New National Fourth Reader Part 63

Read the last two lines, and state whether the _inflected words_ are also _emphatic words_.

Find a similar example of _inflection_ and _emphasis_ upon the same words in the last stanza of Lesson x.x.xVI.

Language Lesson.--Let pupils explain the meaning of the following expressions.

_Join the br.i.m.m.i.n.g river_.

_Netted sunbeam_.

LESSON LXI.

de terred', _kept from_.

en'ter prise, _an undertaking_.

im'ple ments, _articles used in a trade_.

sur vey'ing, _measuring land_.

in'di cated, _showed; pointed out_.

re clin'ing, _partly lying down_.

re lease', _let go_.

con clu'sion, _final decision_.

suc ces'sion, _following one after another_.

hur'ri cane, _a high wind_.

an'ec dote, _incident; story_.

com pact', _closely put together_.

ANECDOTE OF WAs.h.i.+NGTON.

PART I

It was a calm, sunny day in the year 1750; the scene, a piece of forest land in the north of Virginia, near a n.o.ble stream of water.

Implements of surveying were lying about, and several men reclining under the trees, indicated by their dress and appearance, that they were engaged in laying out the wild lands of the country.

These persons had just finished their dinner. Apart from the group walked a young man of a tall and compact frame, who moved with the firm and steady tread of one accustomed to constant exercise in the open air.

His face wore a look of decision and manliness not usually found in one so young, for he was but little over eighteen years of age.

Suddenly there was a shriek, then another, and then several more in rapid succession. The voice was that of a woman, and seemed to proceed from the other side of a small piece of wooded land.

At the first scream, the youth turned his head in the direction of the sound; but when it was repeated, he pushed aside the undergrowth and soon dashed into an open s.p.a.ce on the banks of the stream, where stood a small log-cabin.

As the young man broke from the undergrowth, he saw his companions crowded together on the banks of the river, while in their midst stood a woman, from whom proceeded the shrieks he had heard. She was held by two of the men, but was struggling to free herself.

The instant the woman saw the young man, she exclaimed, "O sir, you will do something for me! Make them release me. My boy--my poor boy is drowning, and they will not let me go!"

"It would be madness; she will jump into the river," said one of the men, "and the rapids would dash her to pieces in a moment!"

The youth had scarcely waited for these words; for he remembered the child, a bold little boy four years of age, whose beautiful blue eyes and flaxen ringlets made him a favorite with every one.

He had been accustomed to play in the little inclosure before the cabin; but the gate having been left open, he had stolen out, reached the edge of the bank, and was in the act of looking over, when his mother saw him.

The shriek she uttered only hastened the accident she feared; for the child, frightened at the cry of his mother, lost his balance and fell into the stream, which here went foaming and roaring along among rocks and dangerous rapids.

Several of the men approached the edge of the river, and were on the point of springing in after the boy. But the sight of the sharp rocks crowding the channel, the rush and whirl of the waters, and the want of any knowledge where to look for the child, deterred them, and they gave up the enterprise.

Not so with the n.o.ble youth. His first act was to throw off his coat; next to spring to the edge of the bank. Here he stood for a moment, running his eyes rapidly over the scene below, taking in with a glance the different currents and the most dangerous of the rocks, in order to shape his course when in the stream.

He had scarcely formed his conclusion, when he saw in the water a white object, which he knew was the boy's dress; and then he plunged into the wild and roaring rapids.

"Thank G.o.d, he will save my child!" cried the mother; "there he is!--O my boy, my darling boy! How could I leave you!"

Every one had rushed to the brink of the precipice and were now following with eager eyes the progress of the youth, as the current bore him onward, like a feather in the power of a hurricane.

Now it seemed as if he would be dashed against a projecting rock, over which the water flew in foam, and a whirlpool would drag him in, from whose grasp escape would appear impossible.

At times, the current bore him under, and he would be lost to sight; then in a few seconds he would come to the surface again, though his position would be far from where he had disappeared.

Thus struggling amid the rocks and angry waters, was the n.o.ble youth borne onward, eager to succeed in his perilous undertaking. Those on sh.o.r.e looked on with breathless interest.