days in removing his residence from an ornamental pile of stones in a neighbor's yard to warmer quarters he had discovered under the house. He had evidently collected a quantity of stores of some sort. No doubt as soon as spring opened he would vary his diet with fresh eggs, but as I left the vicinity I did not have opportunity to observe whether the sparrow family suffered from him. 14. Next to the sparrow's mobbing propensity is his impudence. Not only will he insist on sharing the food of chickens and domestic animals, but he is a common guest at the table of the great bald eagles in the parks, and does not disdain the crumbs that fall from the repast of the polar bear, one touch of whose paw would flatten him like a wafer. 15. Perhaps the most saucy thing reported of a sparrow was witnessed in Brooklyn by a well-known artist. He was watching a robin hard at work on the lawn, gathering food for his family, when he noticed a sparrow who also seemed interested in the operation. The sparrow looked on, evidently with growing excitement, while one bit after another was uncovered, till at last a particularly large and attractive grub was brought to light. This was too much for sparrow philosophy. He made one dash, snatched the tempting morsel from the very bill of the robin, and disappeared before the astounded bird recovered from his surprise. With this unparalleled act of impertinence to a bird big enough to eat him, this true chronicle of the most unattractive fellow that wears feathers shall close. OLIVE THORNE MILLER. The " man that hath no music in himself " (1) is a quotation from Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice," Act v. Scene 1. "Bells jangled out of tune" (3) is also from Shakespeare, see Hamlet," Act iii. Scene 1. Explain in your own words the expressions: "harmonizes perfectly with the jarring sounds of man's contriving" (3); "exchanging remarks in the amiable manner of some of the human race at the ways of a foreigner" (11). glass" is meant in the expression "close What kind of a 66 watching with a glass" (8) ? LESSON XXX. 2. blithe; a. joyous. 10. gěn' der; v. to cause. 4. ělf; n. an imaginary diminu- | 10. păģ'eant rỹ; n. show. tive spirit, supposed to haunt 11. häùnts; n. places which one wild places and take pleasure in mischievous tricks. frequently visits. 13. mo ni' tion; n. warning. The Yellow-hammer. 1. A yellow-hammer in the rain! It fills me with old childish years: 2. Behold him now: he never stops, 3. What tender memories are bound Associates me with the hours When, so pure childhood willed, all showers 4. Away he goes, and hammers still Without a rule but his free will, A little gaudy Elf! And there he is within the rain, And beats and beats his tune again, 5. Within the heart of this great shower With curtains drawn about him: 6. Ah, homely bird! thou canst not know How far into my heart doth go That melancholy key, How from thy little straining throat Beats like a pulse in me. 7. Through blinding tears meek fancy weaves Far other fields, far other leaves, Than those by Drava's side; For now the looks of long-lost faces, 8. Thou art a power of other days, 9. O it was right and well with me When I could love a single tree When I could in the meadow lie For hours, and not be weary! 10. Now over sea and over earth I pass with hollow, heated mirth 11. Time flies, and life; and many thought, 12. When joys were simple, days were long, All woven into one bright throng, Like golden bees at play, One with another softly blending, As though they could not have an ending, 13. I thank thee, gentle bird! for this; A sweet monition given; 14. And sure I am that summer day 15. And seen through this bright, dazzling rain How fair is yon Carinthian plain, A richly wooded park, Where groups of birch with silver stems 16. Yet am I cast upon lost years; The Present is dissolved in tears; An oracle upon the bough He sits, through him the Present now F. W. FABER. Rev. Frederick William Faber was born in England in 1814 and died in 1863. He was a minister of the Church of England until his conversion to Catholicity in 1845. Two years later he was ordained a priest and entered the Congregation of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri. He was a poet of no mean ability and wrote exquisite prose. The Yellow-hammer is a European bird, but the name is often applied in the United States to a species of woodpecker. The "Carinthian plain " (1 and 15) means a field in Carinthia, a duchy of Austria; the "Drave," poetically called "Drava" (7), is a river in Germany. Explain the expressions: "an echo of the childish past "into unsunny currents wrought" (11). (8); Let the pupils, with the aid of the teacher, give in simple language the meaning of stanza 16. |