"There he stood, working at his anvil, his face radiant with exercise and gladness....the easiest, freest, happiest man in all the world." wards everybody, could have done it for an instant. He might have been a coppersmith, and still been musical. If he had sat in a jolting waggon, full of rods of iron, it seemed as if he would have brought some harmony out of it. From "Barnaby Rudge," by CHARLES DICKENS.8 Notes and Meanings. The numbers refer to the paragraphs in the reading lesson. 1 Golden Key, a large gilt key hanging over the shop door as a signjust as shoe-makers put out a shoe, hatters a hat, etc. Au-di-ble, that may be heard. 3 Em-bod-i-ment, bodily presence. Still small voice, conscience. business and the punishment of crime are here contrasted with the Sphere of action, uses to which Splen-e-tic, in a bad mood; ill- 7 Mo-not-o-nous, unvarying; without tempered. 4 Music, cheerful sounds like musical notes. Unsashed, without a frame. Checkering, lighting up parts of. 5 Gouty, afflicted with gout, a disease variety; always the same. Harmony, agreement of sounds. 8 Charles Dickens (1812-1870), a great English novelist. He wrote Sketches by Boz, Pickwick Papers, David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, Old Curiosity Shop, etc. He issued a weekly periodical, first under the title of Household Words, and afterwards of All the Year Round. He was buried in Westminster Abbey. Summary:-A cheerful person gives a pleasant aspect to everything in which he takes a part. His work seems easier, his workshop brighter, and his tools more manageable, because of the workman's happy, contented manner; as if even they had partaken of the same spirit of good-humour. So the cheerful locksmith of the Golden Key seemed to be a centre from which rays of happy sunshine fell on everything within his reach. Exercises: 1. Write an essay on Cheerfulness. Contrast a home in which the members of the family are cheerful with one in which the inmates are gloomy. 2. Explain-"There is a silver lining to the darkest cloud." Dr. Johnson said, "I would rather have a disposition to look on the bright side of things than £10,000 a year." 3. The Saxon prefix a signifies at, to, in, or on-as ahead, at the head; aside, to one side; asleep, in sleep; ashore, on shore. Make sentences containing ahead, aside, asleep, ashore. NO WORK THE HARDEST WORK. 1. Ho! ye who at the anvil toil, And strike the sounding blow While answering to the hammer's ring, Oh, while ye feel 'tis hard to toil And sweat the long day through, Remember it is harder still 2. Ho! ye who till the stubborn soil, But while ye feel 'tis hard to toil To have no work to do. 3. Ho! ye who plough the sea's blue field, Oh, while ye feel 'tis hard to toil And labour long hours through, To have no work to do! 4. Ho! all who labour, all who strive, Ye wield a lofty power; Do with your might, do with your strength, Fill every golden hour! The glorious privilege to do Is man's most noble dower. Oh, to your birthright and yourselves, A weary, wretched life is theirs Who have no work to do. C. F. ORNE. Notes and Meanings. 1 In-tens-er, hotter and brighter. 2 Till, dig; cultivate. Stubborn soil, stiff ground; not easily worked. Deem, think. The curse. Genesis iii. 17, 18. 3 Keel, lowest part of a ship. Fiends, bad spirits. 4 Wield, bear; use. Priv-i-lege, liberty; right. Birthright, the advantage or pos- Summary: The blacksmith, the farmer, the sailor, and workers of every kind are here addressed; and while they are reminded of the difficulties and the dangers attendant on their own employment, they are also told that idleness, "having no work to do," is a greater burden to bear than the hardest work can be, for "A wretched, weary life is theirs, Who have no work to do." Exercises: 1. Write in your own words a description of the work of a blacksmith, a farmer, or a sailor. 2. Explain-"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy; all play and no work gives Joe a ragged shirt." 3. The Saxon prefix be placed before nouns signifies to make, and changes the nouns to verbs-as, becalm, to make calm; befriend, to act as a friend; bedew, to make wet with dew. Make sentences containing becalm, befriend, bedew. MAN AND THE INDUSTRIAL ARTS. 1. Man may be defined as the only animal that can strike a light; the solitary creature that knows how to kindle a fire. This is a very fragmentary definition of man, but it is enough to make him the conqueror of all other animals. The most degraded savage has discovered how to rub two sticks together, or whirl the point of one in a socket in the other, till the wood is kindled. It is a process not easily learned or practised; and even the most sagacious of monkeys, though he has a pair of hands more than a man, has never attempted this primitive art. 2. Once provided with his kindled brand, the savage soon proves what a sceptre of power he holds. in his hand. He tills with it; by a single touch burning up the withered grass of a past season, and scattering its ashes to fertilize the plains, which will KINDLING A FIRE BY WHIRLING THE POINT OF A STICK IN A SOCKET. quickly be green again. It serves him as an axe to fell the tallest trees with, and hollows out for him the canoe in which he adventures upon strange seas. It is an all-sufficient defence against the fiercest wild beasts; and it reduces for him the iron ore of the rocks, and forges it into a weapon of war. 3. I might say, indeed, with truth, that his kindled brand makes the ten-fingered savage, with |