EXERCISE XXXVIII.

THE SAME SUBJECT, CONCLUDED.

True to the moment Mr. Young had appointed for receiv ing the sketches he had purchased, Ludovico, now handsomely dressed, and with a cheerful countenance, set out for his house. He was shown by the servant into a large dining-parlor, at one end of which sat Mrs. Young, who, with a smiling face, pointed to a chair near her, showing him, by a glance of her eye, that Mr. Young was engaged at the other end of the room.

Just then, Ludovico perceived a boy about two years older, but not much taller, than himself, take a pen from Mr. Young, who was standing with him and an elderly gentleman, at the sideboard, on which was a parchment, that the young man signed; after which, the former, laying a number of bank-notes on the table, said, 'There, sir, is the three hundred and fifty pounds due to you, as an apprentice-fee: you will find them all right. My nephew shall come to you next Monday, as we agreed; and I hope you will find him a boy of genius.'

'I hope to find him diligent, and persevering,' said Mr. Young, in which case I will excuse the genius; for genius has, hitherto, been the plague of my life.'

You perfectly astonish me,' said the gentleman

That may be, sir; but if you had had half so much to do with men of genius, without thought, regularity, prudence, or management; boys of genius, who were headstrong, careless, self-willed, idle, and disorderly, as I have had, you would say as I do; that, even in a profession generally supposed to call for extraordinary genius, the qualities I have mentioned are worth the highest praise that can attach to it, ten times over; and, in fact, the highest praise of genius is this, that, in wellregulated minds, it becomes, and, in fact is, itself, a stimulus to industry.'

'You hear all this, Charles,' said the uncle; 'and I hope you will profit by it;' so saying, they departed together.

'You have heard all this, likewise; and I hope you believe it,' said Mr. Young to Ludovico.

'I do, indeed, sir: it is the language of my mother.'

'Then, perhaps, you would have no objection to do as that young man has done, sign an indenture, and become my apprentice.'

'O sir, I should be most happy! But that gentleman, sir, -I saw,—yes, I saw him

'You saw him give me a large sum of money, that I might give his nephew board and instruction for three years:- - he is seventeen years of age, you are fourteen; now, I will take you for five years, instead of three, for no money; on the consideration that you already possess much knowledge of drawing, and that the same industry, honesty, and affection, which you have displayed towards your parents, will be shown towards me.'

Ludovico would have assured his generous friend of all he felt; but his heart was too full for utterance: he cast his eye towards Mrs. Young.

'I see all you would say, my good boy,' said she, 'and feel assured that, for the first time in my life, I shall have an apprentice in my house whose conduct will be to his own honor and our satisfaction.'

'that

'Ever preserve, my good boy,' said Mr. Young, humble confidence in heaven, that pious observance of re ligious duties, which now actuates you; so shall your virtues strengthen with your years. From this hour we are agreed. I will prepare your indentures, and, on Monday, receive you at my house; so carry the news to your mother, from whom I must then receive you.'

EXERCISE XXXIX.

THE PLOUGH-BOY'S REPOSE.- Clare

The sinking sun is taking leave,
And sweetly gilds the edge of eve,
While huddling clouds of purple dye
Gloomy hang the western sky;
Crows flock croaking overhead,
Hastening to the woods to bed;

Cooing sits the lonely dove,
Calling home her absent love;
From the hay-cock's moistened heaps,

Startled frogs take vaulting leaps,

And along the shaven mead,
Jumping travellers, they proceed;
Quick the dewy grass divides,
Moistening sweet their speckled sides.
From the grass or floweret's cup,
Quick the dewdrop bounces up.
Now the blue fog creeps along,
And the bird's forgot his song;
Flowers now sleep within their hoods
Daisies button into buds;

From soiling dew the buttercup
Shuts his golden jewels up;
And the rose and woodbine, they
Wait again the smiles of May.
'Neath the willow's wavy boughs,
Dolly, singing, milks her cows:
While the brook, as bubbling by,
Joins in murmuring melody.
Swains to fold their sheep begin,
Dogs loud barking drive them in.
Hedgers now along the road

Homeward bend beneath their load,
And from the long furrowed seams,
Ploughmen loose their weary teams:
Ball, with urging lashes wealed,
Still so slow to drive a-field,
Eager, blundering from the plough,
Wants no whip to drive him now;
At the stable-door he stands,
Looking round for friendly hands
To loose the door its fastening pin,
And let him with his corn begin.
The night-wind, now, with sooty wings,
In the cotter's chimney sings,
Now, as stretching o'er the bed,
Soft I raise my drowsy head,
Listening to the whispering charms
That shake the elm tree's massy arms,
Till sweet slumbers stronger creep,·
Deeper darkness stealing round, –
Now, as rocked, I sink to sleep,
'Mid the wild wind's lulling sound.

EXERCISE XL.

THE SAILOR BOY.- Dr. Bacon.

At eight o'clock in the evening, the wind being still so strong that the brig was staggering under the few sails which she was carrying, there were appearances of the rapid approach of a violent squall, which made it necessary to reduce our canvass to the foretopsail and foresail. When the order was given to take in the jib, I went down into the cabin, and was trying to amuse myself in my solitude, when I was suddenly startled by a most dismal groaning sound, which seemed to come to me through the side of the vessel! Before I had time to ask or seek the cause of this strange noise, I heard a sharp, quick cry of alarm on deck, followed by the sound of a person rushing to the side of the brig, instantly succeeded by a stumble and a heavy fall, nearly over my head. The groaning noise meanwhile continued, sharpened into a cry of human agony and despair.

I sprang upon deck, and there saw the captain, both the mates, and two sailors, standing aft, and looking into the water behind us, motionless, and seemingly overwhelmed with distress; while from the sea, in our wake, came that awful cry, still loud and piercing, though receding fast; and to every scream the captain responded in tones of anguish,—'Oh! poor boy! poor boy! poor boy!' With a fearful guess of the nature of the accident, I called out, "What is it?' All the officers simultaneously answered me, 'The boy is overboard!' This was, indeed, the horrid fact.

Two sailors, with the boy, were occupied with furling the jib; he innermost, and in the most secure place, on the cap of the bowsprit, while they were out beyond him on the jib-boom; 'when suddenly, without any particular cause, he slipped from the place he was bestriding, and fell into the sea; the first notice of his fall being his cries, as he rose in the water.

The mate was on the bows at the time, superintending the execution of the order, and, as soon as he could speak, cried out, -"The boy's overboard!' Quick as light, both in thought and action, the captain sprung to the larboard rail, where the main brace, an immensely long line, which hung in a huge coil on a belaying-pin, nearly abreast of the companionway,

(our main brace belaying aft, contrary to the usual custom,) with the intention of throwing it over into the sea, when it would have gone many fathoms behind us, almost sure to have been grasped by the poor boy, who, in his agonizing and almost supernatural efforts, was still nearly keeping up with us, and had not yet fallen astern. It would have been his last chance of life; but it failed him. The deck was wet with the dashing waves; the captain's foot slipped; and he fell into the lee scuppers with violence, stunned for a moment, and severely bruised. When he rose to his feet, the wretched sufferer was far astern, beyond the reach of any such aid! Still the lost boy's unearthly scream,

'the bubbling cry

Of that strong swimmer in his agony,'

was ringing with dreadful distinctness in our ears; at intervals half obscured, as he descended into the hollows of the mountainous sea, and then pealing out again, with redoubled power, as the next rolling wave lifted him to its foaming top, for a moment. As I lingered, waiting for the sounds to cease, I suffered almost the horrors of death itself, in thus counting each heart-breaking degree of misery and aggravating despair, which I knew were coming over him, every moment, as he found the vessel receding, his strength and heart failing, and his appreciation of certain death increasing.

He was a native of Turk's Island, where he was brought up on the seashore, living half the time in the water, throughout the year, and, like all his almost amphibious countrymen, 'swimming like a fish.' I have no doubt that the wretched being swam for more than an hour after us, until at last the awful certainty of his terrible doom came over him; and there, alone amid the pitiless waves, - alone, alone in the wide waters of the cold ocean, abandoned by man, with no hope from heaven or earth,

He sunk into the depths with bubbling groan,

Without a grave; unknelled, uncoffined, and unknown.'

RULE FOR THE READING OF IMPRESSIVE NARRATIVES. Pieces which abound in striking incidents, should be read with the full effect of earnest and deep feeling. The reader should imagine the whole scene passing before him, and express himself with the vivid tones of an eyewitness.