De La Salle Fifth Reader Part 53

Recite the two famous replies of Commodore Barry given in the selection.

[Ill.u.s.tration: COMMODORE JOHN BARRY]

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sau' cy ig nored'

rev' eled plain' tive dis traught'

wea' ri some rol' lick ing mis' chie vous frec'kle-faced

THE BOY OF THE HOUSE.

He was the boy of the house, you know, A jolly and rollicking lad; He was never tired, and never sick, And nothing could make him sad.

Did some one urge that he make less noise, He would say, with a saucy grin, "Why, one boy alone doesn't make much stir-- I'm sorry I am not a twin!"

"There are two of twins--oh, it must be fun To go double at everything: To hollo by twos, and to run by twos, To whistle by twos, and to sing!"

His laugh was something to make you glad, So brimful was it of joy; A conscience he had, perhaps, in his breast, But it never troubled the boy.

You met him out in the garden path, With the terrier at his heels; You knew by the shout he hailed you with How happy a youngster feels.

The maiden auntie was half distraught At his tricks as the days went by; "The most mischievous child in the world!"

She said, with a shrug and a sigh.

His father owned that her words were true, And his mother declared each day Was putting wrinkles into her face, And was turning her brown hair gray.

But it never troubled the boy of the house; He reveled in clatter and din, And had only one regret in the world-- That he hadn't been born a twin.

There's n.o.body making a noise to-day, There's n.o.body stamping the floor, There's an awful silence, upstairs and down, There's c.r.a.pe on the wide hall door.

The terrier's whining out in the sun-- "Where's my comrade?" he seems to say; Turn your plaintive eyes away, little dog.

There's no frolic for you to-day.

The freckle-faced girl from the house next door Is sobbing her young heart out; Don't cry, little girl, you'll soon forget To miss the laugh and the shout.

How strangely quiet the little form, With the hands on the bosom crossed!

Not a fold, not a flower, out of place, Not a short curl rumpled and tossed!

So solemn and still the big house seems-- No laughter, no racket, no din, No starting shriek, no voice piping out, "I'm sorry I am not a twin!"

There a man and a woman, pale with grief, As the wearisome moments creep; Oh! the loneliness touches everything-- The boy of the house is asleep.

_Jean Blewett._

From the Toronto _Globe_.

[Ill.u.s.tration:]

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BIOGRAPHIES

COOK, ELIZA, was born in London, England, in the year 1817, and was the most popular poetess of her day. When a young girl, she gave herself so completely up to reading that her father threatened to burn her books. She began to write at an early age, and contributed poems and essays to various periodicals. She is the author of many poems that will live. She died in 1889.

COWPER, WILLIAM, is one of the most eminent and popular of all English poets. He was born in the year 1731. His mother dying when he was only six years old, the child was sent away from home to boarding school, where he suffered so much from the cruelty of a bigger boy that he was obliged to leave that school for another. At the completion of his college course he expressed regrets that his education was not received in a school where he could be taught his duty to G.o.d. "I have been graduated," he writes, "but I understand neither the law nor the gospel." His longest poem is "The Task," upon which his reputation as a poet chiefly depends. He died in the year 1800.

d.i.c.kENS, CHARLES, one of the greatest and most popular of the novelists of England, was born in 1812. By hard, persistent work he raised himself from obscurity and poverty to fame and fortune. After only two years of schooling he was obliged to go to work. His first job was pasting labels on blacking-pots, for which he received twenty-five cents a day! He next became office boy in a lawyer's office, and then reporter for a London daily paper. He learned shorthand by himself from a book he found in a public reading-room. In 1841, and again in 1867, he lectured in America. He died suddenly in 1870, and is buried in Westminster Abbey.

DONNELLY, ELEANOR CECILIA, began to write verses when she was but eight years old. Her early education was directed by her mother, a gifted and accomplished lady. Her pen has ever been devoted to the cause of Catholic truth and the elevation of Catholic literature. Besides hundreds of charming stories and essays, she has published several volumes of poems. Her writings on sacred subjects display a strong, intelligent faith, and a tender piety. She is a writer whose pathos, originality, grace of diction, sweetness of rhythm, purity of sentiment, and sublimity of thought ent.i.tle her to rank among the first of our American poets. Miss Donnelly has lived all her life in her native city of Philadelphia, where she is the center of a cultured circle of admiring friends, and where she edifies all by the practice of every Christian virtue and by a life of devotedness to the honor and glory of Almighty G.o.d.

GOULD, HANNAH F., an American poetess, has written many pleasant poems for children. "Jack Frost" and "The Winter King" have long been favorites. She was born in Vermont in the year 1789, and died in 1865.

HAWTHORNE, NATHANIEL, was born in Salem, Ma.s.s., on July 4, 1804.

When still quite young he showed a great fondness for reading. At the early age of six his favorite book was Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress." At college he was a cla.s.smate of Longfellow. Among his writings are a number of stories for children: "The Tanglewood Tales," "The Snow-Image," "The Wonder Books," and some stories of American history.

His volumes of short stories charm old and young alike. His Book, "The Scarlet Letter," has made him famous. It was while he lived at Lenox, Ma.s.s., among the Berkshire Hills, that he published "The House of the Seven Gables." He visited Italy in 1857, where he began "The Marble Faun," which is considered his greatest novel. He died in 1864, and is buried in Concord, Ma.s.s. Hawthorne possessed a delicate and exquisite humor, and a marvelous felicity in the use of language. His style may be said to combine almost every excellence--elegance, simplicity, grace, clearness and force.

HAYNE, PAUL HAMILTON, an American poet, was born in South Carolina in the year 1831. In 1854 he published a volume of poems. His death occurred in 1886. He was a descendant of the American patriot, Isaac Hayne, who, at the siege of Charleston in 1780, fell into the hands of the British, and was hanged by them because he refused to join their ranks and fight against his country.

HOLLAND, JOSIAH GILBERT, a popular American author who wrote under the a.s.sumed name of _Timothy t.i.tcomb,_ was born in Ma.s.sachusetts in the year 1819. He began life as a physician, but after a few years of practice gave up his profession and went to Vicksburg, Miss., as Superintendent of Schools. He wrote a number of novels and several volumes of essays. In 1870 he became editor of _Scribner's Magazine._ He died in 1881.

HUNT, LEIGH, editor, essayist, critic, and poet, and an intimate friend of Byron, Moore, Keats, and Sh.e.l.ley, was born near London, England, in 1784, and died in 1859.

JACKSON, HELEN HUNT, a noted American writer of prose and poetry, and known for years by her pen name of "H.H." (the initials of her name), was born in Ma.s.sachusetts in the year 1831. She is the author of many charming poems, short stories, and novels. Read her "Bits of Talk"