13. It was two by the village clock

When he came to the bridge at Concord town.
He heard the bleating of the flock,

And the twitter of birds among the trees,
And felt the breath of the morning breeze
Blowing over the meadows brown.
And one was safe and asleep in his bed,
Who at the bridge would be first to fall,
Who that day would be lying dead,
Pierced by a British musket-ball.

14. You know the rest. In the books you have read
How the British regulars fired and fled,—
How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
From behind each fence and farm-yard wall,
Chasing the red-coats down the lane,
Then crossing the fields to emerge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
And only pausing to fire and load.

15. So through the night rode Paul Revere;
And so through the night went his cry of alarm
To every Middlesex village and farm-

A cry of defiance and not of fear

A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo forevermore!
For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
Through all our history, to the last,

In the hour of darkness, and peril, and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear

The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,

And the midnight message of Paul Revere.

Longfellow.

ADDITIONAL EXERCISES.

[To aid the teacher in selecting pieces for practice in the various kinds of modulation and styles of reading.]

Description, blended with Emotion-pp. 12, 57, 65, 81, 141, 154, 174, 211, 231, 293, 326, 332, 351, 359, 366, 378.

Animated or Picturesque Description—pp. 136, 143, 190, 290, 295, 353. Indignation, Rebuke, or Denunciation-pp. 133, 161, 213, 216, 217, 315. Entreaty, Exhortation, etc-pp. 149, 156, 194, 205, 280, 357.

Eulogy, Pathetic and Declamatory-pp. 79, 235, 246, 257, 309,318, 336, 339.

THE following List of Authors is inserted for the convenience of teachers and pupils. These works may be consulted for the purpose of obtaining fuller information, in regard to any of the periods of United States history, than is afforded by the Reader.

THE UNITED STATES READER.

SECTION I.

DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS.

Discovery of America.-Christopher Columbus, the discoverer of America, was born in the city of Genoa (jen'o-ah), Italy. At an early age he manifested a fondness for the sea, and the most of his life, previous to its great event, was passed on the waters of the Mediterranean, and the west coast of Africa; and he even made a voyage toward Greenland, passing beyond the island of Iceland.

In those days, when navigation was yet in its infancy, the usual route to India-the country in the southeast part of Asia, with the adjacent islandswas by way of Egypt and the Red Sea, the passage around the southern extremity of Africa being then unknown. Columbus, believing the earth to be round, concluded that by sailing westward he would sooner reach India than by taking this route. This conception he determined to realize, being influenced by the conviction that he was commissioned by Heaven to carry the Gospel to the heathen of unknown lands.

His first application for aid was to the government of Genoa: it was refused. After applying, without success, to the monarchs of England and Portugal, he was assisted by Isabella,* Queen of Spain, and he set sail from Palos (pah'los), at the mouth of the river Tinto, in that country, with a fleet of three vessels. The first land which he saw, after a voyage of ten weeks, was one of the Bahama Islands, called by the natives Guanahani (gwah-nah-hah'ne), by him San Salvador (Holy Saviour), now sometimes known as Cat Island (October, 1492).

[The pronunciation and meaning of the words marked (♥) are given in the Vocabulary at the end of the volume.]

ANALYSIS.

Columbus, his early life-How prompted to the enterprise-His equipment-First land discovered-Date.

*

Queen Isabella was one of the purest spirits that ever ruled over the destinies of a nation. Had she been spared, her benignant vigilance would have prevented many a scene of horror in the colonization of the New World, and might have softened the lot of its native inhabitants. As it is, her fair name will ever shize with celestial radiance in the dawning of its history."—Irving.

First Voyage of Columbus.—Joanna Baillie.

1. WHAT did the ocean's waste supply
To soothe the mind or please the eye?

The rising morn through dim mist breaking,
The flickered east with purple streaking;
The mid-day cloud through thin air flying,
With deeper blue the blue sea dyeing;
Long ridgy waves their white manes rearing,
And in the broad gleam disappearing;
The broadened, blazing sun declining,
And western waves like fire-floods shining;
The sky's vast dome to darkness given,
And all the glorious host of heaven!

2. Full oft upon the deck-while others slept-
To mark the bearing of each well-known star,
That shone aloft or on the horizon far,

The anxious Chief his lonely vigil kept.

The mournful wind, the hoarse wave breaking near,
The breathing groans of sleep, the plunging lead,
The steersman's call, and his own stilly tread,
Are all the sounds of night that reach his ear.

3. But soon his dauntless soul, which nought could bend, Nor hope delayed nor adverse fate subdue,With a more threatening danger must contend Than storm or wave-a fierce and angry crew! 'Dearly," say they, "may we those visions rue

"

Which lured us from our native land,—

A wretched, lost, devoted band,
Led on by hope's delusive gleam,

The victims of a madman's dream!
Nor gold shall e'er be ours, nor fame,
Not even the remnant of a name,
On some rude-lettered stone, to tell
On what strange coast our wreck befell.

For us no requiem" shall be sung,
Nor prayer be said, nor passing knell
In holy church be rung."

4. To thoughts like these all forms give way
Of duty to a leader's sway;

And, as he moves,-oh! wretched cheer!
Their muttered curses reach his ear.

But all undaunted, firm, and sage,

He scorns their threats, yet thus he soothes their rage:
"That to some nearing coast we bear,
How many cheering signs declare !
Wayfaring birds the blue air ranging,
Their shadowy line to blue air changing,
Pass o'er our heads in frequent flocks;
While sea-weed from the parent rocks,
With fibry roots, but newly torn,

In wreaths are on the clear wave borne.

Nay, has not e'en the drifting current brought
Things of rude art, by human cunning wrought?
Be yet two days your patience tried,

And if no shore is then descried,
E'en turn your dastard prows again,
And cast your leader to the main."

5. And thus a while, with steady hand,
He kept in check a wayward band,
Who but with half-expressed disdain,
Their rebel spirit could restrain.

So passed the day,-the night,-the second day,
With its red setting sun's extinguished ray.

6. Dark, solemn midnight coped the ocean wide,

When from his watchful stand Columbus cried,
"A light, a light !"-blest sounds that rang
In every ear. At once they sprang
With haste aloft, and, peering bright,
Descried afar the blessed sight.

"It moves! It slowly moves, like ray

Of torch that guides some wanderer's way!

Lo! other lights, more distant, seeming

As if from town or hamlet streaming!

"Tis land! 'Tis peopled land! Man dwelleth there;

And thou, O God of heaven, hast heard thy servant's prayer!"

7. Returning day gave to their view

The distant shore and headland blue

Of long-sought land. Then rose on air
Loud shouts of joy, mixed wildly strange