The New McGuffey Fourth Reader by W. H. McGuffey (best way to read books .TXT) 📖

DEFINITIONS:—Tutor, teacher. Grimace, distortion of the face. Impressive, touching. Invoked, called down.

TWO WAYS OF TELLING A STORY.

BY HENRY K. OLIVER.

In one of the most populous cities of New England, a few years ago, a party of lads, all members of the same school, got up a grand sleigh ride. The sleigh was a very large one, drawn by six gray horses.

On the following day, as the teacher entered the schoolroom, he found his pupils in high glee, as they chattered about the fun and frolic of their excursion. In answer to some inquiries, one of the lads gave him an account of their trip and its various incidents.

As he drew near the end of his story, he exclaimed: “Oh, sir! there was one thing I had almost forgotten. As we were coming home, we saw ahead of us a queer-looking affair in the road. It proved to be a rusty old sleigh, fastened behind a covered wagon, proceeding at a very slow rate, and taking up the whole road.

“Finding that the owner was not disposed to turn out, we determined upon a volley of snowballs and a good hurrah. They produced the right effect, for the crazy machine turned out into the deep snow, and the skinny old pony started on a full trot.

“As we passed, some one gave the horse a good crack, which made him run faster than he ever did before, I’ll warrant.

“With that, an old fellow in the wagon, who was buried up under an old hat, bawled out, ‘Why do you frighten my horse?’ ‘Why don’t you turn out, then?’ says the driver. So we gave him three rousing cheers more. His horse was frightened again, and ran up against a loaded wagon, and, I believe, almost capsized the old creature—and so we left him.”

“Well, boys,” replied the teacher, “take your seats, and I will tell you a story, and all about a sleigh ride, too. Yesterday afternoon a very venerable old clergyman was on his way from Boston to Salem, to pass the rest of the winter at the house of his son. That he might be prepared for journeying in the following spring he took with him his wagon, and for the winter his sleigh, which he fastened behind the wagon.

“His sight and hearing were somewhat blunted by age, and he was proceeding very slowly; for his horse was old and feeble, like its owner. He was suddenly disturbed by loud hurrahs from behind, and by a furious pelting of balls of snow and ice upon the top of his wagon.

“In his alarm he dropped his reins, and his horse began to run away. In the midst of the old man’s trouble, there rushed by him, with loud shouts, a large party of boys, in a sleigh drawn by six horses. ‘Turn out! turn out, old fellow!’ ‘Give us the road!’ ‘What will you take for your pony?’ ‘What’s the price of oats, old man?’ were the various cries that met his ears.

“‘Pray, do not frighten my horse!’ exclaimed the infirm driver. ‘Turn out, then! turn out!’ was the answer, which was followed by repeated cracks and blows front the long whip of the ‘grand sleigh,’ with showers of snowballs, and three tremendous hurrahs from the boys.

“The terror of the old man and his horse was increased, and the latter ran away with him, to the great danger of his life. He contrived, however, to stop his horse just in season prevent his being dashed against a loaded wagon. A short distance brought him to the house of his son. That son, boys, is your instructor, and that ‘old fellow’ was your teacher’s father!”

When the boys perceived how rude and unkind their conduct appeared from another point of view, they were very much ashamed of their thoughtlessness, and most of them had the manliness to apologize to their teacher for what they had done.

DEFINITIONS:—Populous, full of inhabitants. Excursion, a pleasure trip. Incidents, things that happens, events. Warrant, to declare with assurance. Capsized, upset. Venerable, deserving of honor and respect. Blunted, dulled.

EXERCISES.—Repeat the boy’s story of the sleigh ride. The teacher’s story. Were the boys ill-natured or only thoughtless? Is thoughtlessness any excuse for rudeness or unkindness?

THE BLIND MEN AND THE ELEPHANT.

BY JOHN G. SAXE.

It was six men of Indostan, To learning much inclined, Who went to see the elephant, (Though all of them were blind,) That each by observation Might satisfy his mind.

The first approached the elephant, And, happening to fall Against his broad and sturdy side, At once began to bawl “God bless me! but the elephant Is very like a wall!”

The second, feeling of the tusk, Cried: “Ho! what have we here. So very round, and smooth, and sharp? To me ‘tis very clear, This wonder of an elephant Is very like a spear!”

The third approached the animal, And, happening to take The squirming trunk within his hands, Thus boldly up he spoke: “I see,” quoth he, “the elephant Is very like a snake!”

The fourth reached out his eager hand, And felt about the knee: “What most this wondrous beast is like Is very plain,” quoth he; “‘Tis clear enough the elephant Is very like a tree!”

The fifth, who chanced to touch the ear, Said: “E’en the blindest man Can tell what this resembles most: Deny the fact who can, This marvel of an elephant Is very like a fan!”

The sixth no sooner had begun About the beast to grope, Than, seizing on the swinging tail That fell within his scope, “I see,” quoth he, “the elephant Is very like a rope!”

And so these men of Indostan Disputed loud and long, Each in his own opinion Exceeding stiff and strong, Though each was partly in the right And all were in the wrong!

DEFINITIONS:—Indostan, Hindostan, a county in Asia now commonly called India. Quoth, said.

HARRY’S RICHES.

One day, our little Harry spent the morning with his young playmate, Johnny Crane, who lived in a fine house, and on Sundays rode to church in the grandest carriage to be seen in all the country round.

When Harry returned home, he said, “Mother, Johnny has money in both pockets!”

“Has he, dear?”

“Yes, ma’am; and he says he could get ever so much more if he wanted it.”

“Well, now, that’s very pleasant for him,” I returned cheerfully, as a reply was plainly expected. “Very pleasant; don’t you think so?”

“Yes, ma’am; only—”

“Only what, Harry?”

“Why, he has a big popgun, and a watch, and a hobbyhorse, and lots of things.” And Harry looked up at my face with a disconsolate stare.

“Well, my boy, what of that?”

“Nothing, mother,” and the telltale tears sprang to his eyes, “only I guess we are very poor, aren’t we?”

“No, indeed, Harry, we are very far from being poor. We are not so rich as Mr. Crane’s family, if that is what you mean.”

“O mother!” insisted the little fellow, “I do think we are very poor; anyhow, I am!”

“O Harry!” I exclaimed reproachfully.

“Yes, ma’am, I am,” he sobbed; “I have scarcely anything—I mean anything that’s worth money—except things to eat and wear, and I’d have to have them anyway.”

“Have to have them?” I echoed, at the same time laying my sewing upon the table, so that I might reason with him on that point; “do you not know, my son—”

Just then Uncle Ben looked up frown the paper he had been reading: “Harry,” said he, “I want to find out something about eyes; so, if you will let me have yours, I will give you a dollar apiece for them.”

“For my eyes!” exclaimed Harry, very much astonished.

“Yes,” resumed Uncle Ben, quietly, “for your eyes. I will give you chloroform, so it will not hurt you in the least, and you shall have a beautiful glass pair for nothing, to wear in their place. Come, a dollar apiece, cash down! What do you say? I will take them out as quick as a wink.”

“Give you my eyes, uncle!” cried Harry, looking wild at the very thought, “I think not.” And the startled little fellow shook his head defiantly.

“Well, five, ten, twenty dollars, then.” Harry shook his head at every offer.

“No, sir! I wouldn’t let you have them for a thousand dollars! What could I do without my eyes? I couldn’t see mother, or the baby, or the flowers, or the horses, or anything,” added Harry, growing warmer and warmer.

“I will give you two thousand,” urged Uncle Ben, taking a roll of bank notes out of his pocket. Harry, standing at a safe distance, shouted that he never would do any such thing.

“Very well,” continued the uncle, with a serious air, at the same time writing something in his notebook, “I can’t afford to give you more than two thousand dollars, so I shall have to do without your eyes; but,” he added, “I will tell you what I will do, I will give you twenty dollars if you will let me put a few drops from this bottle in your ears. It will not hurt, but it. will make you deaf. I want to try some experiments with deafness, you see. Come quickly, now! Here are the twenty dollars all ready for you.”

“Make me deaf!” shouted Harry, without even looking at the gold pieces temptingly displayed upon the table. “I guess you will not do that, either. Why, I couldn’t hear a single word if I were deaf, could I?”

“Probably not,” replied Uncle Ben. So, of course, Harry refused again. He would never give up his hearing, he said, “no, not for three thousand dollars.”

Uncle Ben made another note in his book, and then came out with large bids for “a right arm,” then “left arm,” “hands,” “feet,” “nose,” finally ending with an offer of ten thousand dollars for “mother,” and five thousand for “the baby.”

To all of these offers Harry shook his head, his eyes flashing, and exclamations of surprise and indignation bursting from his lips. At last, Uncle Ben said he must give up his experiments, for Harry’s prices were entirely too high.

“Ha! ha!” laughed the boy, exultingly, and he folded his dimpled arms and looked as if to say, “I’d like to see the man who could pay them!”

“Why, Harry, look here!” exclaimed Uncle Ben, peeping into his notebook, “here is a big addition sum, I tell you! ” He added the numbers, and they amounted to thirty-two thousand dollars.

“There, Harry,” said Uncle Ben, “don’t you think you are foolish not to accept some of my offers?” “No, sir, I don’t,” answered Harry, resolutely. “Then,” said Uncle Ben, “you talk of being poor, and by your own showing you have treasures for which you will not take thirty-two thousand dollars. What do you say to that?”

Harry didn’t know exactly what to say. So he blushed for a second, and just then tears came rolling down his cheeks, and he threw his chubby arms around my neck. “Mother,” he whispered, “isn’t God good to make everybody so rich?”

DEFINITIONS:—Disconsolate, filled with grief. Reproachfully, with censure or reproof. Chloroform, an oily liquid, the vapor of which causes insensibility. Startled, shocked. Defiantly, daringly. Afford, to be able to pay for. Experiments, acts performed to discover some truth. Exclamations, expressions of surprise, anger, etc. Exultingly, in a triumphant manner. Treasures, things which are very much valued.

A HAPPY NEW YEAR.

BY MARGARET E. SANGSTER.

Coming, coming, coming! Listen! perhaps you’ll hear Over the snow the bugles blow To welcome the glad new year. In the steeple tongues are swinging, There are merry sleigh bells ringing, And the people for joy are singing, It’s