Alone she cuts and binds the grain,
And sings a melancholy strain;
Oh, listen! for the vale profound
Is overflowing with the sound.

2. No nightingale did ever chant

More welcome notes to weary band
Of travelers, in some shady haunt
Among Arabian sands;

No sweeter voice was ever heard
In spring-time from the cuckoo-bird,
Breaking the silence of the seas
Among the farthest Hebrides.

3. Will no one tell me what she sings? Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow For old, unhappy, far-off things,

And battles long ago:

Or is it some more humble lay,
Familiar matter of the day?
Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain
That has been, and may be again?

4. Whatever theme, the maiden sang As if her song could have no ending; I saw her singing at her work,

And o'er the sickle bending;

I listened till I had my fill;
And as I mounted up the hill
The music in my heart I bore
Long after it was heard no more.
William Wordsworth.

INDEPENDENCE BELL.

1. THERE was tumult in the city,
In the quaint old Quaker town,
And the streets were rife with people
Pacing restless up and down;
People gathering at corners,

Where they whispered each to each,
And the sweat stood on their temples
With the earnestness of speech.

2. As the bleak Atlantic currents

Lash the wild Newfoundland shore,
So they beat against the State House,
So they surged against the door;
And the mingling of their voices
Made a harmony profound,
Till the quiet street of Chestnut

Was all turbulent with sound.

3. "Will they do it?" "Dare they do it?" "Who is speaking?" "What's the news?" "What of Sherman?"

"What of Adams?"

"Oh, God grant they won't refuse!"

"Make some way there!" "Let me nearer!"
"I am stifling!"—" Stifle, then:

When a nation's life's at hazard,
We've no time to think of men!"

4. So they beat against the portal,
Man and woman, maid and child;

And the July sun in heaven

On the scene looked down and smiled;
The same sun that saw the Spartan

Shed his patriot blood in vain,
Now beheld the soul of freedom
All unconquered rise again.

5. Aloft in that high steeple

Sat the bellman, old and gray;
He was weary of the tyrant
And his iron-sceptered sway;
So he sat with one hand ready
On the clapper of the bell,
When his eye should catch the signal,
Very happy news to tell.

6. See! See! the dense crowd quivers
Through all its lengthy line,

As the boy beside the portal
Looks forth to give the sign!
With his small hands upward lifted,
Breezes dallying with his hair,
Hark! with deep, clear intonation
Breaks his young voice on the air.

7. Hushed the people's swelling murmur,
List the boy's strong, joyous cry!

"Ring!" he shouts aloud.

"Ring, grandpa!

Ring! Oh, ring for Liberty!"
And straightway at the signal

The old bellman lifts his hand,

And sends the good news, making
Iron music through the land.

8. How they shouted! what rejoicing!
How the old bell shook the air,
Till the clang of freedom ruffled
The calm gliding Delaware!
How the bonfires and the torches
Illumed the night's repose,
And from the flames, like Phoenix,
Fair Liberty arose!

9. That old bell now is silent,
And hushed its iron tongue,
But the spirit it awakened
Still lives-forever young.
And while we greet the sunlight
On the Fourth of each July,
We'll ne'er forget the bellman,
Who, 'twixt the earth and sky,

Rang out our independence,

Which, please God, shall never die!

ALEXANDER'S FIRST TRIUMPH.

1. PHILONICUS the Thessalian brought the horse Bucephalus to Philip, offering to sell him for thirteen talents; but when the attendants went into

ew

Library

TRAVELING LIBORS

416 fish Avenue.

the field to try him, they found him so very vicious and unmanageable that he reared up when they endeavored to mount him, and would not so much as endure the voice of any of them.

2. Philip was displeased at their bringing him so wild and ungovernable a horse, and bade them take him away; but as they were leading him away as wholly intractable and useless, Alexander, who stood by, said, "What an excellent horse do they lose, for want of skill and spirit to manage him!”

3. Philip at first took no notice of the words of his son; but when he heard him repeat the same thing several times, and saw that he was much vexed that the horse should be sent away, he said, "Do you reproach those that are older than yourself, as if you knew more, and were better able than they to manage the horse?"

"I could manage him," he said, "better than others do."

"And if you do not," said Philip, "what will you forfeit for your rashness?"

"I will pay the whole price of the horse," said Alexander.

4. At this the whole company fell to laughing; but as soon as the agreement was settled amongst them, Alexander immediately ran to the horse, and, taking hold of the bridle, turned him directly toward the sun, having, it seems, observed that the animal was disturbed and frightened by the motion of his own shadow.