3

So much for the preacher:

The sermon comes next,-
Shall we tell how he preached it
And where was his text?
Alas! like too many

Grown-up folks who play
At worship in churches
Man-builded today,~

We heard not the preacher
Expound or discuss;
But we looked at the people,
And they looked at us.
We saw all their dresses-
Their colors and shapes;
The trim of their bonnets,
The cut of their capes;
We heard the wind-organ,
The bee, and the bird,
But of Jack in the pulpit
We heard not a word!

HELPS TO STUDY
Notes and Questions

VOCABULARY:

frail-easily broken; not firm; weak.

ǎs-sem'-ble to come together; to call together; to bring together.

cälm-quiet; still; peaceful.

WORDS AND PHRASES:

"Meek-faced anemones''

"Languidly"

"his reverence'

"Guileless"

"wind-organ"

"Man-builded"

SEPTEMBER*

HELEN HUNT JACKSON

She

Helen Hunt Jackson (1831-1885) was an American poet. was born in Massachusetts, but she spent much of her life in California. Her poems are very beautiful.

1

THE golden-rod is yellow;
The corn is turning brown;
The trees in apple orchards
With fruit are bending down.

2

The gentian's bluest fringes
Are curling in the sun;
In dusky pods the milkweed
Its hidden silk has spun.

3

The sedges flaunt their harvest
In every meadow-nook;
And asters by the brookside

Make asters in the brook.

* Copyright, 1892, by Roberts Brothers.

ō'-dor-any smell, fragrant or unpleasant.

tō'-ken—a sign; something intended to represent another thing.

WORDS AND PHRASES:

"gentian's bluest fringes''

dusky pods"

66 'sedges''

"hidden silk'

'flaunt their harvest"

"dewy lanes"

"lovely tokens'

"best of cheer"

OCTOBER'S BRIGHT BLUE WEATHER*

HELEN HUNT JACKSON

1

O, SUN and skies and clouds of June

And flowers of June together,

Ye can not rival for one hour

October's bright blue weather.

2

When loud the bumblebee makes haste,
Belated, thriftless vagrant,

And golden-rod is dying fast,

And lanes with grapes are fragrant;

3

When gentians roll their fringes tight,
To save them for the morning,
And chestnuts fall from satin burs
Without a sound of warning;

4

When on the ground red apples lie
In piles like jewels shining,

And redder still on old stone walls
Are leaves of woodbine twining;

5

When all the lovely wayside things

Their white-winged seeds are sowing,
And in the fields, still green and fair,

Late aftermaths are growing;

*Copyright, 1892, by Roberts Brothers.

6.

When springs run low, and on the brooks, In idle, golden freighting,

Bright leaves sink noiseless in the hush Of woods, for winter waiting;

When comrades seek sweet country haunts,

By twos and twos together,
And count like misers hour by hour,
October's bright blue weather.

O sun and skies and flowers of June,
Count all your boasts together,
Love loveth best of all the year
October's bright blue weather.

HELPS TO STUDY

Notes and Questions