"A gross of green spectacles!" said my wife, "and have you parted with the colt and brought us back nothing but a gross of green spectacles?"

"Dear mother," said the boy, "won't you listen to reason? I had them at a dead bargain. The silver rims alone will sell for double the money."

"The rims are not worth sixpence," said I, "for I see they are only copper varnished over. They are no more silver than your saucepan."

"And so," my wife said, "we have parted with the colt and have got only a gross of green spectacles with copper rims. The blockhead has been imposed on by sharpers, and should have known his company better."

"There, my dear," said I, "you are wrong; he should not have known them at all."

Definitions. Gross, one hundred and forty-four. Higgles, beats down. Vanquished, defeated. Rustics, country people.

Do you think the Vicar's family foolish or sensible people? Why? What buckles do you suppose the sisters were brushing? Did you ever see a cocked hat?

THE VILLAGE SCHOOLMASTER.

OBSERVE RHETORICAL PAUSES.

There in his noisy mansion | skilled to rule,
The village master | taught his little school.
A man | severe | he was, and stern to view;

I knew him well, and every truant | knew.
Well had the boding tremblers learned to trace
The day's disasters in his morning face;
Yet he was kind, or if severe in aught,
The love he bore to learning | was in fault.
The village all | declared how much he knew;
'T was certain he could write, and cipher | too.
In arguing, too, the parson owned his skill,
For e'en though vanquished: he could argue | still;
While words of learned length | and thundering sound
Amazed the gazing rustics | ranged around-
And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew,
That one small head | could carry all he knew.
- From The Deserted Village-Goldsmith.

9. MR. BIRD'S SCHOOL.

The following is an extract from Mr. J. G. Holland's pleasant story, "Arthur Bonnicastle." "Gold Foil" and "The Jones Family" are books that are full of good things for you to know, also. "Mr. Bird's School" was "a little community brought together for the pursuit of useful knowledge, the learning of courteous manners, and the practice of those duties that lead to good citizenship." Each boy there was made to feel that he must uphold the virtue and good order of the school.

Our story describes a scene, just after the boys, at the weekly Saturday meeting, had told Mr. Bird that one of their number persists in using improper language upon the grounds.

"When boys first come here," went on Mr. Bird, "they generally have that false idea of honor that leads them to cover up the wrongdoings of their schoolmates. But they soon lose this notion, when they understand that every boy is responsible for the good order of the school.

"Suppose a man in the habit of robbing houses, setting barns on fire, or threatening his wife, should come into a town, is it a matter of honor for the people of that town to shield that fellow in his crimes, and not speak of him. to the authorities, the police, or the mayor? Why, you see how foolish the idea would be.

"As good citizens, as honorable citizens, we must report this man, who is a public enemy. He is not only dangerous to us, but he is a disgrace to us. So long as he is allowed to live in our town, unreproved and uncorrected, every one who knows his bad actions is partly to blame for them.

"Very well; this school is like a little town, and if you boys can learn to take care of the enemies of the common good here, you will learn to be good citizens, and go out to perform the duties of good citizenship. There is nothing which could be worse for a school or for a town than that false sense of honor which leads to covering up one another's bad deeds.

"Now, here is a boy who comes from a good home. He comes into a community of boys who are trying to lead good lives, and he goes to work to make the boys around him base and impure.

"Nearly all you boys have mothers and sisters who would be grieved to the heart to learn that you are here among these pure hills drinking in such poison to your minds. How can I protect you from harm, if I do not know of it? How can I protect you from harm, if you protect the boy who harms you?

"Is it honorable to shield a boy who dishonors and damages you? Is it honorable to disappoint your parents and cheat me? Is it honorable for us to let these little boys be injured and to let the boy who injures them go free? I want a vote on this question. All the boys who think it an honorable thing not to report continued bad conduct will rise and stand."

Every boy, except Andrews, rose and stood squarely on his feet.

"Very well," said Mr. Bird. "Now sit down, and remember you are making a rule for the government of this school. If any boy does a wrong which I ought to know, you boys tell him to report to me, and if he and I can not settle the matter together, I will call upon you to help us.

"As for this boy who has injured the school, and who is not at all sorry, I shall make out a report of his language and send it to his mother, while, at the same time, I put him into the stage and send him home."

It was a terrible judgment, and I shall never forget the face of Andrews as he listened to it. He seemed like one paralyzed.

"Every boy who is in favor of the punishment, will hold up his right hand."

But only two or three little boys raised their hands.

Then Tom, who had first spoken, again arose: "Please, sir, I wish you would give Andrews one more chance. I think it's an awful thing to send a boy home without giving him one more chance."

When Tom thus rose to plead before the school, the hard, defiant look faded from the face of the accused boy, and he broke down in tears of shame and gratitude, and there was not a dry eye in the room.

"Tom," said Mr. Bird, "you are right. You have helped me and helped us all. The boy shall have

another chance, if he wishes it.

"And now remember, boys, that this hour must never be spoken of again. If this boy stays and tries to do. right, you must all be friends with him. No one is so perfect that he does not need the help of his friends.

"Be brothers, all of you, as you have been here in this family meeting, and now pass out and leave the boy with me."

Definitions. Responsible, likely to have to answer for. Unreproached, unblamed. Defiant, bold, insolent. Gratitude, thankfulness. Virtue, goodness. Authorities, persons in command. Paralyze, to deprive of the power to move.

Spell: authorities; honorable; question; language; judgment; paralyzed.

To be memorized:

There are some things I am afraid of: I am afraid to do a mean thing. J. A. Garfield.

Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; think on these things. - Bible.

INFLECTION DRILL.

A nightingale that all day long

Had cheered the village with his song,
Nor yet at eve his note suspended,
Nor yet when eventide was ended,
Began to feel, as well he might,
The keen demands of appetite.

10. WHAT I BOUGHT WITH MY FARM.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, often called the seer of Concord, is known as one of the great thinkers and writers of the nineteenth century, and his words have helped many to a truer life. His essay on books will give you an idea of his reading and studying, and show you how much there is yet for you to learn. The great Plato, the philosopher of ancient Greece, was Emerson's model. He said that most of the questions one can ask are answered in Plato, and Plato's prayer, “God make me beautiful within," was Emerson's, also, through his long and noble life.

Emerson was always a lover of nature. In one of his essays he says, "A sunset, a forest, a snow-storm, a river view, are more to me than many friends, and divide my day with my books." Our extract, which indicates this love of nature, alludes to Emerson's home in Concord, where so many famous American writers have lived.

When I bought my farm I did not know what a bargain I had in the bluebirds and thrushes that were not charged in the bill. As little did I guess what sublime mornings and sunsets I was buying, and what fields and lanes for a tramp.

Neither did I consider the luxury of our river, which runs parallel with the long village street, and to which every house has a back door that leads down through the garden to the river bank. Nor did I think of the boats lying there all summer to lend new enchantments every day, nor of the miles of ice awaiting the skater there in winter.

Still less did I consider what good and true neighbors I was buying-men of thought and virtue, some of them now known throughout the country for their learning or power, but whom I had the pleasure of knowing long before the country did.

Nor did I take into account the other men, not known widely but known at home, not doctors of law but doctors of land, skilled in turning a swamp or a sand-bank into a fruitful field, and where only witch-grass and nettles had stood, causing a forest of apple trees or corn to grow.