The Step-ladder: A Collection of Prose and Poetry Designed for Use in Children's Classes in Elocution and for Supplementary Reading in Public and Private Schools

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A.S. Barnes, 1893 - Elocution - 162 pages
This work intends to instruct teachers and students on readng aloud using Dr. Charles Wesley Emerson's system. This system treats reading aloud through the lenses of Life, Love, Purpose, and Thought.

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Page 39 - Hew down the bridge, Sir Consul, With all the speed ye may; I, with two more to help me, Will hold the foe in play. In yon strait path a thousand May well be stopped by three. Now who will stand on either hand, And keep the bridge with me?" Then out spake Spurius Lartius ; A Ramnian proud was he: "Lo, I will stand at thy right hand, And keep the bridge with thee.
Page 44 - And he was angry, and would not go in : therefore came his father out, and entreated him. And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment : and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends : but as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
Page 44 - And he said unto him, Thy brother is come ; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.
Page 106 - A wet sheet and a flowing sea, A wind that follows fast, And fills the white and rustling sail, And bends the gallant mast; And bends the gallant mast, my boys, While, like the eagle free, Away the good ship flies, and leaves Old England on the lee. O for a soft and gentle wind!
Page 89 - I REMEMBER, I REMEMBER I REMEMBER, I remember, The house where I was born, The little window where the sun Came peeping in at morn; He never came a wink too soon, Nor brought too long a day, But now, I often wish the night Had borne my breath away! I remember, I remember, The roses, red and white, The violets, and the lily-cups, Those flowers made of light!
Page 86 - ... sacrifice — what does he find when, having followed the battlestained cross against overwhelming odds, dreading death not half so much as surrender, he reaches the home he left so prosperous and beautiful? He finds his house in ruins, his farm devastated, his slaves free, his stock killed, his barns empty, his trade destroyed, his money worthless, his social system, feudal in its magnificence, swept away; his people without law or legal status; his comrades slain, and the burdens of others...
Page 103 - O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep, Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes, What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep, As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses? Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam, In full glory reflected now shines on the stream: Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh, long may it wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Page 98 - 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 to-day? Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain, That has been, and may be again? Whate'er the theme, the maiden sang As if her song could have no ending...
Page 43 - And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. But when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
Page 89 - I remember, I remember, Where I was used to swing; And thought the air must rush as fresh To swallows on the wing: My spirit flew in feathers then, That is so heavy now, And summer pools could hardly cool The fever on my brow!

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