A lowly knee to earth he bent, his father's hand he What was there in its touch that all his fiery spirit shook? That hand was cold, a frozen thing from his like lead! - it dropped He looked up to the face above the face was of the dead! A plume waved o'er the noble brow fixed and white: the brow was He met at last his father's eyes - but in them was no sight! 20 Up from the ground he sprang and gazed;— but who could paint that gaze? It hushed their very hearts who saw its horror and amaze: They might have chained him as before that stony form he stood; For the power was stricken from his arm, and from his lip the blood. "Father!" at length he murmured low, and wept like childhood then: 25 Talk not of grief till thou hast seen the tears of warlike men! He thought on all his glorious hopes, and all his young renown He flung the falchion from his side, and in the dust sat down. And covering with his steel-gloved hands his darkly mournful brow, "No more, there is no more," he said, "to lift the sword for now; My king is false! my hope betrayed! my father O the worth, 30 The glory, and the loveliness are passed away from earth!" Then from the ground he sprang once more, and seized the monarch's rein, Amidst the pale and wildered looks of all the courtier train; And with a fierce o'er mastering grasp, the rearing warhorse led, 35 And sternly set them face to face the king before the dead! "Came I not forth, upon thy pledge, my father's hand to kiss? Be still, and gaze thou on, false king! and tell me, what is this? The voice, the glance, the heart I sought — give answer, where are they? If thou wouldst clear thy perjured soul, send life through this cold clay! 40 Into these glassy eyes put light -be still! keep down thine ire; Bid these white lips a blessing speak - this earth is not my sire! Give me back him for whom I strove, for whom my blood was shed Thou canst not?— and a king!— his dust be mountains on thy head!" He loosed the steed his slack hand fell;- upon the silent face 45 He cast one long, deep troubled look, then turned from that sad place; His hope was crushed, his after-fate untold in martial strain; His banner led the spears no more amidst the hills of Spain. 1. What is filial love? What striking examples of filial love have you known? 2. Read what you can of knighthood and its vows. of the sacred possessions of the Knight. Honor was one 3. Look up carefully the meanings of the following words and expres sions: crested head, tamed, sued, haughty, captive train, liege, ransomed, foamy speed, yearned, lowly knee, fiery spirit, amaze, falchion, steel-gloved, betrayed, wildered looks, courtier train, perjured soul, martial strain. EXERCISES 1. Explain "crested head." 2. Was it easy for him to bow his head? 3. What story do the first two lines tell? 4. What does the third line add to the story? 5. The fourth line? 6. Has the king taken the keys before he begins to speak? 7. How do we feel as we read the king's words? 8. What tells how Bernardo feels? 9. Explain the ninth line. 10. Who says line 11? 11. Of whom does line 13 tell? 12. What chieftain is meant in line 14? 13. Where do we first find a hint of something wrong? 14. How does line 17 affect your feelings toward the king? 15. What do you remember now that adds to this feeling. 16. What do you picture Bernardo doing in lines 16 to 21? 17. What do you know were his feelings in lines 21 to 24? 18. Explain line 26. 19. Do you think he should have thrown away the falchion? 20. What was there to fight for now? 21. Why did the king and his courtiers allow the deed recorded in lines 33 to 36? 22. Does this deed satisfy you? Why? 23. What does the king attempt to do in line 41? 24. What in line 44? 25. Explain Bernardo's acts in the last four lines. 26. Was the father avenged? 27. Why did the knight never lead his soldiery again? ADDITIONAL READINGS JEAN INGELOW: Failure. SILL: Opportunity. MONTGOMERY: Arnold von Winkelried. BROWNING: Incident of the French Camp. WORDSWORTH: Character of the Happy Warrior. PRINCE: Who are the Free? ALBERT GORTON GREENE: The Baron's Last Banquet. WORKING WITH MIND If we work upon marble, it will perish; if we work upon brass, time will efface it; if we rear temples, they will crumble into dust; but if we work upon immortal minds, if we imbue them with principles, with the just fear of God and love of our fellow-men, we engrave on those tablets something that will brighten to all eternity.— Daniel Webster. THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN VERY boy has at some time taken great delight in "playing Indian, or in reading stories about Indians. Many young people on the Western Plains have heard their fathers and grandfathers tell of thrilling adventures with the Indians. Much has been written and said by older people concerning the American Indian. His characteristics of hatred of his foes and fidelity to his friends have formed the basis of much of this literature. His religion and his home life are less frequently emphasized. Helen Hunt Jackson, as a protest against our modern treatment of the Indians, called the last hundred years "A Century of Dishonor," but we are apt to forget that our present condition of life is made possible only by the passing away of Indian life and the extermination of his race. Considered in this light, the recognition of advancing civilization must ever be attended by a feeling of sadness and regret. The following study is an extract from an oration delivered by Charles Sprague, a Boston lawyer, on July 4, 1825. |