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LESSON XLIV.

1. SPARK'LING, dazzling, glittering.

2. CAS-CADE', a waterfall.

4. HEM'MED, enclosed, shut in.

5. RE-LENT'LESS, unmoved by pity.

5. CA-TAS'TRO-PHE, disaster.

6. UN-TENANT-ED, not inhabited.

9. AB-RUPTLY, Suddenly, unexpectedly. 10. ORD'NANCE, artillery.

10. I-LU'SION, deceptive appearance.

11. EM'E-RALD, green.

20. E-VOK'ED, called forth.

20. EN-THU'SI-ASM, ardent zeal.

ERRORS.Spark'lin for sparkling; sil'vry for silver-y; ar'rant for er'rand; slep for slept; pic'ters for pict'ures; pro-long'in for pro-long'ing.

SCENERY OF THE WHITE MOUNTAINS.

1. On Monday morning, with a bright sunshine sparkling over us, and the bracing mountain breezes blowing around us, we left the Glen House to pursue our winding way through the Notch,* and make the tour of the White Mountain region in New Hampshire.

2. Stopping to turn aside from the main road to see Glen Ellis Fall, a beautiful silvery cascade about fifty feet in height, which well repaid us for clambering over rocks and stumps, through a dense wood, we rode on through wild and magnificent scenery till we entered the "Willey Notch," about three o'clock in the afternoon.

3. This is one of the most impressive scenes presented to the tourist in this region. You are between two lofty ranges in a narrow valley, toward which the mountains come down with majestic sweep.

4. You are completely hemmed in by these giants, which shut out all traces of this world from your view, and leave you only a narrow strip of blue sky above. You almost imagine that you must take "the wings of a dove," and fly upward toward it, in order to escape from your green-walled mountain prison.

5. Yet those lofty barriers can not keep out the angel of death that visits the mountains and valleys on his relentless errand of destruction. This spot was the scene of an awful

* Notch, a narrow defile between two huge cliffs of the White Mountains, about two miles in length, and, in one place, barely wide enough for a carriage-road.

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catastrophe in 1826, when, by an avalanche, or mountain slide consequent on a furious storm, the "Willey family," consisting of nine persons, were crushed to death!

6. They rushed out of their house, thinking themselves safer in so doing. But the building was untouched, and stands there still, untenanted, while its inmates have slept for over thirty years in the deep mountain shadows of that narrow pass.

7. All that day, our road wound through the mountains, and kept us ever on the stretch of excitement in admiration of the magnificence of the scenery. We rode on the outside of the coach, the best position on a tour like this; and, as the weather was fine, we had the best opportunity of seeing every thing worthy of notice.

8. Our road on the second day ran for several miles along the beautiful Ammonoosuc, one of the most sparkling and picturesque of all these mountain streams. We reached the Profile House about noon, and found it a most delightful stopping-place. A fine, large building, with comfortable rooms, clean beds, a good table, and gentlemanly and obliging hosts, left us nothing to desire in the way of accommodations.

9. Here we staid three days; and they were days of intense, though quiet enjoyment. On our left, Mount Lafay ette rises abruptly before us to the height of more than five thousand feet; and there is almost always a light fleecy cloud hanging like a bridal veil over its brow, which is exquisitely beautiful as it shifts with the passing current, as though moved by the hand of some coquettish maiden.

10. On our right is Cannon Mountain, so called from a rock on its summit which bears so close a resemblance to a piece of mounted ordnance, that at first I could hardly believe that it was nothing but the solid rock. The illusion is perfect.

11. At a short distance from the house is "Echo Lake," a perfect gem, set in an emerald frame of mountains, sloping down to its brink, — the whole forming one of the most beautiful pictures on which my eye ever rested. A gentleman

who visited it with us declared that, among the famous "Lochs" of Scotland, he had not seen one more lovely.

12. The lake derives its name from the fact that there is an echo of most remarkable beauty and duration, — mountain sending the sound across to mountain, and prolonging the reverberation until, from a blast of a war-trumpet, it diminishes to the gentle whisper of affection's lips.

13. As we listened to the dying strains of the notes of our boatman's horn, I was reminded of the beautiful lines of a favorite old song, which used to be sung by lips now hushed in the stillness of the grave.

14. "Yet still thy name, thy precious name,
My lonely bosom fills,

Like an echo that hath lost itself

Among the distant hills,

Which still with melancholy moan

Keeps faintly lingering on,

When the joyous note which gave it birth
for ever gone."

Is gone,

15. One of the most remarkable objects about here is the celebrated profile, known by the name of the "Old Man of the Mountains." On the summit of one of the loftiest peaks of the range, there is a spur of rock jutting from the edge, or brow, which, from a certain point of vision, resolves itself into the features of the human face.

16. The resemblance is very perfect. You have the forehead, nose, mouth, and chin, — all in just proportions, and standing out in bold relief. It is really a very curious and impressive sight. There are not only the features, but there is positively an expression in that "great stone face."

17. It has a calm, grand, earnest look, as it seems to send its gaze far off through the mountain openings into the distant valley, as if it were the guardian spirit of the region. I could not but feel its influence, as I gazed up at its majestic feat

ures.

18. It would not have been strange if the untutored savages, who once roamed through these wilds, should have worshiped it as the face of the Manitou.* I could not have believed that eighty feet of rock for such is the length of the could have been formed into so striking a

countenance

likeness to a noble human face!

19. A few miles further on is the "Flume." Through an immense fissure, or chasm, in the solid rock, which towers on both sides of you to the height of several hundred feet, a bright stream gushes, and tumbles, and dashes along with impetuous haste, and hoarse, yet melodious murmur. The scenery all around is of the wildest and grandest character.

20. An immense rock weighing many tons has been dislodged from its bed, and caught in its fall in the chasm, where it now hangs above your head, as firmly wedged as if it had been fitted to its place by some Titanic† machinery, wielded by giant hands. The entire place is romantic and grand beyond description, and evoked all the enthusiasm of our young ladies, who could scarcely be persuaded to leave the spot.

21. We left these delightful regions with deep regret; but we shall carry with us, to refresh and cheer us as we go back to "life's ceaseless toil and endeavor," crowded stores of memories of our sojourn in this magnificent mountain land.

QUESTIONS. -1. Where are the White Mountains? 2-4 Describe the scenery as seen by the narrator. 5, 6. What catastrophe occurred here in 1826? 8. Where did the narrator go on the second day? 9-14. Describe the scenery around the Profile House. 15-18. What is said of the Old Man of the Mountains? What is the Manitou of the Indians? 19, 20. What is said of the "Flume"? What does Titanic mean? 21. With what reflections does the writer close? What is the character of the composition of this lesson? What rule applies in reading it?

* Man'i-tou, a figure of an animal or an object, which was supposed, by the Indians, to possess some supernatural power, in protecting them from all forms of disease. †Ti-tan'ic, pertaining to the Titans, very great. The Titans are represented, in mythology, as possessing immense strength. They were twelve in number, six sons and six daughters. They contended against Jupiter, but were finally overcome by him by the aid of thunder and lightning, which he received from the Cyclopes. Jupi ter cast them down into Tartarus, and forever afterward kept them firmly guarded by the Hecatoncheires.

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1. To'KENS, indications, signs.

1. MIS'SION, office, business.

4. DOME, a hemispherical arch raised on the top of a building.

3. FEATH'ER-Y, resembling feathers, white. 5. MAJ'ES-TY, greatness of appearance.

3. WELTER-ED, rolled, wallowed.

3. SPAR, a white, shining mineral.

3. PEARL, a white, hard, smooth substance found in some kinds of shell-fish.

6. SURG'ES, large waves or billows.

7. OP'U-LENCE, abundance, riches.
7. EN-CIR'CLING, surrounding.
8. WASTE, a desolate region.

ERRORS.- Skey for sky; orful for awful; wor'shup for wor'ship; yender fo yon'der; lux'shry for lux'u-ry; mount'n for mount'ain.

MORNING AMONG THE HILLS.- PERCIVAL.

1. A NIGHT had passed away among the hills;
And now the first faint tokens of the dawn
Showed in the east. The bright and dewy star,
Whose mission is to usher in the morn,

2.

Looked through the cool air, like a blessed thing
In a far purer world. Below, there lay,
Wrapped round a woody mountain tranquilly,
A misty cloud.

Its edges caught the light
That now came up from out the unseen depth.
Of the full fount of day; and they were laced
With colors ever brightening. I had waked
From a long sleep of many changing dreams;
And now in the fresh forest air I stood,
Nerved to another day of wandering.

The wind blew o'er it,

3. Below, there lay a far-extended sea,
Rolling in feathery waves.
And tossed it round the high-ascending rocks,
And swept it through the half-hidden forest tops,
Till, like an ocean waking into storm,

It heaved and weltered. Gloriously the light
Crested its billows; and those craggy islands
Shone on it like to palaces of spar,

Built on a sea of pearl!

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