LESSON XLIII.

SPEAK GENTLY.

1. Speak gently; it is better far
To rule by love than fear:
Speak gently; let no harsh words mar
The good we might do here.

2. Speak gently to the little child;
Its love be sure to gain;

Teach it in accents soft and mild;
It may not long remain.

3. Speak gently to the aged one;

Grieve not the care-worn heart:
The sands of life are nearly run;
Let such in peace depart.

4. Speak gently, kindly, to the poor;
Let no harsh tone be heard;

They have enough they must endure,
Without an unkind word.

1

5. Speak gently to the erring; know

They must have toiled in vain;
Perhaps unkindness made them so;
Oh, win them back again.

6. Speak gently: 't is a little thing Dropped in the heart's deep well; The good, the joy, which it may bring, Eternity shall tell.

DEFINITIONS.-1. Mär, injure, hurt.

guage, tones. 4. En düre', bear, suffer.

G. W. Hangford.

2. Ae'çents, lan5. Erring (er'-),

sinning. 6. E ter'ni ty, the endless hereafter, the future.

LESSON XLIV.

THE SEVEN STICKS.

1. A man had seven sons, who were always quarreling. They left their studies and work, to quarrel among themselves. Some bad men were looking forward to the death of their begirage father, to cheat them out of their property by making them quarrel about it.

2. The good old man, one day, called his sons around him. He laid before them seven sticks, which were bound together. He said, "I will pay a hundred dollars to the one who can break this bundle."

3. Each one strained every nerve to break for fir

the bundle. After a long but vain trial, they all said that it could not be done.

4. "And yet, my boys," said the father, lost "nothing is easier to do." He then untied the bundle, and broke the sticks, one by one, with perfect ease.

5. "Ah!" said his sons, "it is easy enough to do it so; any body could do it in that way."

6. Their father replied, "As it is with these sticks, so is it with you, my sons. So

other, you will prosper, and none can injure enchelenz

you.

7. "But if the bond of union be broken, hander

it will happen to you just just as as it has to these sticks, which lie here broken on the ground."

Home, city, country, all are prosperous found,

When by the powerful link of union bound.

DEFINITIONS.-1. Cheat, deceive, wrong. Prop'er ty, that which one owns-whether land, goods, or money. 2. Bun'dle, a number of things bound together. 3. Nerve, sinew, muscle. 6. Pros'per, succeed, do well. 7. Un'ion (yun'yun), the state of being joined or united.

LESSON XLV.

THE MOUNTAIN SISTER.

1. The home of little Jeannette is far away, high up among the mountains. Let us call her our mountain sister.

2. There are many things you would like to hear about her, but I can only tell you now how she goes with her father and brother, in the autumn, to help gather nuts for the long winter.

the spring its

branches are

covered with

of

mer these are

inviklede turning into sweet nuts, sweet nuts, wrapped safely in large, prickly, green balls.

4. But when the frost of autumn comes, these prickly balls turn brown, and crack

open. Then you may see inside one, two, three, and even four, sweet, brown nuts. 5. When her father says, one night at supper time, "I think there will be a frost tonight," Jeannette knows very well what to do. She dances away early in the evening to her little bed, made in a box built up against the wall.

6. Soon she falls asleep to dream about