16. Three journeymen bricklayers are in chase of it. It catches upon a bank-it tears its way through. Now the three bricklayers are joined by a couple of fellows in smock-frocks, a policeman, five boys, followed by three girls, and, last of all, a woman with a child in her arms, all running, shouting, screaming, yelling, as the grapnel-iron and rope go trailing and bobbing over the ground before them. At last the iron catches upon a hedge-grapples with its roots; the balloon is arrested, but struggles hard; three or four men seize the rope, and down we are hauled. CHARLES DICKENS. CII.-FROM A PROLOGUE TO A PLAY. PRIMA DON'NA (pre-) n., the princi PROLOGUE (pro'lŏg), n., introduction | LORN, a., forsaken; forlorn. pal female singer. MILLION-AIRE, n., one worth a million. The satire on certain stage representations in the following lines will be found as just as it is lively and amusing. WHAT is a prologue! Let our Tutor teach: Pro means beforehand; logos stands for speech. "T is like the harper's prelude on the strings, "The world's a stage," as Shakspeare said, one day; Here every foundling finds its lost mamma; When the young couple, old folks, rogues, and all, Here suffering virtue ever finds relief, And black-browed ruffians always come to grief. Cries, "Help, kyind Heaven;" and drops upon her knees "Ha! Villain! Draw! Now, Terator, yield or die!" When the poor hero flounders in despair, O W. HOLMES. CIII.-THE GRAVES OF A HOUSEHOLD. MYR'TLE, n., a fragrant shrub. CE'DAR, n., an evergreen tree SEV'ERED, pp., separated. NAUGHT (nawt), n., nothing. The ea in hearth has properly the sound it has in heart; though in the ast stanza of the following beautiful poem the author gives it the sound of ea in earth adverbial. THEY grew in beauty, side by side,- ent adj She had each folded flower in sight; · Where are those dreamers now? fired The sea, the blue lone sea, hath one,- sub nom He was the loved of all, yet none (One sleeps where southern (vines are dressed (On a blood-red field of Spain. tia alobj And one-o'er her the myrtle showers Its leaves, by soft winds fanned; And parted thus, they rest who played They that with smiles lit up the hall, And naught beyond, O Earth! MRS. HEMANS. CIV. THE RESCUE OF THE LAMB. SudOUR, n., aid in distress. TRIUMPH (-umf), n., joy for success. GUARD'I-AN, n., a defender. CHAN'NEL, n., course for a stream. Walker and Worcester pronounce leaped lept, rhyming with kept. SEEK who will delight in fable, I shall tell you truth. A lamb Leaped from this steep bank to follow Far and wide on hill and valley But, as chanced, a cottage maiden Whirled adown the rocky channel, Peace and rest, as seems, before them O! it was a frightful current, Whose fierce wrath the girl had braved ;— Saved by courage that with danger Came with succor from above. WM. WORDSWORTH. (1770-1850.), CV.-EARLY HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. POULTRY n., domestic fowls. LEISURE, n., vacant time. SKILLFUL OF SKIL'FUL, a., ex-pert'. STOCK-ADE', n., a line of stakes as a defense or barrier. KNIGHT-ER'RANT-RY, n., the feats, &c., of an errant or roving knight IN'STI-GATE, v. t., to urge; to incite. BA-RO'NI-AL, a., relating to a baron. In dis-cover-y, cov'ered, mod'ern, &c., heed the sound of er. Do not say thust for thirst; keows for cows. The second a in ap-par'ent has the sound of a in care. 1. THE English have never displayed the same thirst of discovery as the Spaniards and French, either in North or South America. A love of adventure, an eager curiosity, a desire of change, or some like motive, had carried the French all over the continent, while the English colonists continued quietly i hin their own limits. The French missionaries coasted along the lakes, and descended the Mississippi, a whole century before the Virginians began to cross the Alleghany ridge, to get a glimpse of the noble inheritance, which had remained undisturbed for centuries, waiting their coming. 2. It was not till the year 1767,- only eight years before the breaking out of the revolutionary war,-that John Finley, of North Carolina, descended into Kentucky for the purpose of hunting and trading. The feelings of wonder and delight experienced by this early pioneer in passing through the rich lands, which were filled with deer, buffaloes, and every kind of game, and covered with the majestic growth of centuries, soon communicated themselves to others. Like the spies, who returned from Palestine, they declared, "The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land." They compared it to parks and gardens, or a succession of farms stocked with cattle, and full of birds tame as barn-yard poultry. 3. Instigated by these descriptions, in 1769, Daniel Boone, a man much distinguished for bravery and skill, entered Kentucky. And now commenced a scene of enterprise, romantic adventure, chivalric daring, and patient endurance, not surpassed in the history of modern times. Nothing in those voluminous tales of knight-ĕrrantry, which occupied the leisure of pages, and squires of old baronial days, or in the Waverley novels and their train of romances of the second class, which amuse modern gentlemen and ladies,—nothing in these works of imagination,can exceed the reälities of early Kentucky history. 4. From 1769 till Wayne's victory on the Maumee, in 1794, a period of twenty-five years, including the whole revolutionary war, the people of Kentucky were engaged in Indian warfare, for life and home. |