The Poetical Reader; for School and Home Use

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1887 edition. Excerpt: ...his fingers strayed, And an uncertain warbling made--And oft he shook his hoary head: But when he caught the measure wild, The old man raised his face, and smiled; And lighted up his faded eye, With all a poet's ecstasy! In varying cadence, soft or strong, He swept the sounding chords along: The present scene, the future lot, His toils, his wants, were all forgot; Cold diffidence, and age's frost, In the full tide of song were lost; Each blank in faithless memory void, The poet's glowing thought supplied; And while his harp responsive rung, Twas thus the Latest Minstrel sung. DOOMSDAY.--Shakspeare. Our revels now are ended: these our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits, and Are melted into air, into thin air; And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, The cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve; And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind! We are such stuff As dreams are made of, and our little life Is rounded with a sleep. THERE'S A GOOD TIME COMING.--Mathiy. There's a good time coming, boys, A good time coming: We may not live to see the day, But earth shall glisten in the ray Of the good time coming. Cannon-balls may aid the truth, But thought's a weapon stronger; We'll win our battle by its aid--Wait a little longer. There's a good time coming, boys, A good time coming: The pen shall supersede the sword, And Right, not Might, shall be the lord In the good time coming. Worth, not Birth, shall rule mankind, And be acknowledged stronger; The proper impulse has been given;--Wait a little longer. There's a good time coming, boys, A good time coming: War in all men's eyes shall be A monster of iniquity In the good time...