Elson Grammar School Literature Part 54

"riot is rest"--the heat of the day is past, all is quiet.

"a-wait"--waiting.

"ponderous gate"--vast western horizon at sunset.

"wood aisle"--path of sun's rays in the woods at sunset.

"drunken the soul of the oak"--absorbed its strength.

"scythe of time"--symbol of death.

"trowel of trade"--symbol of industry.

"belief overmasters doubt"--inner confidence, faith takes the place of uncertainty.

"I know that I know"--become self-confident thro' a Power greater than self.

"My spirit grows to a lordly great compa.s.s within"--My soul becomes its own confident guide, relying on a Power greater than self.

"When length was fatigue"--tiresome to look at--he was unable to understand it.

"breadth was but bitterness sore"--so vast as to be disappointing and beyond his ability to know and control.

"drew over me out of the merciless miles of the plain"--The vastness of the marshes filled him with fear and awe.

"sweet visage of s.p.a.ce"--He came to love the view of the marshes.

"belt of the dawn"--the line where the gray beach and the woods come together is like the horizon at daybreak.

"For a mete and a mark"--a line to measure and distinguish the limits of the marsh.

"affable live oak"--friendly, kindly.

"lord of the land"--the oak tree.

"sinuous southward"--irregular line connecting wood and marsh.

"fastens the fringe of the marsh to the folds of the land"--the line which marks the coming together of the marsh and the land--"the shimmering band."

"gray looping of light"--the light reflected or thrown back from the woods in the dim distance.

"terminal blue of the main"--the sea coast, the coast line.

"weighing of fate"--serious thoughts of the future.

"publish yourselves"--to show or to expose.

"offer yourselves"--the sea overruns the marsh.

"Tolerant plains"--generous, broad, liberal.

"mightily won G.o.d out of Knowledge"--won thro' kindness and love, and broad-mindedness.

"good out of infinite pain"--was helped by suffering to become n.o.ble and true.

"build me a nest on the greatness of G.o.d"--to establish himself on the principles of the great Power.

"lay me a-hold on the greatness of G.o.d"--to lay hold of this Heavenly beauty and goodness and greatness.

"liberal marshes"--great, broad. Thro' these he learned the beauty of greatness and of broad-mindedness in man, and from that to the greatness of G.o.d was but a natural step.

"sea lends large"--sends its waters out in tides over the marsh country twice a day.

"grace of the sea"--the generous waters of the sea.

"rosy and silvery essences"--relates to the color of the water in the channel, as determined by the setting sun's rays.

"pa.s.seth a hurrying sound of wings"--a sound of wings hurrying past.

"is in his ecstasy"--the tide has reached its highest point--it is the moment of accomplishment; the task is finished.

"Vast of the Lord"--The influence of G.o.d upon men is compared to that of the tides of the sea upon the marshes.

"waking ken"--Who can tell us the meaning of our dreams?

PART III

ORATIONS AND PATRIOTIC SELECTIONS

_"Stirred up with high hopes of living to be brave men and worthy patriots, dear to G.o.d and famous to all ages."_

--JOHN MILTON.

REGULUS BEFORE THE ROMAN SENATE

EPES SARGENT

It ill becomes me, Senators of Rome, me, Regulus, after having so often stood in this venerable a.s.sembly, clothed with the supreme dignity of the republic, to stand before you to-day, a captive,--the captive of Carthage.

Though outwardly free, yet the heaviest of chains, the pledge of a Roman Consul, makes me the bondsman of the Carthaginians. They have my promise to return to them in the event of the failure of this their emba.s.sy.