LESSON XLIII. 1. mẽ te ór; n. a bright body | 4. rīvè; v. to rend asunder by hovering in the air. 2. erīʼsis; n. turning-point. 2. rèe're ant; a. cowardly. force. 8. lăb' å rŭm; n. a standard or flag. The American Flag. 1. They say I do not love thee, 2. They say I would forsake thee, On thee, blest flag, to trample. 3. False are the words they utter, And rash the oaths they mutter, 4. They say that bolts of thunder, 5. God's is my love's first duty, 6. Woe to the foe or stranger Though some would fain discard me, 7. Then wave, thou first of banners, 8. Stream on, stream on before us, While in one general chorus My country's flag forever! REV. CHARLES CONSTANTINE PISE, D.D. Rev. Charles Constantine Pise, D.D., was born at Annapolis, Md., November 22, 1801. As a young man he joined the Society of Jesus, and went to Rome to pursue his theological studies, but his father dying, he returned home. In 1825 he was ordained priest, and was appointed as an assistant at the Cathedral, Baltimore. He was, later, sent to St. Matthew's Church, Washington, and while there was elected chaplain to the United States Senate, the only Catholic priest, we believe, on whom that position was ever bestowed. At the time of his death, which occurred May 26, 1858, he was pastor of St. Charles Borromeo's Church, Brooklyn, N. Y. Dr. Pise was a graceful, prolific writer, the author of many books, a fine linguist, a man of elegant, polished manners. LESSON XLIV. 2. dròm'e da rỹ; n. a species | 11. ĕx' e ¤rā' tions; n. curses. of camel. 3. im pěť'u Qùs; a. passionate. 6. in stinet' Ive lỹ; adv. by natural impulse. 8. sten tō'ri an; a. extremely loud. 13. proxim'i tỷ; n. nearness. 14. dis com' fit ed; v. defeated; overpowered. 16. in çĕn' di a ry; n. a person who maliciously sets fire to a building. The Escape of Harvey Birch. 1. The gathering mists of evening had begun to darken the valley, as the detachment of Lawton made its reappearance at its southern extremity. The march of the troops was slow, and their line extended, for the benefit of ease in their progress. In the front rode the Captain, side by side with his senior subaltern, apparently engaged in close conference, while the rear was brought up by a young cornet, humming an air, and thinking of the sweets of a straw bed after the fatigues of a hard day's duty. 2. Stretching forward his body in the direction he was gazing, as if to aid him in distinguishing objects through the darkness, the Captain asked, "What animal is moving through the field on our right?" ""Tis a man," said Mason, looking intently at the suspicious object. "By his hump 'tis a dromedary," added the Captain, eying it keenly. Wheeling his horse suddenly from the highway, he exclaimed: "Harvey Birch, the peddler-spy! -take him, dead or alive!" 3. Mason and a few of the leading dragoons only understood the sudden cry, but it was heard throughout the line. A dozen of the men, with the Lieutenant at their head, followed the impetuous Lawton, and their speed threatened the pursued with a sudden termination of the race. 4. Birch prudently kept his position on the rock until evening had begun to shroud the surrounding objects in darkness. From this height he had seen all the events of the day as they occurred. He had watched, with a beating heart, the departure of the troops under Dunwoodie ind with difficulty had curbed his impatience until the obscurity of night should render his moving free from danger. 5. He had not, however, completed a fourth of his way to his own residence, when his quick ear distinguished the tread of the approaching horse. Trusting to the increasing darkness, he determined to persevere. By crouching and moving quickly along the surface of the ground, he hoped yet to escape unnoticed. Captain Lawton was too much engrossed in conversation to suffer his eyes to indulge in their usual wandering; and the peddler, perceiving by the voices that the enemy he most feared had passed, yielded to his impatience, and stood erect, in order to make greater progress. The moment his body arose above the shadow of the ground it was seen, and the chase commenced. 6. For a single instant Birch was helpless, his blood curdling in his veins at the imminence of the danger, and his legs refusing their natural, and what was now so necessary, office. But it was for a moment only. Casting his pack where he stood, and instinctively tightening the belt he wore, the peddler betook himself to flight. He new that by bringing himself in a line with his pursuers and the wood, his form would be lost to sight. This he soon effected, and he was straining every nerve to gain the wood itself, when several horsemen rode by him but a short distance on his left, and cut him off from this place of refuge. 7. The peddler threw himself on the ground as they came near him, and was in this manner passed unseen. But delay now became too dangerous for him to remain in that position. He accordingly arose, and, still keeping in the shadow of the wood, along the skirts of which he heard voices crying to each other to be watchful, he ran with incredible speed in a parallel line, but in an opposite direction, to the march of the dragoons. 8. The confusion of the chase had been heard by the whole of the men, though none distinctly understood the order of Lawton but those who followed. The remainder were lost in doubt as to the duty that was required of them; and the aforesaid cornet was making eager inquiries of the trooper near him on the subject, when a man, at a short distance in his rear, crossed the road at a single bound. At the same instant, the stentorian voice of Captain Lawton rang through the valley shouting—“ Harvey Birch!-take him, dead or alive!" 9. Fifty pistols lighted the scene instantly, and the bullets whistled in every direction round the head of the devoted peddler. A feeling of despair seized his heart, and he exclaimed bitterly-" Hunted like a beast of the forest! 10. He felt life and its accompaniments to be a burden, and was about to yield himself to his enemies. Nature, however, prevailed; he feared that if taken he would not be honored with the forms of a trial, but that most probably the morning sun would witness his ignominious execution; for he had already been condemned to death, and |