an eagle amast rusing storm-ciouas, we aasned

the gorge; for one instant our yard-arms grazed the - black rocks, the next we were in safety. There

no cheering then; no word was spoken as we d from the boiling waters to the calm sea under lee of the rocks; but I believe that every man on our craft uttered a prayer, even if he never had ed before. It was a silent, yet, oh, what a thankmoment!

5. We soon had new spars aloft, and new canvas -. We laid our course for Vera Cruz under a press ail, while the Nimrod had to beat up to windward, work around the reef. After we had been some sat Vera Cruz, she made her appearance in the of- and dropped anchor in the harbor.

e, track.

, a general term for yards, masts, Oms, etc.

Stream, a great warm ocean rrent which flows from the Gulf Mexico.

cor-vette (-vet'), a sloop of war next

below a frigate. a-loft', on high.

break'ers (brāk'-), waves broken on a rocky shore.

in-ev/i-ta-ble, unavoidable.

pet'i-tor, one who strives with pal'sy (pawl'zi), deaden; stun.

'cas-tle (-kas'l), part of the deck off'ing, the deep sea just off from. fore the foremast.

land.

ess of sail (3), as much sail as the state of the wind and sea will it a vessel to carry. the last war (5) here means the war of 2.-sheets and braces (7) are ropes connected with the sails and ls. studding-sail booms (8). A boom is a spar or pole run out to end the bottom of certain sails; a studding-sail is a sail outside of square sails; royal and top-gallant masts are the highest sections of mast; by the board, over the side of the ship.- to beat up to windrd (10), to make progress in a direction towards the point whence the d blows, by sailing in a zigzag line.

ind on the map the Bahama Islands, and Vera Cruz (vārā krāōs).

XXXIV. THE FIRMA

BRYANT.

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT, one of the most illus was born at Cummington, Mass., November 3, 1794 City, June 12, 1878.

Bryant was a precocious poet, one of his maste having been written when he was but nineteen ye marked especially by purity of thought and langua warm love of nature. A monument of his indu classical scholarship is his translation of the Iliad For the last fifty years of his life Bryant was Post."

1. Ay! gloriously thou standest Beautiful, boundless firmame That, swelling wide o'er earth

And round the horizon bent With thy bright vault and sa Dost overhang and circle all.

2. Far, far below thee, tall gray Arise, and piles built up of And hills, whose ancient sum

In the fierce light and cold. The eagle soars his utmost hei Yet far thou stretchest o'er hi

3. Thou hast thy frowns: with t
The storm has made his air
Beyond that soft blue curtain.
His stores of hail and sleet:
Thence the consuming lightnin
There the strong hurricanes av

Smiles sweeter than thy frowns are stern;
Earth sends, from all her thousand isles,
A shout at their return.

The glory that comes down from thee
Bathes in deep joy the land and sea.

5. The sun, the gorgeous sun, is thine,

The pomp that brings and shuts the day,
The clouds that round him change and shine,
The airs that fan his way.

Thence look the thoughtful stars, and there
The meek moon walks the silent air.

6. The sunny Italy may boast

The beauteous tints that flush her skies,
And lovely round the Grecian coast
May thy blue pillars rise:

I only know how fair they stand
Around my own belovéd land.

7. And they are fair,—a charm is theirs

That earth, the proud green earth, has not
With all the forms, and hues, and airs,
That haunt her sweetest spot.

We gaze upon thy calm pure sphere,
And read of Heaven's eternal year.

8. Oh, when, amid the throng of men,

The heart grows sick of hollow mirth,
How willingly we turn us then
Away from this cold earth,

WILSON FLAGG was born in Beverly, Mass., in Nature, and describes her aspects and works with th and naturalist. His chief works are "Studies in "The Woods and Byways of New England," and of New England."

1. ONE of the most agreeable pursu the study of nature is to watch the p tion, from the earliest greenness of t the first sprouting of the herbs, unfol and opening of the buds, until ever flower has expanded and brightened ance of summer.

2. While the earth exhibits only stripes of verdure, along the borders pools and rivulets, and on the hillside watered by the oozing fountains just face, we may observe the beautiful di seled trees and shrubs, varying in c yellow to a dark orange or brown,

mps with a flowery splendor that forms a striking rast with the general nakedness of the plain.

As the hues of this drapery fade by the withering he catkins, the leaf-buds of the trees gradually put cheir scaly coverings, in which the infant bud has - cradled during the winter; and the tender faned leaves, in plaited folds and of different hues, e forth in millions, and yield to the whole forest a en and ruddy splendor, like the tints of the clouds I curtain the summer horizon.

Though there is an indefinable beauty in the inely varied hues of the foliage at this time, yet this ar from being the most attractive spectacle of the While the trees are expanding their leaves, the Eh is daily becoming greener with every night fall dew, and thousands of flowers awake into life with ry morning sun.

on.

7. At first a few violets appear on the hillsides, inasing daily in numbers and brightness, until they are re numerous than the stars of heaven; then a single delion, that appears but as the harbinger of millions less than a week,- all gradually multiply, and bring ng in their rear a countless troop of anemones, saxiges, geraniums, buttercups, columbines, and everlasts, until the landscape is gemmed with the universal alth of spring.

"seled (tas seld) bearing tassels. kin, flower-cluster of the willow, irch, etc. It resembles a cat's tail. -bin-ger, forerunner.

ho-riʼzon, the circular line where the earth and sky seem to meet. dra'per-y, clothes; here, the flowers, considered as clothing the trees.