and horse and rider both plunged gladly into its cool

waters.

[Write from dictation]

It is impossible for any one who has not seen these fires to form a sufficient idea of their grandeur, and it is difficult to see them and not run the risk of being suffocated. After they are extinguished that is, when all that can feed the flames has perished, it is sad to see the vast woods wholly or partially destroyed; the aspect of the whole country changed to blackness, the triumph of ruin where lately the farmer's crops were springing up to life.

THE PLOUGH.

A Song.
1.

The teams are waiting in the field,
The ploughmen in a row,
As brisk and gay as birds in May,
They make a goodly show.
The farmer stands and sees all hands
Turned out and ready now;

Yet ere they start, with all our heart,
We'll say: 'God-speed the plough.'

2.

We till the field, but He must yield
The sunshine and the rains;
In hope we plough, in hope we sow,
That He may bless our pains.
With willing mind and ready hand
Away to labour go!

Bear even weight, make furrow straight,

But say: 'God-speed the plough !'

THE SAILOR.

1.

Thou that hast a daughter
For one to woo and wed,
Give her to a husband

With snow upon his head :
Oh, give her to an old man,
Though little joy it be,
Before the best young sailor
That sails upon the sea!

2.

How luckless is the sailor
When sick and like to die,
He sees no tender mother,

No sweetheart standing by!
Only the captain speaks to him:
'Stand up, stand up, young man,

And steer the ship to haven,

As none beside thee can.'

3.

Thou say'st to me: 'Stand up, stand
I say to thee, Take hold,
Lift me a little from the deck,

My hands and feet are cold.
And let my head, I pray thee,

With handkerchiefs be bound:

up!'

There, take my love's gold handkerchief, And tie it tightly round.

4.

'Now bring the chart, the doleful chart ;
See where these mountains meet-
The clouds are thick around their head,
The mists around their feet:

Cast anchor here; 'tis deep and safe
Within the rocky cleft;

The little anchor on the right,

The great one on the left.

5.

'And now to thee, O captain,
Most earnestly I pray,
That they may never bury me
In church or cloister gray;
But on the windy sea-beach,
At the ending of the land—
All on the surfy sea-beach,
Deep down into the sand.

6.

'For there will come the sailors,
Their voices I shall hear,
And at casting of the anchor
The yo-ho loud and clear;
And at hauling of the anchor
The yo-ho and the cheer—
Farewell, my love, for to thy bay
I never more may steer!'

END OF PART FIRST.

PART SECOND.

OLD WORLD STORIES.

IÔ AND PROMETHEUS.

[Spell and write]

heifer, answered, vengeance, messenger, tortured, desolate, wilderness, tormented, merciless, journey, generations, majesty, wreathed.

In the halls of Inachos, king of Argos, Zeus beheld and loved the fair maiden Iô; but when Hêrê the queen knew it, she was very wroth, and sought to slay her. Then Zeus changed the maiden into a heifer, to save her from the anger of Hêrê; but presently Hêrê learned that the heifer was the maiden whom she hated, and she went to Zeus and said: 'Give me that which I shall desire;' and Zeus answered, 'Say on;' then Hêrê said, 'Give me the beautiful heifer which I see feeding in the pastures of King Inachos.' So Zeus granted her prayer, for he liked not to confess what he had done to Iô, to save her from the wrath of Hêrê; and Hêrê took the heifer, and bade Argus with the hundred eyes watch over it by night and by day.

Long time Zeus sought how he might deliver the maiden from the vengeance of Hêrê, but he strove in vain, for Argus never slept, and his hundred eyes saw everything around him, and none could approach

without being seen and slain. At the last, Zeus sent Hermes, the bright messenger of the gods, who stole gently towards Argus, playing soft music on his lute. Soothingly the sweet sounds fell upon his ear, and a deep sleep began to weigh down his eyelids, until Argus with the hundred eyes lay powerless before Hermes. Then Hermes drew his sharp sword, and with a single stroke he smote off his head, wherefore men call him the slayer of Argus with the hundred eyes. But the wrath of Hêrê was fiercer than ever, when she learned that her watchman was slain, and she swore that the heifer should have no rest, but wander in terror and pain from land to land. So she sent a gadfly to goad the heifer with its fiery sting over hill and valley, across sea and river to torment her if she lay down to rest, and madden her with pain when she sought to sleep. In grief and madness she fled from the pastures of Inachos into the land of Cadmus the Theban. On and on still she went, resting not by night or day, until at last she came to the wild Thracian land. Her feet bled on the sharp stones; her body was torn by the thorns and brambles, and tortured by the stings of the fearful gadfly. Still she fled on and on, while the tears streamed often down her cheeks, and her moaning shewed the greatness of her agony. 'O Zeus,' she said, 'dost thou not see me in my misery? Thou didst tell me once of thy love; and dost thou suffer me now to be driven thus wildly from land to land, without hope of comfort or rest? Slay me at once, I pray thee, or suffer me to sink into the deep sea, that so I may put off the sore burden of my woes.'

But Iô knew not that while she spake, one heard her who had suffered even harder things from Zeus. Far