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of his arrow and interposed between him and his pursuers who were about to cut him in pieces they retired with respect the old man then took the officer by the hand soothed him into confidence by caresses and having conducted him to his hut treated him with a kindness which did honor to his professions he made him less a slave than a companion taught him the language of the country and 3 instructed him in the rude arts that are practised by the inhabitants they lived together in the most perfect harmony and the young officer in the treatment he met with found nothing to regret but that sometimes the old man fixed his eyes upon him and having regarded him for some minutes with a steady and silent attention burst into tears.

In the mean time the spring returned and the Indians again took the field the old man who was still vigorous and able to bear the fatigues of war set out with them and was accompanied by his prisoner they marched above two 4 hundred leagues across the forest and came at length to a plain where the British forces were encamped the old mar showed his prisoner the tents at a distance there says he are thy countrymen there is the enemy who wait to give us battle remember that I have saved thy life that I have taught thec to conduct a canoe to arm thyself with a bow and arrows and to surprise the beaver in the forest what wast thou when I first took thee to my hut thy hands were those of an infant they could neither procure thee sustenance nor safety thy soul was in utter darkness thou wast 5 ignorant of every thing thou owest all things to me wilt thou then go over to thy nation and take up the hatchet against us the officer replied that he would rather lose his own life than take away that of his deliverer.

The Indian bending down his head and covering his face with both his hands stood some time silent then looking earnestly at his prisoner he said in a voice that was at once softened by tenderness and grief hast thou a father my father said the young man was alive when I left my country alas said the Indian how wretched must he be he 6 paused a moment and then added dost thou know that I have been a father I am a father no more I saw my son fall in battle he fought at my side I saw him expire he was covered with wounds when he fell dead at my feet.

He pronounced these words with the utmost vehemence

his body shook with a universal tremor he was almost stifled with sighs which he would not suffer to escape him there was a keen restlessness in his eye but no tears flowed to his relief at length he became calm by degrees and turning towards the east where the sun had just risen dost thou see said he to the young officer the beauty of that sky which sparkles with prevailing day and hast thou pleasure in the sight yes replied the young officer I have pleasure in the beauty of so fine a sky I have none said the Indian and his tears then found their way a few minutes after he showed the young man a magnolia in full bloom dost thou see that beautiful tree said he and dost thou look upon it with pleasure yes replied the officer I look with pleasure upon that beautiful tree I have no longer any pleasure in looking upon it said the Indian hastily and immediately added go return to thy 8 father that he may still have pleasure when he sees the sun rise in the morning and the trees blossom in the spring.

1

LESSON XI.

On Misspent Time.-ADDISON.

I was conveyed methought in my dream into the entrance of the infernal regions where I saw Rhadamanthus one of the judges of the dead seated on his tribunal on his left hand stood the keeper of Erebus* on his right the keeper of Elysiumf I was told he sat upon women that day there being several of the sex lately arrived who had not yet their mansions assigned them I was surprised to hear him ask every one of them the same question namely what they had been doing upon this question being proposed to the whole assembly they stared one upon another as not know2 ing what to answer he then interrogated each of them separately madam says he to the first of them you have been upon the earth about fifty years what have you been doing there all this while doing says she really I do not know what I have been doing I desire I may have time given me to recollect after about a half an hour's pause she told him

*Erebus. The place of punishment for the wicked.
+ Elysium., The abode of the good after death.

that she had been playing at crimp upon which Rhadamanthus beckoned to the keeper on his left hand to take her into custody and you madam says the judge that look with such a soft and languishing air I think you set out for this place 3 in your nine and twentieth year what have you been doing all this while I had a great deal of business on my hands says she being taken up the first twelve years of my life in dressing a jointed baby and all the remaining part of it in reading plays and romances very well says he you have employed your time to good purpose away with her the next was a plain country woman well mistress says Rhadamanthus and what have you been doing an't please your worship says she I did not live quite forty years and in that time brought my husband seven daughters made him nine 4 thousand cheeses and left my youngest daughter with him to look after his house in my absence and who I may venture to say is as pretty a housewife as any in the country Rhadamanthus smiled at the simplicity of the good woman and ordered the keeper of Elysium to take her into his care and you fair lady says he what have you been doing these five and thirty years I have been doing no hurt I assure you sir said she that is well said he but what good have you been doing the lady was in great confusion at this question and not knowing what to answer the two keepers leaped 5 out to seize her at the same time the one took her by the hand to convey her to Elysium the other caught hold of her to carry her away to Erebus but Rhadamanthus observing an ingenuous modesty in her countenance and behavior bid them both let her loose and set her aside for re-examination when he was more at leisure an old woman of a proud and sour look prescuted herself next at the bar and being asked what she had been doing truly said she I lived threescore and ten years in a very wicked world and was so angry at the behavior of a parcel of young flirts that I 6 passed most of my last years in condemning the follies of the times I was every day blaming the silly conduct of people about me in order to deter those I conversed with from falling into the like errors and miscarriages very well says Rhadamanthus but did you keep the same watchful eye over your own actions why truly said she I was so taken up with publishing the faults of others that I had no time to consider my own madam said Rhadamanthus be pleased to

file off to the left and make room for the venerable matron that stands behind you old gentlewoman says he I think 7 you are fourscore you have heard the question what have you been doing so long in the world ah sir said she I have been doing what I should not have done but I had made a firm resolution to have changed my life if I had not been snatched off by an untimely end madam says he you will please to follow your leader and spying another of the same age interrogated her in the same form to which the matron replied I have been the wife of a husband who was as dear to me in his old age as in his youth I have been a mother and very happy in my children whom I endeavored to 8 bring up in every thing that is good my eldest son is blessed by the poor and beloved by every one that knows him I lived within my own family and left it much more wealthy than I found it Rhadamanthus who knew the value of the old lady smiled upon her in such a manner that the keeper of Elysium who knew his office reached out his hand to her he no sooner touched her but her wrinkles vanished her eyes sparkled her cheeks glowed with blushes and she appeared in full bloom and beauty a young woman observing that this officer who conducted the happy to Elys9 ium was so great a beautifier longed to be in his hands so that pressing through the crowd she was the next that appeared at the bar and being asked what she had been doing the five and twenty years that she had passed in the world I have endeavored says she ever since I came to years of discretion to make myself lovely and gain admirers in order to it I passed my time in bottling up May-dew inventing whitewashes mixing colors cutting out patches consulting my glass suiting my complexion Rhadamanthus without hearing her out gave the sign to take her off upon 10 the approach of the keeper of Erebus her color faded her face was puckered up with wrinkles and her whole person lost in deformity.

I was then surprised with the distant sound of a whole troop of females that came forward laughing singing and dancing I was very desirous to know the reception they would meet with and withal was very apprehensive that Rhadamanthus would spoil their mirth but at their nearer approach the noise grew so very great that it awakened

me.

LESSON XII.

The Ass and the Nightingale.-KRILOV.

1 AN Ass, a nightingale espied,

And shouted out, "Hollo! hollo! good friend!
Thou art a first-rate singer, they pretend :-

Now let me hear thee, that I

may decide;
I really wish to know-the world is partial ever—
If thou hast this great gift, and art indeed so clever '*
The nightingale began her heavenly lays,

Through all the regions of sweet music ranging,
Varying her song a thousand different ways;
Rising and falling, lingering, ever changing:
2 Full of wild rapture now-then sinking oft
To almost silence-melancholy, soft
As distant shepherd's pipe at evening's close:
Strewing the wood with lovelier music ;-there
All nature seems to listen and repose:

No zephyr dares disturb the tranquil air :-
All other voices of the grove are still,

And the charmed flocks lie down beside the rill.
The shepherd like a statue stands-afraid
His breathing may disturb the melody,
3 His finger pointing to the melodious tree,
Seems to say,
"Listen!" to his favorite maid.
The singer ended :—and our critic bowed
His reverend head to earth, and said aloud :—
"Now that's so so;-thou really hast some merit;
Curtail thy song, and critics then might hear it.
Thy voice wants sharpness:-but if chanticleert
Would give thee a few lessons, doubtless he
Might raise thy voice, and modulate thy ear;
And thou, in spite of all thy faults, mayest be
4 A very decent singer." The poor bird
In silent modesty the critic heard,

And winged her peaceful flight into the air,
O'er many and many a field and forest fair.
Many such critics you and I have seen :-
Heaven be our screen!

* Clever, possessing talent.

+ Chan-ti-cleer: CH, as in Church.

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