3. We better love the hardy gift Our rugged vales bestow, To cheer us, when the storm shall drift 4. Through vales of grass and meads of flowers, Our plows their furrows made, While on the hills the sun and showers 5. We dropped the seed o'er hill and plain, And frightened from our sprouting grain 6. All through the long, bright days of June, Its leaves grew green and fair, And waved in hot midsummer's noon 7. And now, with Autumn's moonlit eves, 8. There, richer than the fabled gift Fair hands the broken grain shall sift, 9. Let vapid idlers loll in silk, Give us the bowl of samp and milk, 10. Where'er the wide old kitchen-hearth Who will not thank the kindly earth 11. Then shame on all the proud and vain, 12. Let earth withhold her goodly root; Give to the worm the orchard's fruit, 13. But let the good old crop adorn Still let us, for his golden corn, From Whittier's "Songs of Labor." DEFINITIONS.-1. Hoard, a large quantity of any thing laid up. Lav'ish, profuse. 4. Meads, meadows. 9. Văp'id, spiritless, dull. Sămp, bruised corn cooked by boiling. NOTE.-8. According to the ancient fable, Apollo, the god of music, sowed the isle of Delos, his birth-place, with golden flowers, by the music of his lyre. XVII. THE VENOMOUS WORM. John Russell (b. 1793, d. 1863) graduated at Middlebury College, Vt., in 1818. He was at one time editor of the "Backwoodsman," published at Grafton, Ills., and later of the " Louisville Advocate." He was the author of many tales of western adventure and of numerous essays, sketches, etc. His language is clear, chaste and classical; his style concise, vigorous, and sometimes highly ornate. 1. WHO has not heard of the rattlesnake or copperhead? An unexpected sight of either of these reptiles will make even the lords of creation recoil; but there is a species of worm, found in various parts of this country, which conveys a poison of a nature so deadly that, compared with it, even the venom of the rattlesnake is harmless. To guard our readers against this foe of human kind is the object of this lesson. 2. This worm varies much in size. It is frequently an inch in diameter, but, as it is rarely seen except when coiled, its length can hardly be conjectured. It is of a dull lead color, and generally lives near a spring or small stream of water, and bites the unfortunate people who are in the habit of going there to drink. The brute creation it never molests. They avoid it with the same instinct that teaches the animals of India to shun the deadly cobra. 3. Several of these reptiles have long infested our settlements, to the misery and destruction of many of our fellowcitizens. I have, therefore, had frequent opportunities of being the melancholy spectator of the effects produced by the subtile poison which this worm infuses. 4. The symptoms of its bite are terrible. The eyes of the patient become red and fiery, his tongue swells to an immoderate size, and obstructs his utterance; and delirium of the most horrid character quickly follows. Sometimes, in his madness, he attempts the destruction of his nearest friends. 5. If the sufferer has a family, his weeping wife and helpless infants are not unfrequently the objects of his frantic fury. In a word, he exhibits, to the life, all the detestable passions that rankle in the bosom of a savage; and such is the spell in which his senses are locked, that no sooner has the unhappy patient recovered from the paroxysm of insanity occasioned by the bite, than he seeks out the destroyer for the sole purpose of being bitten again. 6. I have seen a good old father, his locks as white as snow, his step slow and trembling, beg in vain of his only son to quit the lurking-place of the worm. My heart bled when he turned away; for I knew the fond hope that his son would be the "staff of his declining years," had supported him through many a sorrow. 7. Youths of America, would you know the name of this reptile? It is called the WORM OF THE STILL. DEFINITIONS.-1. Rěp'tiles, animals that crawl, as snakes, lizards, etc. Re-coil', to start back, to shrink from. 2. Cobra, a highly venomous reptile inhabiting the East Indies. In-fest'ed, troubled, annoyed. 3. Sub'tile, acute, piercing. In-füş'eş, introduces. 4. Ob-strǎets', hinders. De-lir'i-um, a wandering of the mind. 5. Rănk'le, to rage. Păr'ox-ỹşm, a fit, a convulsion. 7. Worm, a spiral metallic pipe used in distilling liquors. Still, a vessel used in distilling or making liquors. XVIII. THE FESTAL BOARD. 1. COME to the festal board to-night, 2. Come to the festal board to-night, 3. Come to the festal board to-night, For friendship, there, with stronger chain, Devoted hearts already bound For good or ill, will bind again. I went. 4. Nature and art their stores outpoured 5. And years have flown; but where are now The guests, who round that table met? Rises their sun as gloriously As on the banquet's eve it set? 6. How holds the chain which friendship wove? It broke; and soon the hearts it bound Were widely sundered; and for peace, Envy, and strife, and blood were found. 7. The merriest laugh which then was heard, Has changed its tones to maniac screams, As half-quenched memory kindles up Glimmerings of guilt in feverish dreams. 8. And where is she, whose diamond eyes 9. Beneath yon willow's drooping shade, With eyes now dim, and lips all pale, She sleeps in peace. Read on her urn, "A broken heart." This tells her tale. |