^^ ^> A^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 !f I.I 1.25 ■i° "IIIM It i^ I. 1.4 M M I— 1.6 V] 6>m // "^ ^c>l *V5! VI ^^"V "^ 7 c: which the child liad first heard. It was })erfectly clear to the nobleman that a pack of wolves had got scent, and was in pursuit of them. Meanwhile he tried to calm the anxious fears of his wdfe and child. At last the Ijaying of the wolves was distinctly heard, and he said to his servant, " When they come up wnth us, single you out the leader, and tire. I will single out the next; and, as soon as one falls, the rest will stop to devour him. That will be some delay, at least." By this time they could see the pack fast approacliing, with their long, measured tread. A large dog- wolf was the leader. The nobleman and the serf singled out two, and these fell. The pack inunediately turned on their fallen comrades, and soon tore them to pieces. The taste of blood only made the others advance wdth more fury, and they were soon again baying at the sleigh. ir 20 TiiiKi) Kkadkr. >M Again the iiobleiiiati and liis Horvant tiriMl, Two otlier wolvos fell, and wore instantly devoiire<'IjL .'"f .iK'-it'.iV.'/^.Vi, ■ J''i'W^S?*Li£^.i'' Count Rodoli'H of Hai'shuiu;. 29 Count R(m1()1{)1i, tlierefore, iiridorstood that the Blessed Sacrament was being carried along the mountain-path by which he was riding, and at once dismounting, he knelt down, in a lowly and respectful attitude, to let it pass. The priest, preceded by his young attendant, soon came in sight; he was an old man, who filled the office of curate in a neighboring villag(^, and he was carrying the Viaticum to a j^oor cottager who lived far among tlie mountains. Rodolph could not help contrasting the lowliness of this little pi'ocession watli the pomp and magnificence of his own retinue. Yielding to a sudden impulse, he approached the priest with head uncovered, and lunnbly begged that he w^ould mount the horse which he held by the bridle, and. sutler him to conduct him on his way. The poor priest hesitated, but the count would admit of no denial ; and helping him to mount, he took the bridle in his hand, and gently led the gallant animal along the rugged path, till they reached the cottage of the dying man. Arrived there, Rodolph and his page knelt down, and devoutly joined in all the prayers that were offered ; then, when the solenni rites were over, he again obhged the priest to mount his horse, and led him back to his village, with the same marks of respect as before. When they had reached the priests house, Rodolph begged him to take the horse and keep it; as for himself, he said, he should never presume to ride it again, after it had borne his Lord and Redeemer. The old priest was deeply touched. 30 rt'f Third Reader. :| '! " Young lord," he said, " thou hast this day loyally served thy Master, and He will not fail to reward thee. Ere nine years have passed, thou shalt receive the recompense of this thy service." Before the nine years had passed away, Rodolph of Hapsburg was chosen Enipei'or of Germany. He became the founder of an illustrious house, from which many of the sovereigns of Europe are descended. The present Emperor of Austria still bears the honors which were thus bestowed on his ancestor, in reward of an act of piety and devotion shown towards the Most Holy Sacrament. XII.— THE ALLELUIA OF THE PASCH. Alleluia ! the bells are ringing, Up, high up, in the golden dawn ; Alleluia ! the choirs are singing, Passiontide and its shadow gone. Alleluia ! the birds are trilling Over the eggs in their new-made nests. Field and meadow and garden filling ' With the joy o'erflowing their feathered breasts. The world of nature round us rises, Clad in resurrection-green ; The world of grace all lieav'n surprises With risen glories, earth unseen ! ¥ The Village Blacksmith. Alleluia! chants tli(3 I'ivor To hill and mountain, sky and sea ! Evei-niore and still forever, Float the echoes back to me : Kchoes of an angel chorus (White- robed in the garden gloom), Shouting to the welkin )'er us, " Christ hath risen from the tomb !' 31 All my heart springs up in greeting To the ra})ture of that word ; " Alleluia ! " (glad repeating) ; " Hail ! thrice hail, Thou Risen Lord ! 'J XIII.-THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH Under a spreading chestnut tree The village smithy stands; The smith, a mighty man is he, With large and sinewy hands; And the muscles of his brawny arms Are strong as iron bands. His hail' is crisp, and black, and long. His face is like the tan ; His brow is wet with honest sweat, He 'earns whate'er he can, And looks the whole world in the face, For he owes not any man. 32 T riiiKi) Reader. Week in, week out, from morn till night, You can hear his bellows blow; You can hear him swing his heavy sledge, With measured beat and slow, Like a sexton ringing the village bell, When the evening sun is low. And children coming home from scliool Lrtok in at the open door ; They love to see the flaming forge, And hear the bellows roar. And catcli the burning sparks that fly Like chaff from a threshing floor. Toiling, — rejoicing, — sorrowing, Onward through life he goes ; Each morning sees some task begun, Each evening sees it close ; Something attempted, something done, Has earned a night's repose. Thanks, thanks, to thee, my worthy friend, For the lesson thou hast taught ! Thus at the flaming forge of life Our fortunes must be wrought ; Thus on its sounding anvil shaped Each burning deed and thought. — Jlcnrt/ W. Loiujfellow. Consider how unable you are to do great things, and do not despise little things. I) not The White Beau. 33 XIV. -THE WHITE BEAR. The polar bear lias quite a varied diet, depending on the season and liis whereabouts. IT near a country whose waters abound in seals, licre is his main suste- nance ; and the clevernes's he displays in catching seals is wonderful, for the Eskimo considers the seal the wariest and sliest game in his country, and especially in the suuuner time, when the polar bear secures the most. When a seal comes up thi'ough the tliick ice, on a pleasant sunnjK.'r day, he is (piite watchful at first. He stretches himself for a comfortable snooze on the ice, so close to his hole that the slightest motion of his body will send him over the slippery edge ; when with a stroke or two of his tins, and a splash of his tail, he is out of sight beneath the ice again. Having kept a sharp lookout in every direction for a number of minutes, and seeing nothing suspicious, he allows his heavy head to fall on the ice to take a nap; but they are short naps indeed, and every two or three minutes he raises his head and surveys the surroundings for probable mischief. The polar bear, seeing these movements from the top of some high hummock of ice, crawls stealthily towards his prey, taking advantage as nnich as possible of every little piece of rough ice to conceal his figure, already well protected by his white coat on the ice. Having got as near as he possibly can by such methods, he lies fiat on the ice and commences "hitching" himself along by short, spasmodic actions, watching the seal keenly all the while. 3 I I 34 Third Reader. Should lie look up from his slumbers, the bear remains as motionless as a piece of ice, for whicli he hopes to be taken, until th(i seal throws his head down again, when the bear once more coir^nences "hitching" forward. By this series of very slow and laborious creepings, lie manages to get within from ten to twenty feet of his victim. Watching his best opportunity, when the seal is in the midst of one of his short slumbers, he makes a (juick rush, striking him over the head with his paw, and grasping him by the neck with his teeth. A single mis- calculation in this scheme, and the seal is below the ice through his hole, dashing a mass of spray in Mr. Bruin's face with his tail. Should the seal have crawled up on the edge of an ice- floe from the water, and attempt to escape thereto, the bear being close upon him, the latter will not hesitate — so the Eskimos say — to dive after the seal. Although in the water the seal is his superior in activity, occasionally the bear is rewarded with his prey by a lucky snap of his jaws. The polar bear is credited with killing walrus ; but I think he never attacks any but the smaller ones in a fair combat, so much larger is the walrus than his bearship. The Eskimos claim — and I think their story is true — that the polar bear has been known to take a stone or a huge piece of ice in his fore-paws, and from a favorable altitude — the side of an iceberg or the top of a cliff" — hurl this missile with such certainty as to cause it to alight on a walrus's head, and so stun it that its capture becomes easy afterwards. — Schwatka, : ' g r T o r u« y .\y.>. - /. - .:A;f ' . T »'^. ' *w ' oVVtf^wgv A S All. oil's S()\(j OF THE Sea. 35 XV. A SAILOR'S SONG OF THE SEA. The sea ! tJie sea ! the open sen ! The blue, the fresli, the ever free ! Witliout a mark, witliout a bound, It runs the e/irth's wide regions round ; Tt plays with tlie clouds ; it mocks the skies, Or like a cradled creature lies. I'm on the sea ! I'm on the sea ! I am wliere I would ever be, With the blue Jibove and the blue below, And silence wheresoe'er I go ; If a storm should come and awake the deep, What matter 1 I shall ride and sleep. I love, oh ! how I love to ride On the fierce, foaming, bursting tide, When every mad wave drowns the moon, Or whistles aloud his tempest tune, And tells how goeth the world below. And why the southwest blasts do blow. I never was on the dull, tame shore. But I loved the great sea more and more, And back I flew to her billowy breast, Like a bird that seeks its mother's nest ; And a mother she fvas, and is, to me, For I was born on the deep blue sea ! And I have lived, in calm and strife, Full fifty summers a sailor's life. With wealth to spend and power to range, But never have- sought or sighed for change ; And Death, whenever he comes to me, Shall come on the wild and boundless sea. — Barry Cornwall. \.:\ II 86 rn rmill) liKADEK. Hi XVI.-THE SCULLION WHO BECAME A SCULPTOR. In a little Italian village tlicro onco lived a Jolly stonecutter namo