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Joan resumed her tale of woes;
When Darby said, "I'll end the strife;
Be you the man, and I the wife;
Take you the scythe and mow, while I
Will all your boasted cares supply."

"Content!" quoth Joan; "give me thy stent."
This Darby did, and out she went.

3. Darby arose, and seized the broom,
And whirled the dirt about the room;
Which having done, he scarce knew how,
He hied to milk the brindle cow.

The brindle cow whisked round her tail
In Darby's eyes, and kicked the pail.

4. The clown, perplexed with grief and pain,
Swore he'd ne'er try to milk again;
When turning round, in sad amaze,
He saw his cottage in a blaze;

For, as he chanced to brush the room,
In careless haste, he fired the broom.
The fire at last subdued, he swore

The broom and he should meet no more.

5. Pressed by misfortune, and perplexed,
Darby prepared for breakfast next;
But what to get he scarcely knew;
The bread was spent, the butter too;
His hands bedaubed with paste and flour,
Old Darby labored full an hour;
But, hapless wight! he could not make
The dough take form of loaf or cake.

6. As every door wide open stood,
In came the pig in quest of food;
And, stumbling onward, with her snout
O'erset the churn - the cream ran out.
As Darby turned the pig to beat,
The slippery cream betrayed his feet;
He caught the bread-trough in his fall,
And down came Darby, trough and all.

7. The children, wakened by the clatter,
Start up, and cry, "Oh! what's the matter!
Old Jowler barked, and Tabby mewed,
And hapless Darby bawled aloud,
"Return, my Joan, as heretofore;
I'll play the housewife's part no more.

8. "I see, by sad experience taught,
Compared to thine, my work is naught;
Henceforth, as business calls, I'll take,
Content, the plow, the scythe, the rake;

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And never will transgress the line

Our fates have marked while thou art mine."

9. Thus Darby spoke; and smiling Joan
Replied, for she had wiser grown,-

'My work to-day has served to show
The weight of care thy heart must know;
I'll vex thy honest soul no more
By scolding, as I've done before;
Let each his proper task attend,
Forgive the past, and try to mend."

ANONYMOUS.

LESSON XVI.

BASTE, to drip butter or gravy upon meat while roasting. In colloquial language, baste and roast often mean make sport of.

BOLT, an arrow. Bolt upright, as erect
as an arrow placed on its head, per-
fectly upright.

FELLOW, a companion; in vulgar lan-
guage, a person.
GE'NI-AL, cheerful, enlivening.

LIT'ER-AL-LY, according to the letter;
not figuratively.

SOME THING WARM, a vulgar expression
for ardent spirits warmed.
SPAS-MOD'IC, consisting in spasms, con-
vulsive.

CAT'A-RACT, (from a Greek word mean-
ing to break or fall with violence) a
great fall of water, or cascade.

PRONUNCIATION.-I'ron 11, hick'o-ry 3d, pro-duc'tion 2d, tor-ment'or 1g, and 33, pierce 22, lit'er-al-ly 36, mis'chiev-ous 32a, win' dow 6, something 12.

A CHRISTMAS-GOOSE.

1. THE scene of our story is a country store. The shelves all around are full of goods. A counter runs along the side. Boxes and barrels are seen on the floor. In the corner is a capacious iron stove, through whose openings a bright hickory fire pours a genial heat.

2. The time is a cold winter evening just before Christmas. Snow lies deep on the ground. A bitter wind drives man and beast to shelter.

3. Customers have completed their purchases, and gone to their homes. No one remains but one lounger, whose character in the neighborhood is not above suspicion. We shall call him Seth.

4. It was growing dark. "I suppose," said the dealer, "it is about time to close doors for the night. I will step out and fasten the window-shutters."

5. While standing in the snow outside he looked through the glass, and by the light of the blazing hickory saw Seth reach out his hand, grab a pound of fresh butter from a shelf, and hastily conceal it in his hat.

6. The trader was without malice in his disposition. Instead of

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getting angry, he determined to take pay for the butter in amusement. 7. He entered and closed the door. "I say, Seth," exclaimed he, rubbing his hands and stamping the snow off his shoes—“I say, Seth, it is terribly cold."

8. Seth had his hand on the door, his hat on his head, and the roll of new butter in his hat, anxious to get away as soon as possible. 9. "I say, Seth, sit down. I think now, on such a biting night as this, a little of something warm would not hurt a fellow. Come, sit down."

10. Seth did not know what to do. He had the butter; he was exceedingly anxious to be off, but the temptation of "something warm" was extremely enticing.

11. His hesitation was soon brought to an end. The trader took him by the shoulder and planted him in a seat close to the stove. Here he was so hemmed in by barrels and boxes that, if the grocer sat before him, there would be no possibility of getting out. Right in this very place the grocer took his seat.

12. "Seth," said he, as he opened the stove-door, and stuffed in as many sticks as the space would admit, "Seth, we will have a little warm toddy. Without it you would freeze going home on such a night as this.”

13. Seth already felt the butter settling down close to his hair. He jumped up, declaring he must go. "Not till you have something warm, Seth. Come, I have a story to tell you, too—sit down now; and Seth was again pushed into his seat by his cunning tormentor.

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14. "Oh! it is too outrageously hot here," said the petty thief, again attempting to rise. "Sit down, do not be in such a furious hurry," returned the grocer, pushing him back into his chair.

"But I have the cows to fodder, and some wood to split, and I must go," continued the unhappy victim.

15. "But you must not tear yourself away, Seth, in this manner. Sit down; let the cows take care of themselves, and keep yourself cool-you appear to be uneasy," said the roguish grocer, with a mischievous look.

16. The next thing was the production of two smoking glasses of hot rum-toddy. Now, in ordinary circumstances, Seth was very fond of rum-toddy; but in his present situation, the very sight of it would have made the hair stand erect upon his head, had it not been well oiled and kept down by the butter.

17. "I wish you a merry Christmas, Seth; and a good Christmasdinner,―a nice Christmas-goose for instance, well roasted and basted. I tell you, Seth, they may say what they please about turkeys; but for Christmas give me a goose. It is the best eating in creation. There is great sport in the roasting and the basting of a Christmas-goose.

18. "And, Seth, never use hogs' lard, or common cooking-butter, to baste with. Fresh lump-butter, just the same as you see on the shelf yonder, is the only proper thing in nature to baste a goose with. Come, take your butter,-I mean, Seth, take your toddy."

19. Hitherto the grocer had spoken with such perfect simplicity that poor Seth still believed himself unsuspected. But now the truth began to pierce his brain. He could not utter a word in reply. His mouth was sealed, as if he had been born dumb.

20. Streak after streak of the butter came pouring from under his hat; and his handkerchief was already soaked with the greasy overflow. Talking away, as if nothing was the matter, the grocer kept stuffing the wood into the stove, while poor Seth sat bolt upright, with his back against the counter, and his knees almost touching the red-hot furnace before him.

21. "Terribly cold night this!" said the grocer. "Why, Seth, you seem to perspire; you must be warm! Why do you not take your hat off? Here, let me put your hat away."

22. "No!" exclaimed poor Seth at last, with a spasmodic effort to get his tongue loose, and clapping both hands upon his hat; "no! I must go let me out-I am not well-let me go!"

23. A greasy cataract was now pouring down the poor fellow's face and neck. It soaked into his clothes, and trickled down his body into his very boots, so that he was in a bath of oil.

24. "Well, good night, Seth, if you will go," said the humorous trader; adding, as Seth got into the road, "Neighbor, I reckon the sport I have had out of you is worth a shilling; so I shall not charge you with that pound of butter!”

ANONYMOUS.

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CAN'O-PY, tent, dwelling place.

PAR A-PHRASE, a free translation, fol.

lowing the sense but not the words of the original.

PRONUNCIATION.- Dew 16, mer ́cies 9, glo'ri-ous 3c, firm 9.

PARAPHRASE OF PSALM CIV.

1. Ou, worship the King
All glorious above!
Oh, gratefully sing
His power and His love.
2. Oh, tell of His might,

Oh, sing of His grace,
Whose robe is the light,
Whose
canopy space!

3. His bountiful care

What tongue can recite?

It breathes in the air,

It shines in the light.

4. It streams from the hills,
It descends to the plain,
And sweetly distils

In the dew and the rain.
5. His mercies how tender,
How firm to the end!
Our Maker, Defender,
Redeemer, and Friend!

DI-LATED, expanded.

LESSON XVIII.

MIM'IC, imitating, made in imitation.
TAW'NY, of a yellowish dark color.

TUR BU-LENT, tumultuous, being in violent commotion.

WONT'ED (Wunted), accustomed, usual.

PRONUNCIATION.-O-ver-flow'ing 12, window 6, and 29, a-gain' 33, neigh'bor-ing 3d, com-mo'tion 1g, mim'ic le, treach'er-ous 3b, tur'bu-lent 2e, fur'rowed 6, di-la'ted 2c, shel'ter-ing 3b, pas'tures 17, ev'er-y 3b.

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1. How beautiful is the rain!

After the dust and heat, in the broad and fiery street,
And in the narrow lane,

How beautiful is the rain!

2. How it clatters upon the roofs,
Like the tramp of hoofs!
How it gushes and struggles out
From the throat of the overflowing spout!
Across the window-pane,

It pours and pours;

And swift and wide, with a muddy tide,
Like a river down the gutter roars
The rain, the welcome rain.

3. The sick man from his chamber looks
At the gurgling brooks;

He can feel the cool

Breath of each little pool;

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