LESSON XXXV.

WHAT IS THAT, MOTHER?

1. "WHAT is that, mother?"

"The lark, my child;

The morn has but just looked out and smiled,
When he starts from his humble, grassy nest,
And is up and away, with the dew on his breast,
And a hymn in his heart, to yon pure, bright sphere,
To warble it out in his Maker's ear.

Ever, my child, be thy morn's first lays
Tuned, like the lark's, to thy Maker's praise."

2. "What is that, mother?"

"The dove, my son;

And that low, sweet voice, like the widow's moan,

Is flowing out from her gentle breast,

Constant and pure, by that lonely nest,

As the wave is poured from some crystal urn,
For her distant dear one's quick return.
Ever, my son, be thou like the dove;

In friendship as faithful, as constant in love."

3. "What is that, mother?"

"The eagle, my boy,

Proudly careering his course of joy;

Firm, in his own mountain vigor relying;

Breasting the dark storm; the red bolt defying:
His wing on the wind, and his eye on the sun,
He swerves not a hair, but bears onward, right on.

Boy, may the eagle's flight ever be thine,
Onward, and upward, and true to the line."

He is floating down from his native grove;
No loved one now, no nestling nigh;

He is floating down, by himself, to die.
Death darkens his eye, and unplumes his wings;
Yet his sweetest song is the last he sings.
Live so, my love, that when death shall come,
Swanlike and sweet it may waft thee home."

DOANE.

LESSON XXXVI.

THE BIRDS OF HEAVEN.

1. HARK to Nature's lesson, given
By the blessed birds of heaven'!
Every bush and tufted tree

Warbles sweet philosophy:

"Mortal', fly from doubt and sorrow';
God provideth for the morrow.

2. "Say', have kings more wholesome fare
Than we, poor citizens of air'?
Barns nor hoarded grain have we,
Yet we carol merrily.

Mortal', fly from doubt and sorrow;
God provideth for the morrow.

3. "One there lives, who, Lord of all,
Keeps our feathers lest they fall':
Pass we blithely, then, the time,
Fearless of the snare and lime,
Free from doubt and faithless sorrow:
God provideth for the morrow."

BISHOP HEBER.

XXXVII. QUESTIONS TO THE BIRDS, AND THEIR ANSWERS.

1. THE EAGLE.

ART thou the king of birds, proud eagle'? Say'!
"I am'; my talons and my beak bear sway';
A greater king than I if thou wouldst be',
Govern thy tongue, but let thy thoughts be free."

2. VULTURES.

Abominable harpies'!1 spare the dead'!
"We only clear the field which man has spread;
On which should Heaven its hottest vengeance rain`?
You slay the living-we but strip the slain."

3. THE OWL.

Blear-eyed,2 strange-voiced, sharp-beaked, ill-
omened fowl',

What art thou? "What I ought to be-an owl;
But if I'm such a scarecrow3 in your eye,
You're a much greater fright in mine-good-by!"

Swallow', why homeward turned thy joyful "In a far land I heard the voice of Spring;

I found myself that moment on the way;

My wings, my wings, they had not power to stay."

5. THE CANARY.

Dost thou not languish for thy father-
land',

Madeira's fragrant woods and billowy strand' ?5
"My cage is father-land enough for me;
Your parlor all the world-sky, earth, and sea."

6. THE HUMMING-BIRD.

Art thou a bird', or bee', or butterfly'?
"Each, and all three. A bird in shape am I;
A bee, collecting sweets from bloom to bloom;
A butterfly in brilliancy of plume."

LESSON XXXVIII.

A SOUTH SEA ROOKERY (MORRELL).

1. A ROOKERY is a temporary encampment of oceanic1 birds, for the

purpose of bringing forth their young; and they unite in immense numbers, and with great industry, to construct it. When a sufficient number of penguins, albatrosses, etc., are assembled on the shore, they appear to hold a deliberate consultation, and then proceed to the execution of the grand purpose for which they left their favorite element.

2. In the first place, they carefully select a level piece of ground, of suitable extent, and as near the water as practicable, always preferring that which is the least encumbered2 with stones and other hard substances, with which it would be dangerous to have their eggs come in contact. As soon