stroll in the woods, far away from his home, with no one to guide his course but his own childish fancies, secure in the protection of his mute attendant. I have seen him sleeping beneath a hedge, his innocent head pillowed upon the faithful creature, his little arms twined around its neck.

For more than a year, they led this kind of itinerant life; and as they always returned ere nightfall, and the boy grew in strength, the father took little heed of either.

There was something remarkable about the dog and child: both seemed to shun communion with their kind, attaching themselves solely to each other. When weary, the child occasionally sought his desolate home, and, if pressed by hunger, stopped on the way, to solicit from some charitable neighbor a slice of bread:-food was never refused him, either for himself or the friend accompanying him.

At length, the child sickened and died, also; owing, probably, to exposure and neglect. When the neighbors went to administer to his necessities, during the illness, he was always found lying with his head resting upon the dog's shaggy neck, with one of his arms twined around it, and thus drew his latest breath.

The child was buried; and, from this time, the dog drooped and pined away. No efforts were found successful to lure him from the grave. The food with which he was daily supplied remained untasted; until one morning, the miserable father, who had lived to see his household destroyed, and his hearth desolate, found the little mound which covered his child scratched up to a considerable depth, with the lifeless remains of the faithful dog lying in the cavity.

EXERCISE X.

THE BLUE-BIRD.-A. Wilson

[The principal object of attention, in the reading of this piece, should be, to keep from a 'cantering' movement of voice, which follows too closely the mere sound of the verse, and makes it offensive to the ear. Metre such as the following should always be read with a very light and delicate marking. Pupils, whose ear inclines

too much to mechanical sound in verse, will be enabled to throw off their faulty style, by writing out the whole piece on a slate, in the form of prose, and practising it, first, as a prose lesson, and, afterwards, gradually increasing the metrical effect, till the proper style of verse is attained, without exaggeration,

When winter's cold tempest and snows are no more,
Green meadows and brown furrowed fields reappearing,
The fisherman hauling his net to the shore,

And cloud-cleaving geese to the far lakes are steering;
When first the lone butterfly flits on the wing,

When red glow the maples, so fresh and so pleasing,
Oh! then comes the blue-bird, the herald of spring!
And hails, with his warbling, the charms of the season.

He flits through the orchard, he visits each tree;

In the red glowing peach, or the apple's sweet blossom He hunts the destroyers, wherever they be,

He seizes the caitiffs that lurk in its bosom ;

He draws the vile grub from the corn it devours,

The worms from their webs, where they riot and welter: His song and his services freely are ours;

And all that he asks is, in summer, a shelter.

The ploughman is pleased, when he gleans in his train;
Now searching the furrows, now mounting to cheer him ;
The gardener delights in his sweet simple strain,

And leans on his spade to survey and to hear him; The slow-lingering school-boy forgets he 'll be chid, While gazing intent, as he warbles before him,

In mantle of sky blue, and bosom so red,

That each little loiterer seems to adore him.

When all the gay scenes of the summer are o'er,
And autumn slow enters, so silent and sallow,
And millions of warblers that charmed us before,
Have fled in the train of the sun-seeking swallow;
The blue-bird, forsaken, yet true to his home,
Still lingers, and looks for a milder to-morrow,
Till, forced by the horrors of winter, to roam,
He sings his adieu, in a lone note of sorrow.

EXERCISE XI.

GIVING A TIGER A PINCH OF SNUFF.- Anon.

[As an exercise in reading, the following anecdote exemplifies the style of brisk and animated narrative. The voice should have a vivid and spirited expression throughout the piece.]

Dr. Dunlap, while in the East Indies, conquered a royal tiger, with a bladder of Scotch snuff. The doctor having crossed the river Ganges, with his quarterly allowance (seven pounds) of snuff, observed a tiger, at some distance. Being without guns, he ordered his men to use their oars as weapons of defence. They formed into a close column, with their backs to windward, whilst the doctor emptied the contents of a bladder into a piece of canvass, and danced upon it till it became as fine as dust.

The tiger continued winding, and occasionally crouched. When he approached within twenty yards of the party, the doctor discharged about half a pound of the ammunition, part of which was carried by a strong wind into the face of the tiger. The tiger growled, shook his head, and retreated.

In a few minutes, he returned to the charge, approaching the party cautiously, rubbing his eyes with his fore-legs. When within about fifteen yards of the party, he again crouched, and was preparing to make his murderous spring; but the doctor and his party let fly at him about two pounds of snuff, which told well; for the royal tiger commenced roaring, and, springing into the Ganges, fled to the opposite shore.

For this achievement the doctor received two hundred rupees, a silver snuff-box, and the title of Tiger from a native prince.

RULE FOR THE READING OF ANIMATED NARRATIVES.

Care should be taken, in the reading of such pieces, to avoid a cold and dead tone of voice. But the liveliness of the expression, should, at the same time, be perfectly free from an air of affectation and

smartness.

- EXERCISE XII.

THE REFORMED CROWS. Anon.

[This piece is an exercise designed to exemplify lively and humorous expression. The style of voice which is required, in the reading, is, at first, serious, but gradually increases in humorous effect, till it becomes that of a person in high glee, telling a laughable story, and describing every thing with the tone of his voice, as well as his words. A grave, heavy, 'hum-drum' style is the great fault to be avoided in pieces which are intended for humor and drollery.]

เ

Colonel B- has one of the best farms on the Illinois river. About one hundred acres of it are now covered with waving corn. When it came up in the spring, the crows seemed determined on its entire destruction. When one was killed, it seemed as though a dozen came to its funeral; and though the sharp crack of the rifle often drove them away, they always returned with its echo.

The colonel,

like the man in the fable, when laughed at by the boy who was robbing his orchard, became weary of throwing 'grass,' and resolved on trying the virtue of 'stones.' He sent, therefore, to the druggist for a gallon of alcohol, in which he soaked a few quarts of corn, and scattered it over his field. The blacklegs came, and partook with their usual relish; and, as usual with other partakers of alcohol, they were pretty well corned; and such a cooing and cackling, --such strutting and staggering!

When the boys attempted to catch them, they were not a little amused at their staggering gait, and their zigzag way through the air. At length they gained the edge of the wood; and there they united at the top of their voices in haw-hawhawking, and shouting either the praises or curses of alcohol; it was difficult to tell which, as they rattled away without rhyme or reason.

But the colonel saved his corn. As soon as they became sober, they set their faces steadfastly against alcohol. Not another kernel would they touch, in his field, lest it should contain the accursed thing; while they went and pulled up the corn of his neighbors. They have too much respect for their character, black as they are, again to be found drunk.

EXERCISE XIII.

THE TRAVELLER'S RETURN.- Southey.

Sweet, to the morning traveller,
The song amid the sky;
Where, twinkling in the dewy light,
The sky-lark soars on high!

And cheering to the traveller
The gales that round him play,
When, faint and heavily, he drags
Along his noontide way.

And when, beneath the unclouded sun,

Full wearily toils he,

The flowing water makes to him
A soothing melody.

And when the evening light decays,
And all is calm around,

There is sweet music to his ear,

In the distant sheep-bell's sound.

But oh! of all delightful sounds,
Of evening or of morn,

The sweetest is the voice of Love,
That welcomes his return.

EXERCISE XIV.

.

DETERMINED BRAVERY.-Fraser.

[An example of serious but animated narrative, requiring distinct and energetic expression. Any approach to feebleness, languor, or slackness of style, destroys the proper effect of such pieces.]

When Timour Meerza, one of the Persian princes, who visited London, a few years ago, was but seventeen years of age, he attended the late Shah on a hunting party, among