17. Shac. Oh no, my lord! for in truth I cannot eat any more.

18. Barm. Let the dessert then be served and the fruit brought. Taste these dates; they are just gathered, and are very good. Here, too, are some fine walnuts, and here some delicious raisins. Eat, and be not ashamed.

19. Shacabac's jaws were by this time weary of chewing nothing. "I assure thee," said he, "I am so full that I cannot eat another morsel of this cheer."

20. Barm. Well, then, we will now have the wine. Boy, bring us the wine! Here, my friend, take this

cup; it will delight thee.

Come, drink my health,

and tell me if thou thinkest the wine good.

21. But the wine, like the dinner and the dessert, did not appear. However, he pretended to pour some out, and drank the first glass, after which he poured out another for his guest.

22. Shacabac took the imaginary glass, and, first holding it up to the light to see if it was of a good, bright color, he put it to his nose to inhale its perfume; then, making a profound reverence to the Barmecide, he drank it off with every mark of keen appreciation.

23. The Barmecide continued to pour out bumper after bumper so frequently that Shacabac, pretending that the wine had got into his head, feigned

to be tipsy. This being the case, he raised his fist and gave the Barmecide such a violent blow that he knocked him down.

24. Barm. What, thou vilest of creation! Art thou mad?

25. Shac. O my master! thou hast fed me with thy provisions and regaled me with old wine, and I have become intoxicated and committed an outrage upon thee. But thou art of too exalted dignity to be angry with me for my ignorance.

26. He had hardly finished this speech before the Barmecide burst into a laugh. "Come," said he, "I have long been looking for a man of thy character. Let us be friends. Thou hast kept up the jest in pretending to eat; now thou shalt make my house thy home, and eat in earnest."

27. Having said this, he clapped his hands. Several slaves instantly appeared, whom he ordered to set the table and serve the dinner. His commands were quickly obeyed, and Shacabac now enjoyed in reality the good things of which he had before partaken only in dumb show.

1. Magnificent, luxuriously, endure, partake, extreme, attendant, appetite, procure, absolute, viands, almonds, dessert, delicious, morsel, imaginary, inhale, profound, reverence, appreciation, bumper, frequently, feigned, regaled.

2. Could this story be true? What is its lesson? What is the meaning of these lines by J. T. Trowbridge?—

"Feasting with pride, that Barmecide of unreal dishes, And wandering ever in a wide, wide world of wishes."

How does the manner of speaking differ from our expressions?

LII. THE CLOUD.

1. I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers,
From the seas and the streams;

I bear light shade for the leaves when laid
In their noonday dreams.

From my wings are shaken the dews that waken
The sweet buds every one,

When rocked to rest on their mother's breast,
As she dances about the sun.

I wield the flail of the lashing hail,
And whiten the green plains under;
And then again I dissolve it in rain,
And laugh as I pass in thunder.

2. I sift the snow on the mountains below, And their great pines groan aghast ; And all the night 'tis my pillow white,

While I sleep in the arms of the blast. Sublime on the towers of my skyey bowers, Lightning, my pilot, sits;

In a cavern under is fettered the thunder;
It struggles and howls at fits.

Over earth and ocean, with gentle motion,
This pilot is guiding me,

Lured by the love of the genii that move
In the depths of the purple sea;

Over the rills and the crags and the hills,
Over the lakes and the plains,

Wherever he dream, under mountain or stream,
The Spirit he loves remains;

And I all the while bask in heaven's blue smile, Whilst he is dissolving in rains.

3. I bind the sun's throne with a burning zone, And the moon's with a girdle of pearl;

The volcanoes are dim, and the stars reel and swim,

When the whirlwinds my banner unfurl. From cape to cape, with a bridge-like shape, Over a torrent sea,

Sunbeam-proof, I hang like a roof,

The mountains its columns be.

The triumphal arch through which I march,
With hurricane, fire, and snow,

When the powers of the air are chained to my chair,

Is the million-colored bow;

The sphere-fire above its soft colors wove,
Whilst the moist earth was laughing below.

4. I am the daughter of the earth and water, And the nursling of the sky;

I

pass through the
pores
of the ocean and shores;
I change, but I cannot die.

1. Thirsting, flail, dissolve, aghast, skyey, guiding, lured, genii, girdle, hurricane, volcanoes, torrent, triumphal, pores.

2. What is represented in this poem as speaking? Mention the different things the cloud claims to do. How does the cloud bring showers from the seas? Who "dances in the sun"? Explain "wield the flail," "great pines groan," "this pilot lured by the love of the genii," "the sun's throne," "the stars reel," "the triumphal arch," "I change, but I cannot die."

LIII. THE BOSTON MASSACRE.

PART I.

1. On Friday, the second day of March, a soldier of the Twenty-ninth asked to be employed at Gray's ropewalk, and was refused. He then defied the rope-makers to a boxing match; and one of them accepting his challenge, he was beaten off. Returning with several of his companions, they too were driven away. A larger number came down to renew the fight with clubs and cutlasses,