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Narrative.

Asserting

Description

Indignant
Questioning

Contempt

Indignant Remonstrance

Disdain with
Loathing

Ex. 29. The Butterfly and the Snail.

All úpstarts, insolent in pláce,
Remind us of their vúlgar ràce.
As, in the sunshine of the mórn,
A butterfly, but newly born,
Sat proudly, pèrking on a ròse,
With pért concéit his bòsom glóws;
His wings, all glòrious to behold,
Bedròpt with ázure, jét, and gòld,
Wide he displays; the spángled dew
Reflècts his eyes and várious hue.
His nòw-forgotten friend, a snáil,
Beneath his house, with slímy tràil,
Crawls o'er the gráss; whòm when he spies
In wráth hè to the gárd'ner crìes :

'What means yon peasant's daily toil,
From choking weeds to rid the sòil?
Why wake you to the morning's cáre?
Why with new arts correct the year?
Why glows the peach with crimson hue?
And why the plúm's invíting blúe ?
Were they to feást hís taste design'd,
That vèrmin of vorácious kind?
Crush then the slów, the pílf'ring race
So púrge the garden from disgráce.'
'What arrogance!' the snáil replied;
'How insolent is úpstart príde !
Hadst thou not thús, with insult váin,
Provòk'd my patience to compláin,
I had conceal'd thy méaner birth,
Nor traced thee to the scúm of earth.
For scarce níne suns have wàk'd the hours,
To swèll the fruit and paint the flow'rs,
Since I thy húmbler life survéy'd,
In base and sòrdid guise array'd :
A hídeous insect, víle, uncléan,
You dragg'd a slów and nóisome train ;
And from your spíder-bowels drew
Fóul film, and spùn the dirty clue.
I own my humble life, good friend;
Snail was I bórn, and snáil shall end.

And what's a bútterfly? At best
He's bút a caterpillar drést;
And áll thy race (a núm'rous sèed)
Shall prove of caterpillar brèed.'

Gay.

Retort

Ex. 30.

Noble Revenge.

A YOUNG ófficer (in what ármy no matter) had so
far forgotten himself, in a moment of irritation, as
to strike a private soldier, full of personal dignity
(as sometimes happens in all ranks), and distin-
guished for his courage. The inexorable laws of
military díscipline forbade to the injured soldier
any pràctical redress. He could look for no retaliá-
tion by acts. Wòrds only were at his command;
and, in a tumult of indignátion, as he turned away,
the soldier said to his officer that he would
him repènt it.' This, wearing the shape of a ménace,
naturally rekindled the officer's anger, and inter-
cèpted any disposition which might be rising within
him towards a sentiment of remòrse; and thus the
irritation between the two young men grew hótter
than before.

Narrative

make Menace

Some weeks after this a partial action took place Animated with the enemy. Suppose yourself a spectator, and Description looking down into a válley occupied by two àrmies. They are facing each other, you see, in martial array. But it is no more than a skirmish which is going on; in the course of which, however, an occasion suddenly aríses for a desperate sèrvice. A redoubt, which has fallen into the enemy's hands, must be recaptured at any price, and under círcumstances of all but hopeless difficulty. A strong párty has volunteered for the sèrvice; there is a crý for somebody to head them; you see a soldier step out from the ranks to assume this dangerous leadership; the párty moves rapidly fòrward; in a few minutes it is swallowed up from your eyes in clouds of smoke; for óne half-hour from behind these clouds you receive hieroglyphic reports of bloody strifefierce repeating signals, flashes from the gùns, rolling mùsketry, and exulting hurráhs, advancing or recéding, slackening or redoubling.

Eager Joy

Pause of

At length áll is òver; the redoubt has been recovered; that which was lóst is foùnd again; the jewel which had been made cáptive is ransomed with blood. Crimsoned with glorious góre, the wreck of the conquering party is reliéved, and at liberty to return. From the river you see it ascènding. The plume-crested officer in commánd rushes forward, with his left hand raising his hát in homage to the blackened frágments of what once was a flag; whilst with his ríght hand he seizes that. of the leader, though no more than a private from the ranks. Thát perplexes you not: mystery you see none in that. For distinctions of órder perish, ránks are confounded, 'hìgh and low' are words without a meàning, and to wrèck goes every notion or féeling that divides the noble from the nóble, or the brave man from the brave. But whèrefore is it that now, when suddenly they wheel into mutual recognition, suddenly they paùse? This sòldier, Deep Feeling this ófficer-who are they? O reáder! ónce before they had stood face to face-the sòldier it is that was struck; the officer it is that strùck him. Once again they are meeting; and the gaze of ármies is upon them. If for a mòment a doubt divídes them, in a moment the doubt has pèrished. One glànce exchanged between them publishes the forgiveness that is sealed for ever. As one who recovers a brother whom he had accounted dead, the officer Overpower- sprang forward, threw his arms around the neck of ing Impulse the soldier and kissed him, as if he were some martyr glorified by that shadow of death from which he was returning; whilst on his part, the sòldier, stepping back, and carrying his open hand through the beautiful motions of the military salute to a supérior, makes this immortal answer-thát answer which shut up for ever the memory of the indignity óffered to him, even whilst for the last time allúding to it-Sir,' he said, 'I told you befòre that I would make you repent it.' De Quincey.

Friendly
Retort

Ex. 31.

1. Plain description. Description, lively, then

Excelsior.

5.

3. Animated. 4. Inspiriting.
7. Warning. 8. Affectionate

2. Sadness.
6. Disheartening.

entreaty. 9. Impressive advice. 10. Hopeful. 11. Descriptive. 12. Affect

ing narrative.*

1THE shades of night were falling fast,
As through an Alpine village passed
A youth, who bore, 'mid snow and ice,
A banner with the strange device,—
Excelsior!

2 His brow was sad; his eye beneath
Flashed like a falchion from its sheath,
And like a silver clarion rung

The accents of that unknown tongue,—
Excelsior!

"In happy homes he saw the light
Of household fires gleam warm and bright;
"Above, the spectral glaciers shone,
And from his lips escaped a groan,—
Excelsior!

76 Try not the Pass!' the old man said;
'Dark lowers the tempest overhead,
The roaring torrent is deep and wide!'
And loud that clarion voice replied,-
Excelsior!

8' O stay' the maiden said, 'and rest
Thy weary head upon this breast!'
A tear stood in his bright blue eye,
But still he answered, with a sigh,-
Excelsior!

"Beware the pine-tree's withered branch!
Beware the awful avalanche !'

This was the peasant's last Good-night;
10A voice replied, far up the height,—
Excelsior!

* These annotations should be pencilled at the proper places on the margin by the pupil, who should be encouraged to add others of his own-the number and appositeness of these being taken as the measure of his understanding of the passage.

11 At break of day, as heavenward,
The pious monks of Saint Bernard
Uttered the oft-repeated prayer,

A voice cried through the startled air,—
Excelsior!

12A traveller, by the faithful hound,
Half-buried in the snow was found,
Still grasping, in his hand of ice,
That banner with the strange device,-
Excelsior!

There, in the twilight cold and gray,
Lifeless, but beautiful, he lay;
And from the sky, serene and far,
A voice fell, like a falling star,-
Excelsior!

Longfellow.

Ex. 32.

Descriptive,

Progress of a Glacier compared to the Course
of Human Life.

1. Comparison. 2. Narration. 3. Enumeration. 4. Impressive description. 5. Elevated sentiment.

'POETS and Philosophers have delighted to compare the course of human life to that of a river; perhaps a still apter simile might be found in the history of a glacier.

"Heaven-descended in its origin, it yet takes its mculd and conformation from the hidden womb of the mountains which brought it forth. At first, soft and ductile, it acquires a character and firmness of its own, as an inevitable destiny urges it in its onward career. Jostled and constrained by the crosses and inequalities of its prescribed path, hedged in by impassable barriers which fix limits to its movements, it yields groaning to its fate, and still travels forward seamed with the scars of many a conflict with opposing obstacles.

All this while, although wasting, it is renewed by an unseen power-it evaporates, but is not consumed. On its surface it bears the spoils which, during the progress of its existence, it has made its own; often weighty burdens devoid of beauty or value,-at times precious masses, sparkling with gems or with ore.

*Having at length attained its greatest width and extension, commanding admiration by its beauty and power, waste

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