McGuffey's Fourth Eclectic Reader Part 27

28. "Do you believe this?" asked the judge, while a tear glistened in his eye, and his lip quivered with emotion.

29. "Yes, sir," said the child, with a voice and manner which showed that her conviction of the truth was perfect.

30. "G.o.d bless you, my child," said the judge, "you have a good mother.

The witness is competent," he continued. "Were I on trial for my life, and innocent of the charge against me, I would pray G.o.d for such a witness as this. Let her be examined."

31. She told her story with the simplicity of a child, as she was; but her voice and manner carried conviction of her truthfulness to every heart.

32. The lawyers asked her many perplexing questions, but she did not vary in the least from her first statement.

33. The truth, as spoken by a little child, was sublime. Falsehood and perjury had preceded her testimony; but before her testimony, falsehood was scattered like chaff.

34. The little child, for whom a mother had prayed for strength to be given her to speak the truth as it was before G.o.d, broke the cunning device of matured villainy to pieces, like a potter's vessel. The strength that her mother prayed for was given her; and the sublime and terrible simplicity,--terrible to the prisoner and his a.s.sociates,--was like a revelation from G.o.d himself.

DEFINITIONS.--l. Wit'ness, one who gives testimony. Com--mit'ted, done, performed. 2. Coun'sel, a lawyer. 4. Re-ject'ed, refused. 6. As-sured', made bold. Con-fid'ing-ly, with trust. 8. Pro-fane', irreverent, taking the name of G.o.d in vain. 33. Per'ju-ry, the act of willfully making a false oath. Chaff, the light dry husk of grains or gra.s.ses. 34. Ma-tured', perfected, fully developed. Pot'ter, one whose occupation is to make earthen vessels. Rev--e-la'tion, the act of disclosing or showing what was before unknown.

EXERCISES.--What is this story about? Why did the counsel wish to have Emily refused as a witness? Was she a fit person to be a witness? How was this shown? Which commandment forbids us to bear false witness? What was the result of Emily's testimony?

LXXV. KING SOLOMON AND THE ANTS. (211)

By John Greenleaf Whittier, born near Haverhill, Ma.s.s., In 1807, and died at Hampton Falls, N. H., In 1892. Until he was eighteen years old he worked on the farm, and during that time learned the trade at a shoemaker.

He afterwards became an editor and one of the first poets of America.

1. Out from Jerusalem The king rode with his great War chiefs and lords of state, And Sheba's queen with them.

2. Proud in the Syrian sun, In gold and purple sheen, The dusky Ethiop queen Smiled on King Solomon.

3. Wisest of men, he knew The languages of all The creatures great or small That trod the earth or flew.

4. Across an ant-hill led The king's path, and he heard Its small folk, and their word He thus interpreted:

5. "Here comes the king men greet As wise and good and just, To crush us in the dust Under his heedless feet."

6. The great king bowed his head, And saw the wide surprise Of the Queen of Sheba's eyes As he told her what they said.

7. "O king!" she whispered sweet, "Too happy fate have they Who perish in thy way Beneath thy gracious feet!

8. "Thou of the G.o.d-lent crown, Shall these vile creatures dare Murmur against thee where The knees of kings kneel down?"

9. "Nay," Solomon replied, "The wise and strong should seek The welfare of the weak;"

And turned his horse aside.

10. His train, with quick alarm, Curved with their leader round The ant-hill's peopled mound, And left it free from harm.

11. The jeweled head bent low; "O king!" she said, "henceforth The secret of thy worth And wisdom well I know.

12. "Happy must be the State Whose ruler heedeth more The murmurs of the poor Than flatteries of the great."

DEFINITIONS.--4. In-ter'pret-ed, explained the meaning of. 5. Greet, Address, salute. 9. Wel'fare, happiness. 10. Train, a body of followers.

12. Flat'ter-ies, praises for the purpose of gratifying vanity or gaining favor.

LXXVI. RIVERMOUTH THEATER. (213)

From "The Story of a Bad Boy," by Thomas Bailey Aldrich. The author was born at Portsmouth, N. H., in 1836. When quite young his family moved to Louisiana, but he was sent back to New England to be educated, and later he located at New York. He is a well-known writer of both prose and poetry.

1. "Now, boys, what shall we do?" I asked, addressing a thoughtful conclave of seven, a.s.sembled in our barn one dismal, rainy afternoon.

"Let's have a theater," suggested Binny Wallace.

2. The very thing! But where? The loft of the stable was ready to burst with hay provided for Gypsy, but the long room over the carriage house was unoccupied. The place of all places! My managerial eye saw at a glance its capabilities for a theater.

3. I had been to the play a great many times in New Orleans, and was wise in matters pertaining to the drama. So here, in due time, was set up some extraordinary scenery of my own painting. The curtain, I recollect, though it worked smoothly enough on other occasions, invariably hitched during the performances.

4. The theater, however, was a success, as far as it went. I retired from the business with no fewer than fifteen hundred pins, after deducting the headless, the pointless, and the crooked pins with which our doorkeeper frequently got "stuck." From first to last we took in a great deal of this counterfeit money. The price of admission to the "Rivermouth Theater" was twenty pins. I played all the princ.i.p.al characters myself--not that I was a finer actor than the other boys, but because I owned the establishment.

5. At the tenth representation, my dramatic career was brought to a close by an unfortunate circ.u.mstance. We were playing the drama of "William Tell, the Hero of Switzerland." Of course I was William Tell, in spite of Fred Langdon, who wanted to act that character himself. I wouldn't let him, so he withdrew from the company, taking the only bow and arrow we had.

6. I made a crossbow out of a piece of whalebone, and did very well without him. We had reached that exciting scene where Gesler, the Austrian tyrant, commands Tell to shoot the apple from his son's head. Pepper Whitcomb, who played all the juvenile and women parts, was my son.

7. To guard against mischance, a piece of pasteboard was fastened by a handkerchief over the upper portion of Whitcomb's face, while the arrow to be used was sewed up in a strip of flannel. I was a capital marksman, and the big apple, only two yards distant, turned its russet cheek fairly towards me.

8. I can see poor little Pepper now, as he stood without flinching, waiting for me to perform my great feat. I raised the crossbow amid the breathless silence of the crowded audience--consisting of seven boys and three girls, exclusive of Kitty Collins, who insisted on paying her way in with a clothespin. I raised the crossbow, I repeat. Tw.a.n.g! went the whipcord; but, alas! instead of hitting the apple, the arrow flew right into Pepper Whitcomb's mouth, which happened to be open at the time, and destroyed my aim.

9. I shall never be able to banish that awful moment from my memory.

Pepper's roar, expressive of astonishment, indignation, and pain, is still ringing in my ears. I looked upon him as a corpse, and, glancing not far into the dreary future, pictured myself led forth to execution in the presence of the very same spectators then a.s.sembled.

10. Luckily, poor Pepper was not seriously hurt; but Grandfather Nutter, appearing in the midst of the confusion (attracted by the howls of young Tell), issued an injunction against all theatricals thereafter, and the place was closed; not, however, without a farewell speech from me, in which I said that this would have been the proudest moment of my life if I hadn't hit Pepper Whitcomb in the mouth. Whereupon the audience (a.s.sisted, I am glad to state, by Pepper) cried, "Hear! hear!"

11. I then attributed the accident to Pepper himself, whose mouth, being open at the instant I fired, acted upon the arrow much after the fashion of a whirlpool, and drew in the fatal shaft. I was about to explain how a comparatively small maelstrom could suck in the largest ship, when the curtain fell of its own accord, amid the shouts of the audience.

12. This was my last appearance on any stage. It was some time, though, before I heard the end of the William Tell business. Malicious little boys who hadn't been allowed to buy tickets to my theater used to cry out after me in the street,-"'Who killed c.o.c.k Robin?'"

DEFINITIONS.--l. Con'clave, a private meeting. 2. Man-a-ge'ri-al, of or pertaining to a manager. 4. De-duct'ing, taking away, subtracting. 5.

Ca-reer', course of action. 8. Au'di-ence, an a.s.sembly of hearers. 9.

Ex-e-cu'tion, a putting to death by law. 10. In-junc'tion, a command. 11.

At-trib'ut-ed, a.s.signed, charged. Mael'strom (pro, mal'strum), a whirlpool.

NOTE.--The Revised Fifth Reader of this Series contains the portion of "William Tell" probably alluded to. See McGuffey's Fifth Reader, pp. 207-216.