New National Fourth Reader Part 58

Language Lesson.--Let pupils write a letter to some friend, using the last paragraph of the lesson as a subject.

LESSON LVI.

persist'ed, _continued_.

crip'ples, _those who have lost the use of a limb_.

merged, _united; joined_.

stal'wart, _strong; powerful_.

in'nocent, _harmless_.

pa.s.s'port, _what enables one to go in safety_.

gal'lant, _brave; n.o.ble_.

riv'en, _taken away; deprived_.

UNITED AT LAST.

"O mother! What do they mean by blue?

And what do they mean by gray?"

Was heard from the lips of a little child As she bounded in from play.

The mother's eyes filled up with tears; She turned to her darling fair, And smoothed away from the sunny brow Its treasure of golden hair.

"Why, mother's eyes are blue, my sweet, And grandpa's hair is gray, And the love we bear our darling child Grows stronger every day."

"But what did they mean?" persisted the child; "For I saw two cripples to-day, And one of them said he fought for the blue, The other, he fought for the gray.

"Now he of the blue had lost a leg, And the other had but one arm, And both seemed worn and weary and sad, Yet their greeting was kind and warm.

They told of the battles in days gone by, Till it made my young blood thrill; The leg was lost in the Wilderness fight, And the arm on Malvern Hill.

"They sat on the stone by the farm-yard gate, And talked for an hour or more, Till their eyes grew bright and their hearts seemed warm With fighting their battles o'er; And they parted at last with a friendly grasp, In a kindly, brotherly way, Each calling on G.o.d to speed the time Uniting the blue and the gray."

Then the mother thought of other days-- Two stalwart boys from her riven; How they knelt at her side and lispingly prayed, "Our Father which art in heaven;"

How one wore the gray and the other the blue; How they pa.s.sed away from sight, And had gone to the land where gray and blue Are merged in colors of light.

And she answered her darling with golden hair, While her heart was sadly wrung With the thoughts awakened in that sad hour By her innocent, prattling tongue: "The blue and the gray are the colors of G.o.d, They are seen in the sky at even, And many a n.o.ble, gallant soul Has found them a pa.s.sport to heaven."

LESSON LVII.

declin'ing, _failing_.

expe'rience, _that which happens to any one_.

regard', _look at; consider_.

robust', _sound in health_.

ben'efit ed, _made better; helped_.

intense', _extreme_.

moc'ca sin, _a kind of shoe made of deer-skin_.

tem'po ra ry, _for a time_.

pe cul'iar, _strange; unusual_.

in tel'li gent, _showing good sense_.

A STORY OF THE SIOUX WAR.

PART I.

In the summer of 1862, while we were living in the State of Minnesota, I had an experience which I regard as one of the most remarkable that I ever met with.

We lived at Lac Qui Parle, or rather quite close to it, for we were about a mile from the place.

There were only three of us--father, mother, and myself. We had moved to Minnesota three years before, the main object of my parents being to restore their health; for they were feeble and needed a change of climate.