the same glad neigh, at my window; nor did she ever once fail, at the closing of the sash, to return directly to her stall. The groom informed me that, every morning and evening, when the hour for her visit drew near, she would begin to chafe and worry, and, by pawing, and pulling at the halter, remind him that it was time for her to be released.

4. Of all exhibitions of happiness, either by beast or man, hers was the most positive on that afternoon, when, racing into the yard, she found me leaning on a crutch, outside the hospital building. The whole corps of nurses came to the doors, and all the poor fellows that could move themselves crawled to the windows, to see her. What gladness was expressed in every movement! She would come prancing toward me, head and tail erect, and, pausing, rub her head against my shoulder, while I patted her glossy neck; then, suddenly, with a sidewise spring, she would break away, and pace around me with that high action and springing step peculiar to the thoroughbred.

5. Again, like a flash, dropping her tail, laying back her ears, and stretching her nose straight out, she would speed away with that quick, nervous, low-lying action which marks the rush of racers, when, side by side and nose to nose, with the roar of cheers on either hand, they come straining up the homestretch. Returning from one of these

arrowy flights, she would come curveting back; now, pacing sidewise as on parade; now, dashing her hind feet high into the air; and, finally, would approach and stand erect in her reward—my caress.

1. Divined, spitefully, terrified, rejoiced, appropriate, expression, lingeringly, leopard-like, exhibitions, delicate, positive, prancing, nervous, curveting.

2. Why did the groom expect to find the horse at the hospital? Do animals like to be petted? Do you think this horse understood the command? What is the homestretch?

XLII. FOOTSTEPS OF ANGELS.

1. When the hours of day are numbered,
And the voices of the night

Wake the better soul that slumbered
To a holy, calm delight—

2. Ere the evening lamps are lighted,
And, like phantoms grim and tall,
Shadows from the fitful fire-light
Dance upon the parlor wall;

3. Then the forms of the departed
Enter at the open door-

The beloved ones, the true-hearted,
Come to visit me once more;

4. He, the young and strong, who cherished Noble longings for the strife,

By the roadside fell and perished,
Weary with the march of life!

5. They, the holy ones and weakly,
Who the cross of suffering bore,
Folded their pale hands so meekly,
Spake with us on earth no more!

6. And with them the being beauteous
Who unto my youth was given,
More than all things else to love me,
And is now a saint in heaven.

7. With a slow and noiseless footstep
Comes that messenger divine,
Takes the vacant chair beside me,
Lays her gentle hand in mine;

8. And she sits and gazes at me

With those deep and tender eyes, Like the stars, so still and saint-like, Looking downward from the skies.

9. Uttered not, yet comprehended,
Is the spirit's voiceless prayer,
Soft rebukes, in blessings ended,
Breathing from her lips of air.

10. Oh, though oft depressed and lonely, All my fears are laid aside

If I but remember only

Such as these have lived and died!

1. Slumbered, phantoms, cherished, beauteous, comprehended, rebukes, depressed.

2. Explain "the voices of the night," "forms of the departed," "open door." Do these forms represent the poet's friends?

XLIII. GEORGE WASHINGTON.

1. It is more than a century and a half since George Washington was born. It is about a century since he died; and yet in the memory of Americans he remains "the first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen."

2. He was one of the greatest of our good men, and one of the best of our great men.

3. He was born on February twenty-second, 1732, and his birthday has been made a national holiday, celebrated by a grateful people, who keep in memory his deeds of loving, self-sacrificing service to his beloved country.

4. The son of Virginia, he became the Father of his Country; and the proud Mother of Presidents has no prouder claim than this, that Washington was born and reared on her sacred soil.

5. It would be of great interest to read the story of his boyhood; but the legends that cluster around it only serve to show that "greatness breeds fiction to cling like a halo round the unknown," and to prove how quickly the people learned to know and to admire him.

6. His father was a man of character, and his ideas of a father's relation to his children were singularly adapted to develop the better nature and to form true character. But he died when George was ten years old, and left him, a precious legacy, to the care of a mother peculiarly fitted by nature and education to fill the place of both parents in developing the mind and body of her son.

7. To him she gave her life with a love and devotion that met with full return, and that showed what power a true mother has, and how her influence may be greater in its results than is ever dreamed of by the quiet fireside. She gave him a good education for the times, and one specially fitted for the work of surveying, to which he intended generally to devote himself.

8. She impressed his mind with the principles of honor and of true religion, and labored unceasingly that he might have a sound mind, developed, rounded, strengthened in all its parts, in a sound body. At sixteen he was almost a man, and began his work as surveyor in the wild country, whose