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She has thrown her bonnet by,
And her feet she has been dipping
In the shallow water's flow;
Now she holds them nakedly,
In her hands, all sleek and dripping,
While she rocketh to and fro.

Little Ellie sits alone;
And the smile she softly useth,

Fills the silence like a speech,
While she thinks what shall be done,
And the sweetest pleasure chooseth,
For her future within reach.

Little Ellie in her smile
Chooseth,-"I will have a lover,
Riding on a steed of steeds:
He shall love me without guile,
And to him I will discover

That swan's nest among the reeds.

"And the steed shall be red-roan, And the lover shall be noble,

With an eye that takes the breath;
And the lute he plays upon,

Shall strike ladies into trouble,

As his sword strikes men to death.

"And the steed it shall be shod

All in silver, housed in azure,

And the mane shall swim the wind,
And the hoofs along the sod,
Shall flash onward in a pleasure,
Till the shepherds look behind.

"But my lover will not prize All the glory that he rides in, When he gazes on my face,

He will say, 'O Love, thine eyes Build the shrine my soul abides in; And I kneel here for thy grace.'

"Then, ay, then, he shall kneel low, With the red-roan steed anear him, Which shall seem to understand, Till I answer, 'Rise and go! For the world must love and fear him Whom I gift with heart and hand.'

"Then he will arise so pale, I shall feel my own lips tremble With a yes I must not say.

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Nathless, maiden-brave, Farewell,' I will utter and dissemble,

'Light to-morrow with to-day.'

"Then he will ride through the hills
To the wide world past the river,
There to put away all wrong,
To make straight distorted wills,
And to empty the broad quiver
Which the wicked bear along.

"Three times shall a young foot-page Swim the stream, and climb the mountain, And kneel down beside my feet; 'Lo! my master sends this gage, Lady, for thy pity's counting!

What wilt thou exchange for it?'

"And the first time, I will send
A white rose-bud for a guerdon;
And the second time, a glove;
But the third time, I may bend
From my pride, and answer, Pardon,
If he comes to take my love.'

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"Then the young foot-page will run, Then my lover will ride faster, Till he kneeleth at my knee. 'I am a duke's eldest son, Thousand serfs do call me master, But, O Love! I love but thee.'

"He will kiss me on the mouth

Then; and lead me as a lover

Through the crowds that praise his deeds; And, when soul-tied by one troth,

Unto him I will discover

That swan's nest among the reeds!"

Little Ellie, with her smile

Not yet ended, rose up gayly,

Tied the bonnet, donned the shoe,
And went homeward, round, a mile,

Just to see, as she did daily,

What more eggs were there than two.

Pushing through the elm-tree copse,
Winding by the stream, light-hearted,
Where the osier path-way leads,

Past the boughs she stoops-and stops!
Lo! the wild swan had deserted,
And a rat had gnawed the reeds!

Ellie went home, sad and slow!
If she found the lover ever,

With his red-roan steed of steeds,
Sooth, I know not! but I know,
She could show him never-never,
That swan's nest among the reeds.

Miss E. B. BARRET.

LESSON X.

THE MOON AND STARS.

On the fourth day of creation, when the sun, after a glorious, but solitary course, went down in the evening, and darkness began to gather over the face of the uninhabited globe, already arrayed in the exuberance of vegetation, and prepared by the diversity of land and water, for the abode of uncreated animals and man,—a star, single and beautiful, stepped forth into the firmament. Trembling with wonder and delight in new-found existence, she looked abroad, and beheld nothing in heaven or on earth resembling herself. But she was not long alone; now one, then another, here a third, and there a fourth resplendent companion had joined her, till,light after light stealing through the gloom, in the lapse of an hour the whole hemisphere was brilliantly bespangled.

The planets and stars, with a superb comet, flaming in the zenith, for a while contemplated themselves and each other; and every one, from the largest to the least, was so perfectly well pleased with himself, that he imagined the rest only partakers of his felicity; he being the central luminary of his own universe, and all the hosts of heaven besides displayed around him in graduated splendor. Nor were any undeceived in regard to themselves, though all saw their associates in their real situations and relative proportions;-self-knowledge being the last knowledge acquired, either in the sky or below it;

till bending over the ocean in their turns, they discovered what they supposed at first to be a new heaven, peopled with beings of their own species. But when they perceived further, that no sooner had any one of their company touched the horizon than he instantly disappeared, they then recognized themselves, in their individual forms, reflected beneath, according to their places and configurations above, from seeing others, whom they previously knew, reflected in like manner.

By an attentive, but mournful self-examination in that mirror, they slowly learned humility; but every one learned it only for himself, none believing what others insinuated respecting their own inferiority, till they reached the western slope, from whence they could identify their true visages in the nether element. Nor was this very surprising; stars being only visible points, without any distinction of limbs, each was all eye; and though he could see others most correctly, he could neither see himself nor any part of himself, till he came to reflection. The comet, however, having a long train of brightness, streaming sun-ward, could review that, and did review it with ineffable self-complacence. Indeed, after all pretensions to precedence, he was at length acknowledged king of the hemisphere, if not by the universal assent, by the silent envy of all his rivals.

But the object which attracted most attention, and astonishment too, was a slender thread of light, that could scarcely be discerned through the blush of evening, and vanished soon after night-fall, as if ashamed to appear in so scanty a form, like an unfinished work of creation. It was the moon, the first new moon. Timidly, she looked around upon the glittering multitude that crowded the dark serenity of space, and filled it with life and beauty. Minute, indeed, they seemed to her, but perfect in symmetry, and formed to shine forever; while she was unshapen, incomplete, and evanescent. In her humility, she was glad to hide herself from their keen glances in the friendly bosom of the ocean, wishing for immediate extinction.

When she was gone, the stars looked one at another with inquisitive surprise, as much as to say, " What a figure!" It was so evident that they all thought alike, and thought contemptuously of the apparition, (though at first they almost doubted whether they should not be frightened,) that they soon began to

talk freely concerning her; of course, not with audible accents, but in the language of intelligent sparkles, in which stars are accustomed to converse with telegraphic precision from one end of heaven to the other, and which no dialect on earth so nearly resembles, as the language of the eyes,-the only one, probably, that has survived in its purity, not only the confusion of Babel, but the revolutions of all ages. Her crooked form and her shyness, were ridiculed and censured from pole to pole. For what purpose such a monster could have been created, not the wisest could conjecture; yet, to tell the truth, every one, though glad to be countenanced in the affectation of scorn by the rest, had secret misgivings concerning the stranger, and envied the delicate brilliancy of her light.

All the gay company, however, quickly returned to the admiration of themselves, and the inspection of each other. Thus, the first night passed away. But, when the east began to dawn, consternation seized the whole army of celestials, each feeling himself fainting into invisibility, and—as he feared—into nothingness, whilst his neighbors were, one after another, totally disappearing. At length the sun arose, and filled the heavens, and clothed the earth with his glory. How he spent that day, belongs not to this history; but it is elsewhere recorded, that, for the first time from eternity, the lark, on the wings of the morning, sprang up to salute him; the eagle, at noon, looked undazzled on his splendor; and, when he went down beyond the deep, the leviathan was sporting amid the multitude of waves.

J. MONTGOMERY.

LESSON XI.

THE SAME, CONCLUDED.

In the evening, the vanished constellations again gradually awoke, and, on opening their eyes, were so rejoiced at meeting together, not one being wanting of last night's levee, that they were in the highest good humor with themselves and one another. Decked in all their beams, and darting their benignest influence, they exchanged smiles and endearments, and made vows of affection, eternal and unchangeable; while, from this nether orb the song of the nightingale arose out of darkness, and charmed

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