Sparkles, as 'twere that lightning gem When 'stead of one unchanging breeze, And waft no other breath than theirs! 30 Too newly to be quite at rest! Such was the golden hour that broke 35 Rippling against the vessel's side, As slow it mounted o'er the tide. Moore. Lalla Rookh. 1. Mention all the things you consider to be signs of a fine day to-morrow. 2. Explain the expressions "warring winds," "precious balm,” "vassal breezes,' ," "mantling all," "golden hour." 3. Find other words that would have nearly the same meaning as calm, bright, rude, pure, precious, gentle, rippling. Pre'-ci-ous. Vas'-sal, servant. THE OLD STAGE COACH AND COACHMAN. I. WHEREVER an English stage-coachman may be seen, he cannot be mistaken for one of any other craft or mystery. He has commonly a broad, full face, curiously mottled with red, as if the blood had been forced by hard feeding into every vessel of the skin; he is swelled into jolly dimensions by frequent potations of malt liquors, and his bulk is still further increased by a multiplicity of coats, in which he is buried like a cauliflower, the upper one reaching to his heels. 2. He wears a broad-brimmed, low-crowned hat ; a huge roll of coloured handkerchief about his neck, knowingly knotted and tucked in at the bosom; and has in summertime a large bouquet of flowers in his button-hole; the present, most probably, of some enamoured country lass. His waistcoat is commonly of some bright colour, striped, and his small clothes extend far below the knees, to meet a pair of jockeyboots which reach about half-way up his legs. 3. All this costume is maintained with much precision; he has a pride in having his clothes of excellent materials; and, notwithstanding the seeming grossness of his appearance, there is still discernible that neatness and propriety of person which is almost inherent in an Englishman. 4. He enjoys great consequence and consideration along the road; has frequent conferences with the village housewives, who look upon him as a man of . IV, D great trust and dependence; and he seems to have a good understanding with every bright-eyed country lass. 5. The moment he arrives where the horses are to be changed, he throws down the reins with something of an air, and abandons the cattle to the care of the ostler; his duty being merely to drive from one stage to another. When off the box, his hands are thrust into the pockets of his great coat, and he rolls about the inn yard with an air of the most absolute lordliness. 6. Here he is generally surrounded by an admiring throng of ostlers, stable-boys, shoeblacks, and those nameless hangers-on that infest inns and taverns, and run errands, and do all kinds of odd jobs, for the privilege of battening on the drippings of the kitchen and the leakage of the tap-room. 7. These all look up to him as to an oracle; treasure up his cant phrases; echo his opinions about horses and other topics of jockey lore; and above all endeavour to imitate his air and carriage. Every ragamuffin that has a coat to his back thrusts his hands in the pockets, rolls in his gait, and is an embryo cockney. 8. Perhaps it might be owing to the pleasing serenity that reigned in my own mind, that I fancied I saw cheerfulness in every countenance throughout the journey. A stage coach, however, carries animation along with it, and puts the world in motion as it whirls along. The horn sounded at the entrance of a village, produces a general bustle. 9. Some hasten forth to meet friends, some with bundles and bandboxes to secure places, and in the hurry of the moment can hardly take leave of the group that accompanies them. In the meantime the coachman has a world of small commissions to execute. 10. Sometimes he delivers a hare or pheasant ; sometimes jerks a small parcel or newspaper to the door of a public-house; and sometimes, with knowing look and words of sly import, hands to some halfblushing, half-laughing housemaid an odd-shaped billet-doux from some rustic admirer. As the coach rattles through the village, every one runs to the window, and you have glances on every side of fresh country faces and blooming giggling girls. II. At the corners are assembled juntos of village idlers and wise men, who take their stations there for the important purpose of seeing company pass; but the sagest knot is generally at the blacksmith's, to whom the passing of the coach is an event fruitful of much speculation. 12. The smith, with the horse's heel in his lap, pauses as the vehicle whirls by; the cyclops round the anvil suspend their ringing hammers, and suffer the iron to grow cool; and the sooty spectre in brown paper cap, labouring at the bellows, leans on the handle for a moment, and permits the asthmatic engine to heave a long-drawn sigh, while he glares through the murky smoke and sulphureous gleams of the smithy. Washington Irving. A mystery, better spelt mistery, is a trade or handicraft, from the Latin ministerium. Junto is a Spanish word, derived originally from the Latin, meaning a band or knot of persons, a committee. Ostler, sometimes written hostler, was one who belonged to a hotel or "hostel," and looked after the horses; "a hosteler." An Oracle was a place, where-according to the belief of the ancient Greeks and Romans-revelations were made to men from the god who was supposed to inhabit it. Ragamuffin is a word of uncertain origin. Shakespere writes it rag of muffin. Cyclops, or, more properly, Cyclopes, were monstrous giants, according to the ancients, who had each of them one eye in the middle of his forehead, and helped the god of Fire to forge thunderbolts. 1. Give as accurate a description as you can of a railway-carriage, either second or third class. 2. What good can "malt liquor" do you, and what harm can it do you? Give your answer at full length. 3. Give for each of the following words three synonymes, or words meaning much the same thing: ism, crowd, privileges, ragamuffin. OPEN the door, some pity to show! Keen blows the northern wind! The glen is white with the drifted snow, |