That moss-covered vessel I hailed as a treasure,
For often, at noon, when returned from the field,
I found it the source of an exquisite pleasure,
The purest and sweetest that nature can yield.

How ardent I seized it with hands that were glowing!

And quick to the white-pebbled bottom it fell; Then soon, with the emblem of truth overflowing, And dripping with coolness, it rose from the

well

The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket,
The moss-covered bucket, arose from the well.

How sweet from the green mossy brim to receive

it, As, poised on the curb, it inclined to my lips;

Not a full-blushing goblet could tempt me to leave it,

Though filled with the nectar that Jupiter sips.

And now, far removed from that loved habitation, The tear of regret will intrusively swell

As fancy reverts to my father's plantation,

And sighs for the bucket which hangs in the
well-

The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket,
The moss-covered bucket, which hangs in the

well.

SAMUEL WOODWORTH.

LESSON CXVII.

Blushing; wicked; cracking; gutter; myself.

LESSON CXVIII.

Wrinkled; hopping; glee; worse; ago.

LESSON CXIX.

Presently; another; shoeless; briskly; else.

LESSON CXX.

Receive; splendid; floating; funny; breathless.

LESSON CXXI.

Stamp; deity; laughing; gave; patient.

LESSON CXXII.

Triumph; shook; away; gust; disappear.

LESSON CXXIII.

Review. What is an orchard? What is a meadow? What is a cataract? How did the boy get the bucket up from the well?

What is moss? Why did it grow on the bucket? Why is water like truth? Who wrote the poem, and what about him? What is nectar? Who was Jupiter?

LESSON CXXIV.

Write ten sentences about things you can see in the picture on

page 87.

LESSON CXXV.

Recollect; orchard; dairy; pleasure; dripping; removed; sighs; clear; refuse; nearly.

THE FIRST SNOW-FALL.

The snow had begun in the gloaming,
And busily all the night

Had been heaping field and highway
With a silence deep and white.

Every pine and fir and hemlock
Wore ermine too dear for an earl,
And the poorest twig on the elm tree
Was ridged inch-deep with pearl.

From sheds new-roofed with Carrara *
Came Chanticleer's muffled crow;
The stiff rails were softened to swan's down,
And still fluttered down the snow.

I stood and watched by the window
The noiseless work of the sky,
And the sudden flurries of snow-birds,
Like brown leaves whirling by.

*A variety of marble very pure and white.

I thought of a mound in sweet Auburn,*
Where a little headstone stood,

How the flakes were folding it gently,
As did robins the babes in the wood.

Up spoke our own little Mabel,

Saying, "Father, who makes it snow?"
And I told of the good All-Father
Who cares for us here below.

Again I looked at the snow-fall,
And thought of the leaden sky
That arched o'er our first great sorrow,
When that mound was heaped so high.

I remember the gradual patience
That fell from that cloud like snow,
Flake by flake, healing and hiding
The scar of our deep-plunged woe;

And again to the child I whispered,
"The snow that husheth all,
Darling, the merciful Father

Alone can make it fall."

Then, with eyes that saw not, I kissed her,
And she, kissing back, could not know
That my kiss was given to her sister,
Folded close under deepening snow.
JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.

LESSON CXXVI.

Suddenly; explained; errand; merrily; said.

* A cemetery near Boston.

LESSON CXXVII.

Searched; children; because; willing; instead.

LESSON CXXVIII.

Ought; anybody; owned; police; guard.

LESSON CXXIX.

Wringing; voice; choked; story; next.

LESSON CXXX.

Trouble; lose; honest; care; animals.

LESSON CXXXI.

Toward; canal; dream; village; singing.

LESSON CXXXII.

Everything; afraid; closely; died; merry.

LESSON CXXXIII.

Prayer; sorrowful; hearty; orphan; ever.

LESSON CXXXIV.

Since; Egypt; family; absent; broad.

LESSON CXXXV.

Familiar; picture; few; rush; foreign.

LESSON CXXXVI.

Review. What time of day is the gloaming? What is ermine? pearl? Carrara? chanticleer? swan's down? Where is Auburn ? Who were the babes in the wood? What can you tell about

Lowell?