The interior was fitted up in a truly nautical style, the old angler's ideas of comfort and convenience having been acquired on the berth-deck of a man-of-war. A hammock was slung from the ceiling, which, in the daytime, was lashed up so as to take but little room. From the centre of the chamber hung a model of a ship of his own workmanship. Two or three chairs, a table, and a large sea-chest, formed the principal movables. The mantel-piece was decorated with sea-shells; over which hung a quadrant flanked by two woodcuts of most bitter-looking naval commanders. His implements for angling were carefully disposed on nails and hooks about the room. On a shelf was arranged his library, containing a work on angling, much worn, a Bible covered with canvas, an odd volume or two of voyages, a nautical almanac, and a book of songs.

WASHINGTON IRVING.

What is the title of this piece? What is an angler?

What does the first sentence tell? How many rooms were in the cottage? What was a curiosity?

Where was the cottage? What is meant by the skirts of the village? Where did the cottage stand? How far back from the road was it?

What was in front of the cottage? What did the garden contain? What is an herb? Mention two or three kinds of herbs that are commonly raised in gardens. What else was in the garden? What is the meaning of adorned? What flowers do you think were growing in the garden?

Describe the front of the cottage. What is a weathercock?

What was on the top of it?

What does the third paragraph describe? house? What is meant by a nautical style? to fit up his cottage in the style of a seaman?

What is the interior of a
What led the old angler

How was his hammock arranged? What hung from the centre of the chamber? What movable articles of furniture did the room contain? What decorated the mantel-piece? What hung over it? What is a quadrant? What is meant by the quadrant's being flanked by the two woodcuts? What hung on the nails and hooks about the room? Where was the library? Of what books was it composed?

WRITTEN EXERCISES.

I.

Describe in your own words The Old Angler's Cottage.

II.

Write sentences, showing the correct use of the following

Describe some room that you have seen. were in the room, and how they were arranged. Write a suitable heading for your description.

Tell what things

That checked, mid-vein, the circling race
Of life-blood in the sharpened face,
The coming of the snow-storm told.

The wind blew east; we heard the roar
Of Ocean on his wintry shore,

And felt the strong pulse throbbing there

Beat with low rhythm our inland air.

Unwarmed by any sunset light

The gray day darkened into night,
A night made hoary with the swarm
And whirl-dance of the blinding storm,
As zigzag wavering to and fro

Crossed and recrossed the wingéd snow :
And ere the early bedtime came

The white drift piled the window-frame,
And through the glass the clothes-line posts
Looked in like tall and sheeted ghosts.

So all night long the storm roared on:
The morning broke without a sun;
In tiny spherule traced with lines
Of Nature's geometric signs,
In starry flake, and pellicle,
All day the hoary meteor fell;
And, when the second morning shone,
We looked upon a world unknown,
On nothing we could call our own.
Around the glistening wonder bent

Took marvellous shapes; strange domes and towers
Rose up where sty or corn-crib stood,

Or garden wall, or belt of wood;

A smooth white mound the brush-pile showed,

A fenceless drift what once was road;

The bridle-post an old man sat

With loose-flung coat and high cocked hat;

The well-curb had a Chinese roof;

And even the long sweep, high aloof,
In its slant splendor, seemed to tell
Of Pisa's leaning miracle.*

JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER.

WRITTEN EXERCISE.

Study carefully the foregoing description of a snow-storm, and then tell in your own words:

I. How the sun, the chill, the wind, and the ocean indicated the coming of the snow-storm.

2. At what time it began to snow, and how long the storm continued.

3. What was seen on the second morning.

* This line refers to the Leaning Tower of Pisa.