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nuts, 2 beech-mast, grain, and the like, are usually in holes in the ground about the roots of trees, not far from the ordinary abode of the owner. The seeds of firs form a very considerable part of the winter food of squirrels, and to obtain them the scales are gnawed away from the cones. The squirrel is easily tamed, and is an amusing pet. It is almost in constant motion.

The grey squirrel of North America often visits cornfields and makes great devastation. It is much larger than the European species, and is trapped for its fur, which forms an article of commerce. This is one of the cheapest kinds of fur. The flying squirrels are well known by their power ordinary leaps through the air.

of making extraThey are enabled

to do this by a fold of skin at each side, which when spread by the extended paws forms a kind of 3 parachute that supports them in their passage. They inhabit woods, and the night is their time of activity. They feed not only on nuts and young shoots of trees, but also on small birds. They are extremely easy of domestication.

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'adroit, clever; dexterous. 2 beech-mast, the nuts of the beech tree. parachute, a contrivance somewhat in the form of an umbrella, by means of which anything can be sent down from a balloon without danger of too rapid motion. 1 domestication, being tamed.

"He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city.”

THE BROOK.

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I COME from 'haunts of 2 coot and hern, I make a sudden

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And sparkle out among the fern to bicker down a valley.

By thirty hills I hurry down, or slip between the ridges,

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By twenty thorps, a little town, and half a hundred bridges, Till last by Philip's farm I flow to join the brimming river, For men may come and men may go, but I go on for ever.

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I chatter over stony ways in little sharps and trebles,
I bubble into 'eddying bays, I babble on the pebbles;
With many a curve my bank I 10 fret, by many a field and

" fallow,

And many a fairy 12 foreland set with 13 willow-weed and mallow.

I chatter, chatter, as I flow to join the brimming river, For men may come and men may go, but I go on for ever.

I wind about, and in and out, with here a blossom sailing, And here and there a lusty "trout, and here and there a 15 grayling,

And here and there a "foamy flake upon me as I travel, With many a silvery "water break above the golden gravel, And draw them all along and flow to join the brimming river, For men may come and men may go, but I go on for ever.

I slip, I slide, I " gloom, I glance among my " skimming swallows;

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I make the netted sunbeam dance against my sandy 20 shallows;
I murmur under moon and stars in brambly " wildernesses;
I linger by my 22 shingly bars; I loiter round my cresses.
And out again I curve and flow to join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go, but I go on for ever.
23 Tennyson.

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1 haunts, places of favourite resort; to haunt a place is to be continually visiting it. "coot, a water-fowl usually found on large sheets of water. (See App.) hern, the heron, a wading bird with long legs and neck. (See App.) sally, a leaping or rushing out. 5 bicker means properly to quarrel; here, to rattle over the stones. 6 thorp, a small village, a little cluster of houses in the country. sharps and trebles, high tones or sounds. 8 chatter, bubble, babble, words expressive of the dif ferent sounds the brook makes in its course. eddying bays, bays full of little whirlpools. 10 fret, wear away by rubbing. "fallow, land that has lain a year or more ploughed, without being sown; so called because of the somewhat yellow colour of naked ground. 12 foreland, a headland, a piece of land projecting into the water. 13 willow-weed and mallow, plants growing freely by the water-side. Poultices are often made of mallow leaves, and applied to inflamed wounds. "trout, a river fish. (See App.) 15 grayling, a fish found in clear streams; flies and worms are its chief food. It sometimes attains the weight of four or five pounds. 16 foamy flake, a little mass of foam. "waterbreak, a ripple. 18 gloom, become dark or gloomy. 19 skimming swal

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shallows,

lows, swallows gliding swiftly along near the surface. parts of the stream where the water is not deep. wildernesses, tracts of land uninhabited and uncultivated. 22 shingly bars, pebbly ridges in the bed of the stream. Tennyson. Alfred Tennyson was born at Somersby, in Lincolnshire, in the year 1809. His poems are remarkable for a happy choice of words, grace and beauty of style, and harmony of versification. He has lived for the most part a retired life in the Isle of Wight, not much caring to cultivate society, but beloved by his intimate friends. Since the death of Wordsworth, in 1850, Tennyson has been poet-laureate.

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Ar one of the celebrated schools of painting in Italy, a young man, named Guidotto, produced a. piece so excellent, that it was the admiration of the masters in the art, who declared that he could not fail to rise to the summit of his profession, should he proceed as he had begun.

This achievement was looked upon with very different eyes by two of his fellow-students. Brunello, the elder of them, who had himself acquired some reputation in his studies, was mortified in the highest degree at this superiority of Guidotto; and regarding all the honour his rival had acquired as so much taken from himself, he conceived the most 2 rancorous dislike of him, and longed for nothing so much as to see him lose the credit he had gained.

Afraid openly to 3 decry the merit of a work which had obtained the approbation of the best judges, he threw out secret insinuations that Guidotto had been assisted in it by one or other of his masters; and he represented it as a sort of lucky hit, which the 5 reputed author would probably never equal.

Not so Lorenzo. Though a very young student, he comprehended in its full extent the excellence of Guidotto's performance, and became one of the sincerest of his admirers. He looked upon him as a fair model, which it was his highest ambition to equal-for he could not conceive the possibility of ever excelling him.

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Lorenzo entered with his whole soul into the career of improvement—was first to come and last to leave of all the scholars in the designing-room -and devoted to practice those hours which the other youths passed in amusement. It was long before he could please himself with any of his attempts, and he was continually repeating, "Alas! how far distant is this from Guidotto's!" At length, however, he had the satisfaction of becoming sensible of progress; and, having been greatly praised for one of his paintings, ventured to say to himself, "And why may not I too become a Guidotto?"

Meanwhile, Guidotto continued to bear away the 'palm from all competitors. Brunello struggled a while to contest with him, but at length gave up the point, and consoled himself by ill-natured 10 casm and petulant 12 criticism. Lorenzo worked away in silence, and it was long before his modesty

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