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nor candle; she died in the dark! She couldn't even see her children's faces, though we heard her gasping out their names. I begged for her in the streets, and they sent me to prison. When I came back she was dying; and all the blood in my heart has dried up, for they starved her to death." He twined his hands in his hair, and with a loud scream rolled groveling upon the floor, his eyes fixed and the foam gushing from his lips.

8. The terrified children cried bitterly; but the old woman, who had hitherto remained as quiet as if she had been wholly deaf to all that passed, menaced them into silence, and, having loosened the man's cravat, who still remained extended on the ground, tottered toward the undertaker.

9. "She was my daughter," said the old woman, nodding her head in the direction of the corpse, and speaking with an idiotic leer more ghastly than even the presence of death itself. "Lord, Lord! well, it is strange that I who gave birth to her, and was a woman then, should be alive and merry now, and she lying there so cold and stiff! Lord, Lord!— to think of it; it's as good as a play, as good as a play!"

10. As the wretched creature mumbled and chuckled in her hideous merriment, the undertaker turned to go away. "Stop, stop!" said the old woman, in a loud whisper. "Will she be buried

to-morrow, or next day, or to-night? I laid her out, and I must walk, you know. Send me a large cloak ; a good warm one, for it is bitter cold. We should have cake and wine, too, before we go. Never mind: send some bread; only a loaf of bread and a cup of water. Shall we have some bread, dear?" she said eagerly, catching at the undertaker's coat as he once more moved toward the door.

11. "Yes, yes," said the undertaker; "of course; anything, everything." He disengaged himself from the old woman's grasp, and, dragging Oliver after him, hurried away.

1. Groping, cautiously, knuckles, mechanically, crouching, protruded, groveling, menaced, hideous, disengaged.

2. Where is this scene laid? What is meant by "a door on the landing"? "crouching mechanically"? "there lay upon the ground"? "rolled groveling on the floor"? "menaced them into silence"? From what book is this extract taken?

1.

XXXIX. TIME TO GO.

They know the time to go!

The fairy clocks strike their inaudible hour
In field and woodland, and each punctual flower
Bows at the signal an obedient head,

And hastes to bed.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

The pale Anemone

Glides on her way with scarcely a good-night, The Violets tie their purple nightcaps tight; Hand clasped in hand, the dancing Columbines, In blithesome lines,

Drop their last courtesies,

Flit from the scene, and couch them for their rest; The Meadow Lily folds her scarlet vest,

And hides it 'neath the Grasses' lengthening green; Fair and serene,

Her sister Lily floats

On the blue pond, and raises golden eyes
To count the golden splendor of the skies,—
The sudden signal comes, and down she goes
To find repose

In the cool depths below.

A little later, and the Asters blue

Depart in crowds, a brave and cheery crew;
While Golden-rod, still wide awake and gay,
Turns him away,

Furls his bright parasol,

And, like a little hero, meets his fate.

The Gentians, very proud to sit up late,

Next follow. Every Fern is tucked and set 'Neath coverlet,

7.

8.

Downy and soft and warm. No little seedling voice is heard to grieve Or make complaints the folding woods beneath; No lingerer dares to stay, for well they know The time to go.

Teach us your patience brave,

Dear flowers, till we shall dare to part like you, Willing God's will, sure that His clock strikes

true;

That His sweet day augurs a sweet morrow,

With smiles, not sorrow.

1. Inaudible, punctual, blithesome, complaints, lingerer,

augurs.

2. Does the "time to go" refer to night or to the end of the season? Do the flowers go in the order given? What is meant by "fairy clocks?" sure that His clock strikes true"?

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[graphic][subsumed]

XL. A RIDERLESS WAR HORSE.

PART I.

1. It was at the close of the second charge in the battle of Malvern Hill that I saw, from the spot where I lay wounded, a riderless horse break out of the confused and flying mass, and, with mane and tail erect, and spreading nostrils, come dashing obliquely down the slope. She leaped with a motion as airy as that of a flying fox when, fresh and unjaded, he leads away from the hounds, whose sudden cry has broken him off from hunting mice amid the bogs of the meadow.

2. From my earliest boyhood I have had what horsemen call "a weakness for horses." Give me a colt of wild, irregular temper, and fierce blood, to tame, and I am happy. Never did lash of mine, singing with cruel sound through the air, fall on such a colt's soft hide; but touches soft and gentle, caressing words, unfailing kindness, and oats given from the open palm were the means I used to subjugate him." Sweet subjugation, both to him who subdues and to him who yields!

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3. The wild, unmannerly, and unmanageable colt, finding in you not an enemy, but a friend, receiving from you his daily food and all those little "nothingsTM" "which go so far to win the affections of a horse, grows to look upon you as his protector. So, when I saw this horse come vaulting along with

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