FIFTH READER.

1. A SHIP UNDER FULL SAIL.

RICHARD HENRY DANA (1815-1882) was born in Massachusetts. He entered Harvard College at an early age, but an affection of the eyes compelled him to travel, and he took this opportunity to gratify a longing for a seaman's life, and spent two years as a common sailor. The information which he gathered on this trip was embodied in the charming volume Two Years Before the Mast, from which this selection is abridged. Mr. Dana ranked with the first of American lawyers, particularly in questions of international law.

1. NOTWITHSTANDING all that has been said about the beauty of a ship under full sail, there are very few who have ever seen a ship literally under all her sail. A ship coming in or going out of port, with her ordinary sails, and perhaps two or three studding-sails, is commonly said to be under full sail; but a ship never has all her sail upon her except when she has a light, steady breeze, very nearly, but not quite dead aft, and so regular that it can be trusted, and is likely to last for some time.

2. Then, with all her sails, light and heavy, and studdingsails on each side, alow and aloft, she is the most glorious moving object in the world. Such a sight very few, even some who have been at sea a good deal, have ever beheld; for from the deck of your own vessel you can not see her as you would a separate object.

3. One night while we were in these tropics, I went out to the end of the flying-jibboom upon some duty, and, having finished it, turned round, and lay over the boom for a long time, admiring the beauty of the sight before me. Being so far out from the deck, I could look at the ship as at a separate vessel; and there rose up from the water, supported only by the small black hull, a pyramid of canvas, spreading out far beyond the hull, and towering up almost, as it seemed in the indistinct night air, to the clouds.

4. The sea was as still as an inland lake; the light tradewind was gently and steadily breathing from astern; the dark blue sky was studded with the tropical stars; there was no sound but the rippling of the water under the stem; and the sails were spread out, wide and high,-the two lower studding-sails stretching on each side far beyond the deck; the topmast studding-sails like wings to the topsails; the top-gallant studding-sails spreading fearlessly out above them; still higher, the two royal studding-sails, looking like two kites flying from the same string; and, highest of all, the little skysail, the apex of the pyramid, seeming actually to touch the stars, and to be out of reach of human hand.

5. So quiet, too, was the sea, and so steady the breeze, that if these sails had been sculptured marble they could not have been more motionless. Not a ripple upon the surface of the canvas; not even a quivering of the extreme edges of the sail, so perfectly were they distended by the breeze. I was so lost in the sight that I forgot the presence of the man who came out with me, until he said (for he, too, rough old man-of-war's-man as he was had been gazing at the show), half to himself, still looking at the marble sails,-"How quietly they do their work!"

Definitions.-I. Stud'ding-sail, a light sail set outside a principal sail of a vessel to increase her speed. 4. Top'-sail, a sail extended across the mast of a ship next above the lower mast called the topmast. Top-gallant, the third sail in order from the deck.

ALT. V.-2.

2. BY THE ALMA RIVER.

Mrs. DINAH MARIA MULOCH CRAIK (1826-1887) was born in England. At the age of twenty-three, The Ogilvies, her first work appeared; this was followed by Olive, and in 1856 by her most admired novel, John Halifax, Gentleman. Her poems were recently issued under the title Thirty Years. Mrs. Craik wrote a pure, simple English, choosing her words with great care. In delineation of character, A Life for a Life is certainly her best book.

1. WILLIE, fold your little hands;

Let it drop, that soldier toy;
Look where father's picture stands,—
Father, who here kissed his boy
Not two months since-father kind,
Who this night may-Never mind
Mother's sob, my Willie dear,
Call aloud that he may hear
Who is God of battles,-say,
"Oh, keep my father safe this day1
By the Alma river."

2. Ask no more, child. Never heed
Either Russ, or Frank, or Turk,
Right of nations or of creed,

Chance-poised victory's bloody work.

Any flag i' the wind may roll

On thy heights, Sevastopol!2
Willie, all to you and me

Is that spot, where'er it be,

Where he stands--no other word!

Stands-God sure the child's prayer heard

By the Alma river.

3. Willie, listen to the bells

Ringing through the town to-day.
That's for victory. Ah, no knells

For the many swept away—