And I serve the fairy queen,
To dew her orbs upon the green.
The cowslips tall her pensioners be:
In their gold coats, spots you see;
Those be rubies, fairy favors,

In those freckles live their savors:
I must go seek some dewdrops here,
And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.
Farewell, thou lob of spirits; I'll be gone:
Our queen and all her elves come here anon.

SHAKESPEARE: A Midsummer Night's Dream.
(b) Breathes there the man with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,

"This is my own, my native land?"
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burn'd,
As home his footsteps he hath turn'd

From wandering on a foreign strand?
If such there breathe, go, mark him well;
For him no minstrel raptures swell;
High though his titles, proud his name,
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim;
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch, concentred all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust from which he sprung,

Unwept, unhonored, and unsung.

SCOTT: The Lay of the Last Minstrel.

(c) The first snow came. How beautiful it was, falling so silently all day long, all night long, on the mountains, on the meadows, on the roofs of the living, on the graves of the dead! All white save the river, that marked its

course by a winding black line across the landscape; and the leafless trees, that against the leaden sky now revealed more fully the wonderful beauty and intricacy of their branches!

What silence, too, came with the snow; and what seclusion! Every sound was muffled, every noise changed to something soft and musical. No more trampling hoofs, no more rattling wheels! Only the chiming sleigh-bells, beating as swift and merrily as the hearts of children. LONGFELLOW: Kavanagh.

247. Memory Work. Reproductions may be of another kind; instead of reproducing the thought of an author in your own words, you may give his exact words, from memory. Both the memorizing of prose and poetry, and the retelling of passages from literature in your own language are valuable, for thus you increase your stock of words and idioms. For instance, in the above exercises it was necessary to make a careful selection of words to express the author's meaning. Sometimes you were compelled to use the original expression to reproduce the thought adequately, and so increased your own vocabulary. Memorized passages serve the same purpose and have a value that can scarcely be over-estimated. They not only improve your own use of English, but also stimulate thought and become a source of much pleasure and satisfaction in after years.

EXERCISE 44

1. Read the following two or three times; reproduce it in your own words; then memorize it and repeat it

to the class; pay particular attention to expression and pronunciation :

And let the sacred obligations which have devolved on this generation, and on us, sink deep into our hearts. Those who -established our liberty and our government are daily dropping from among us. The great trust now descends to new hands. Let us apply ourselves to that which is presented to us, as our appropriate object. We can win no laurels in a war for independence. Earlier and worthier hands have gathered them all. Nor are there places for us by the side of Solon, and Alfred, and other founders of States. Our fathers have filled them. But there remains to us a great duty of defence and preservation; and there is open to us also, a noble pursuit, to which the spirit of the times strongly invites us. In a day of peace, let us advance the arts of peace and the works of peace. Let us develop the resources of our land, call forth its powers, build up its institutions, promote all its great interests, and see whether we also, in our day and generation, may not perform something worthy to be remembered. Let us cultivate a true spirit of union and harmony. Let our object be, Our country, our whole country, and nothing but our country. And, by the blessing of God, may that country itself become a vast and splendid monument, not of oppression and terror, but of Wisdom, of Peace, and of Liberty, upon which the world may gaze with admiration forever!

WEBSTER: Bunker Hill Oration.

2. Memorize one or more of the following selections and repeat in class; pay particular attention to your enunciation:

(a) Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,

As the swift seasons roll!

Leave thy low-vaulted past!

Let each new temple, nobler than the last,

Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,

Till thou at length art free,

Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!
HOLMES: The Chambered Nautilus.

(b) The year's at the spring,

And day's at the morn;

Morning 's at seven ;

The hillside 's dew pearled;

The lark's on the wing;

The snail's on the thorn;

God's in His heaven

All's right with the world.

BROWNING: Pippa Passes.

c) If thou art worn and hard beset

With sorrows, that thou wouldst forget,

If thou wouldst read a lesson, that will keep

Thy heart from fainting and thy soul from sleep,

Go to the woods and hills! No tears

Dim the sweet look that Nature wears.

LONGFELLOW: Sunrise on the Hills.

(d) My good blade carves the casques of men,
My tough lance thrusteth sure,

My strength is as the strength of ten,
Because my heart is pure.

The shattering trumpet shrilleth high,
The hard brands shiver on the steel,
The splintered spear-shafts crack and fly,
The horse and rider reel :

They reel, they roll in clanging lists,

And when the tide of combat stands,
Perfume and flowers fall in showers,
That lightly rain from ladies' hands.

TENNYSON: Sir Galahad.

(e) There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar.

I love not man the less, but nature more,
From these our interviews, in which I steal
From all I may be, or have been before,
To mingle with the universe, and feel

What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal.

BYRON.

3. Commit to memory selections from the literature assigned in class.

248. Personal Incident. Every day, no doubt, you have occasion to relate to your companions some exciting or amusing incident, something you have experienced or observed. The aim in relating such experiences is to entertain your hearers; to do it well is an art worth cultivating.

In telling a personal anecdote you should keep in mind certain things. In the first place, the story should begin with those facts of time, place, and persons present, which your hearers must know if they are to understand and appreciate what you are telling them. In the second place, the incident must have a point which you should reach before your hearers have time to become impatient. Therefore