LESSON CX.

MUL' TI PLY, increase; continue.

COL'TER, part of the plow that cuts the sod.

GE' NI AL, productive.

BE NIG' NANT, kind; bounteous.

SAUN' TER ING, loitering.

WOOD' BINE, honeysuckle.

RE SPLEN DENT, splendid, beautiful.

PO' TENT, powerful.

ROAD' STEAD, place where ships may anchor.

RE LI' ANT, trusting; depending.

PES TI LEN' TIAL, infectious; noxious.

PER PET' U AL, continual.

STER' ILE, barren.

[Headnote 1: LE ON' I DAS, the celebrated Spartan leader who, with three hundred men, perished in the effort to resist the Persian hosts, at the mountain pass of Thermopylae, (B. C., 480.)]

[Headnote 2: MARS' TON, that is, Marston Moor, a place in Yorkshire, England, memorable for the defeat of Charles I., (in 1644,) by the forces of Cromwell and others.]

[Headnote 3: BAN' NOCK BURN, a village in Stirlingshire, Scotland, famous for the battle between the patriots, under Robert Bruce, and the English invading army, under Edward II., fought, June 25, 1314.]

[Headnote 4: AR MA' DA, a great naval armament sent by Philip II. of Spain, in 1588, for the conquest of England. It failed utterly, however, of its object, having been scattered and disabled by violent storms.]

SONG OF THE FORGE.

1. Clang! clang! the massive anvils ring,—

Clang! clang! a hundred hammers swing,

Like the thunder-rattle of a tropic sky,

The mighty blows still multiply:

Clang! clang!

Say, brothers of the dusky brow,

What are your strong arms forging now?

2. Clang! clang!—we forge the colter now—

The colter of the kindly plow;

Benignant Father, bless our toil;

May its broad furrow still unbind

To genial rains, to sun and wind,

The most productive soil!

3. Clang! clang!—our colter's course shall be

On many a sweet and sunny lea,

By many a streamlet's silver tide,

Amidst the song of morning birds,

Amidst the low of sauntering herds,

Amidst soft breezes which do stray

Through woodbine-hedges and sweet May,

Along the green hill's side.

4. When regal Autumn's bounteous hand,

With wide-spread glory clothes the land,—

When, to the valleys, from the brow

Of each resplendent slope, is rolled

A ruddy sea of living gold,

We bless,—we bless the PLOW.

5. Clang! clang!—again, my mates, what glows

Beneath the hammer's potent blows?

Clink! clank!—we forge the giant chain,

Which bears the gallant vessel's strain,

'Midst stormy winds and adverse tides;

Secured by this, the good ship braves

The rocky roadstead and the waves

Which thunder on her sides.

6. Anxious no more, the merchant sees

The mist drive dark before the breeze.

The storm-cloud on the hill;

Calmly he rests, though, far away

In boisterous climes, his vessel lay

Reliant on our skill.

7. Say, on what sands these links shall sleep,

Fathoms beneath the solemn deep`?

By Afric's pestilential shore',—

By many an iceberg, lone and hoar',—

By many a palmy western isle,

Basking in spring's perpetual smile',—

By stormy Labrador'?

8. Say, shall they feel the vessel reel,

When, to the battery's deadly peal,

The crashing broadside makes reply'?

Or else, as at the glorious Nile,

Hold grappling ships, that strive the while,

For death or victory'?

9. Hurrah!—cling! clang!—once more, what glows,

Dark brothers of the forge, beneath

The iron tempest of your blows

The furnace's fiery breath?

10. Clang! clang!—a burning torrent, clear

And brilliant, of bright sparks is poured

Around and up in the dusky air,

As our hammers forge the SWORD.

11.   The sword! a name of dread; yet when

Upon the freeman's thigh 'tis bound,

While for his altar and his hearth,—

While for the land that gave him birth,

The war-drums roll, the trumpets sound,

How sacred is it then!

12. Whenever for the truth and right

It flashes in the van of fight,

Whether in some wild mountain pass

As that where fell Leonidas[Headnote 1];

Or on some sterile plain and stern,

A Marston[Headnote 2] or a Bannockburn[Headnote 3];

Or, mid fierce crags and bursting rills,

The Switzer's Alps, gray Tyrol's hills,—

Or, as when sunk the Armada's[Headnote 4] pride,

It gleams above the stormy tide,—

Still, still, whene'er the battle word

Is LIBERTY, when men do stand

For justice and their native land,

Then Heaven bless THE SWORD!

QUESTIONS.—1. What things are mentioned as being forged? 2. What is said of the colter? 3. What, of the iron cable? 4. What, of the sword?