But yet behold-abrupt and loud, Comes down the glittering rain ; DEFINITIONS. Gär'nered, laid up, treasured. Studs, knobs, buds. Cleav'ing, dividing. Dim'pleş, small depressions. Am'ber, the color of amber, yellow. ALEXANDER'S FIRST TRIUMPH. Philonicus the Thessalian brought the horse Bucephabus to Philip, offering to sell him for thirteen talents; but when the attendants went into the field to try him, they found him so very vicious and unmanageable that he reared up when they endeavored to mount him, and would not so much as endure the voice of any of them. Philip was displeased at their bringing him so wild and ungovernable a horse, and bade them take him away; but as they were leading him away as wholly intractable and useless, Alexander, who stood by, said, "What an excellent horse do they lose, for want of skill and spirit to manage him!? Philip at first took no notice of the words of his son; but when he heard him repeat the same thing several times, and saw that he was much vexed that the horse should be sent away, he said, "Do you reproach those that are older than yourself, as if you knew more and were better able than they to manage the horse?" "Let me try him," he said, "I will manage him better than others do." "And if you do not," said Philip, "what will you forfeit for your rashness?" "I will pay the whole price of the horse," said Alexander. At this the entire company fell to laughing; but as soon as the agreement was settled amongst them, Alexander immediately ran to the horse, and, taking hold of the bridle, turned him directly toward the sun, having, it seems, observed that the animal was disturbed and frightened by the motion of his own shadow. Then the youth, letting him go forward a little, still keeping the reins in his hand, and stroking him gently when he found him growing eager and fiery, let fall his upper garment softly, and with one nimble leap securely mounted him. When he was seated, by little and little he drew in the bridle, and curbed him without either striking or spurring him. Presently, when he found him free from all rebelliousness, and only impatient for the course, he let him go at full speed, inciting him now with a commanding voice, and urging him also with his heel. Philip and his friends looked on at first in silence and anxiety for the result, till, seeing Alexander turn at the end of his career, and come back rejoicing and triumphant for what he had performed, they all burst out into acclamations of applause. His father shedding tears, it is said, for joy, kissed him as he came down from his horse, and in his transport exclaimed, "Oh, my son, look thee out a kingdom worthy of thyself, for Macedonia is too small for thee!" After this, considering his son to be of a temper easy to be led to duty by reason, but by no means to be compelled, Philip always endeavored to persuade him rather than to command or force him. He saw that the instruction of his son was too difficult and important to be wholly trusted to the ordinary masters in music and poetry, and that it required, in the words of Sophocles, "The rudder's guidance and the curb's restraint." He therefore sent for Aristotle, the most learned philosopher of his time, and rewarded him with a munificence becoming the care he took to teach his son. Alexander gained from him not only moral and political knowledge, but was also instructed in those more profound branches of science which they did not communicate to common scholars. DEFINITIONS. - From "Plutarch's Lives." Tăl'ents, a denomination of money. A silver talent was worth about $1180. Reared, stood up on his hind legs. In trăct'a ble, that cannot be controlled. Re prōach', speak against. Cûrbed, held in. Ac cla mā'tions, cries of approval. Trănṣ'pōrt, joy, delight. -- NOTES. Philonicus (fil o ni'kus) was a native of Thessaly, a country noted for its horses. Philip (fil'ip), a famous king of Macedon in Greece, lived about 350 years before Christ. Alexander, his son, is known in history as Alexander the Great. Aristotle (ăr'ís tot 1) was a celebrated Greek philosopher, born 384 B.C. THE HERITAGE. BY JAMES RUSSELL Lowell. The rich man's son inherits lands, And piles of brick, and stone, and gold, And tender flesh that fears the cold, Nor dares to wear a garment old; A heritage, it seems to me, One scarce would wish to hold in fee. The rich man's son inherits cares; The bank may break, the factory burn, A breath may burst his bubble shares, A living that would serve his turn; One scarce would wish to hold in fee. The rich man's son inherits wants, His stomach craves for dainty fare; With sated heart he hears the pants Of toiling hinds with brown arms bare, And wearies in his easy-chair; A heritage, it seems to me, One scarce would wish to hold in fee. What doth the poor man's son inherit? A hardy frame, a hardier spirit ; King of two hands, he does his part What doth the poor man's son inherit? A heritage, it seems to me, What doth the poor man's son inherit? A patience learned of being poor, Courage, if sorrow come, to bear it, |