtively, (fër tiv li), stealthily,

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4 A sylum, an institution or place for the benefit of the destitute or infortunate; a safe retreat or abode. 'Architect, a contriver or maker; a person skilled in the art of building.

stōries, to which, perhaps, he had never before ascended, and entered the garret of the little scullion. Peter was absent; but his numerous drawings sufficiently testified the laborious in'dustry of the child who inhabited this retreat.

3. The Cardinal and the architect were struck with the merits of these productions; they at first supposed Thomas to be the author of them, and the prěl'ate' summoned him into his presence, in order to compliment him on his talents. When poor Thomas became aware that the Cardinal had visited his garret, and that he had seen what he called the smudges of his friend Peter, he believed himself lost.

4. "You are no longer one of my scullions," said the Cardinal to him, little thinking that the child had a fellow-lodger. Thomas, mistaking the purport of his words, imagined that his master dismissed him from his kitchen: then the poor little fellow, seeing that his own existence, as well as that of his friend, was much compromised by this act of severe justice, threw himself at his master's feet, saying:

5. "Oh, signor!' what will become of my poor friend Peter, if you send him away?" The Cardinal demanded an explana tion of these words, which he could not understand, and thus discovered that the drawings were the work of a little shepherd, whom Thomas had secretly maintained for two years.

6. "When he returns at night, you will bring him to me," said the Cardinal, laughing at the mistake, and generously forgiving Thomas. That evening, the artist did not make his appearance at the palace of the Cardinal; two days, a week, a fortnight, elapsed, and still nothing was heard of Peter of Cortona.

7. At length, the Cardinal, who was greatly in'terested in the fate of the young artist, succeeded in discovering that, for a fortnight, the charitable monks of an isolated convent had received and detained with them a young draughtsman," from

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