white-meated turnip, snatched from the field he passed through, with incredible relish. Afoot and in the open road, one has a fair start in life at last. There is no hindrance now. Let him put his 5 best foot forward. He is on the broadest human plane. This is on the level of all the great laws and heroic deeds. From this platform he is eligible to any good fortune. He was sighing for the golden age; let him walk to it. Every step brings him nearer. The youth of the 10 world is but a few days' journey distant. Indeed, I know persons who think they have walked back to that fresh aforetime of a single bright Sunday in autumn or early spring. Before noon they felt its airs upon their cheeks, and by nightfall, on the banks of 15 some quiet stream, or along some path in the wood, or on some hilltop, they aver they have heard the voices and felt the wonder and the mystery that so enchanted the early races of men. I do not think I exaggerate the importance or the 20 charms of pedestrianism, or our need as a people to cultivate the art. I think it would tend to soften the national manners, to teach us the meaning of leisure, to acquaint us with the charms of the open air, to strengthen and foster the tie between the race and the land. No one 25 else looks out upon the world so kindly and charitably as the pedestrian; no one else gives and takes so much from the country he passes through. Next to the laborer in the fields, the walker holds the closest relation to the soil; and he holds a closer and more vital relation to nature because he is freer and his mind more at leisure. Man takes root at his feet, and at best he is no more than a potted plant in his house or carriage till he has 5 established communication with the soil by the loving and magnetic touch of his soles to it. Then the tie of association is born; then spring those invisible fibers and rootlets through which character comes to smack of the soil, and which make a man kindred to the spot of earth 10 he inhabits. The roads and paths you have walked along in summer and winter weather, the fields and hills you have looked upon in lightness and gladness of heart, where fresh thoughts have come into your mind, or some noble pros- 15 pect has opened before you, and especially the quiet ways where you have walked in sweet converse with your friend, pausing under the trees, drinking at the spring, henceforth they are not the same; a new charm is added; these thoughts spring there perennial, your friend walks 20 there forever. "gay, fresh sentiment of the road": from Whitman's poem on “The Open Road.". Thoreau a great lover of nature who lived for a while on the shores of Walden Pond in the woods of Concord, Mass. He was one of Emerson's friends. persimmons: fruit like plums, found in many sections of this country. - golden age: a fabled period of simple happiness in the early history of the world. — smack of: show association with.- con'verse : familiar talk. In this, as in many similar cases, the noun takes the accent on the first syllable, while in the verb the accent is thrown upon the last. THE BURIAL OF GRANT RICHARD WATSON GILDER RICHARD WATSON GILDER is an American poet who has had a keen interest in artistic, literary, and social progress. He has been for many years editor of the Century Magazine. NOTE. This poem was written on the occasion of General Grant's 5 funeral, August 8, 1885. His burial place is at Riverside Park, New York City, on the banks of the Hudson River. Ye living soldiers of the mighty war, Once more from roaring cannon, and the drums, 15 20 And come ye, too, bright spirits of the dead, Ye who flamed heavenward from the embattled field; And whose harder fate it was to yield ye Life from the loathful prison or anguished bed; Dear ghosts! come join your comrades here Nor be ye absent, ye immortal band, Warriors of ages past, and our own age,— Nor ever struck one vengeful blow, And fail not ye, but, ah, ye falter not To join his army of the dead and living, Ye who once felt his might, and his forgiving; Brothers, whom more in love than hate he smote. For all his countrymen make room By our great hero's tomb! Come soldiers, not to battle as of yore, But come to weep; ay, shed your noblest tears; How long grim Death he fought and well, All's over now; here let our Captain rest, Silent amid the blare of praise and blame; Here in the city's heart he loved the best, As brave as he he on whose iron arm - Our Greatest leaned, our gentlest and most wise; Leaned when all other help seemed mocking lies, While this one soldier checked the tide of harm, And they together saved the state, And made it free and great. 5 10 15 20 25 WATERLOO WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY (1811-1863) was born in India. He became one of the greatest of English novelists. He studied law in London and afterwards went to Paris and studied art, but finally chose literature as his profession. Among his famous novels are "Pendennis,” “The 5 Newcomes," "Vanity Fair," and "Henry Esmond." An American critic, on being asked which of these he liked best, replied, "The one I read last." Thackeray also wrote some verse. NOTE. The battle of Waterloo, in Belgium, was fought on the 18th of June, 1815, between Napoleon's French troops on one side and the 10 English and Prussians on the other. Napoleon was conquered. Afterwards he was banished to the island of St. Helena. We of peaceful London City have never beheld — and please God shall never witness—such a scene of hurry and alarm as that which Brussels presented. All that day, 15 from morning until past sunset, the cannon never ceased to roar. It was dark when the cannonading stopped. All of us have read of what occurred during that interval. The tale is in every Englishman's mouth; and you and I, who were children when the great battle was 20 won and lost, are never tired of hearing and recounting the history of that famous action. Its remembrance rankles still in the bosoms of millions of the countrymen of those brave men who lost the day. They pant for an opportunity of revenging that humilia25 tion; and if a contest, ending in a victory on their part, |