We buried him darkly at dead of night, No useless coffin enclosed his breast, Not in sheet or in shroud we wound him; But he lay like a warrior taking his rest, With his martial cloak around him. Few and short were the prayers we said, But we steadfastly gazed on the face that was And we bitterly thought of the morrow. We thought, as we hollowed his narrow bed, That the foe and the stranger would tread o'er his head, And we far away on the billow! Lightly they'll talk of the spirit that's gone, But half of our heavy task was done, When the clock struck the hour for retiring; And we heard the distant and random gun That the foe was sullenly firing. Slowly and sadly we laid him down From the field of his fame fresh and gory; We carved not a line, and we raised not a stone,But we left him alone with his glory. REV. C. WOLFE. Sir John Moore.-This eminent soldier was born in Glasgow in 1761. In 1808, he received a command in Spain, which had been invaded by the French. At the close of that year, he was obliged to retreat toward the sea, and fell back on Coruna, where he expected vessels to transport his soldiers to Britain. But the vessels had not arrived, and on the 16th of January, 1809, he was attacked by the French. Notwithstanding the superiority of the French in numbers, they were signally defeated, but Moore was mortally wounded. His body, wrapped in his cloak, was buried on the ramparts of the old citadel. Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot.-It is customary, when a soldier is buried, for his companions in arms to fire a farewell volley over his grave. QUESTIONS:-1. Who was Sir John Moore? 2. Where was he killed? 3. When? 4. Why was he buried quickly, without the usual accompaniments of a military funeral? 5. When was he buried? 6. How was his grave dug? 7. How did the soldiers see to dig his grave? 8. How do you know that there was not clear moonlight when he was buried? 8. Why were the lanterns burning dimly? 9. How was he buried? 10. Why was there no coffin? 11. Why does the poet say no useless" coffin? 12. What were the feelings of the soldiers as they buried him? 13. What made them think bitterly of the morrow? 14. What warned them that it was time to retire? 15. Why are the foe said to have been sullenly firing their guns? 16. What was there to mark his grave? 17. Give all the affixes, with their meanings, in this lesson. 18. Give any figurative expressions occurring in the lesson. 66 STRANGE, that the wind should be left so free, Above and around, to breathe of life, Or to mingle the earth and the sky in strife: Strange that the sun should call into birth Strange doth it seem, that the sun should joy Strange, that the ocean should come and go, The bark that, ere night, will be tempest-torn; But, stranger than all, that man should die Alas! if we murmur at things like these,- That the ocean wave is not always still— QUESTIONS:-1. What element is spoken of in the first stanza? 2. Put in two columns the contrasted things which the wind is said to do. 3. When may the wind be said to growl like a fettered fiend? 4. What are fetters? 5. What do you call chains for the hands? 6. What is spoken of in the second stanza? 7. Arrange in two columns the contrasted things which the sun is said to do. 8. Why is the sun said to call the flowers into birth? 9. What is meant by its child in the fifth line of this stanza? 10. What is spoken of in the third stanza? 11. Arrange in order the contrasted things which the ocean is said to do. 12. What are the ebb and flow of the ocean? 13. How often do the ebb and flow of the ocean occur? 14. What feeling do all these things done by the wind, the sun, and the ocean excite? 15. Who is spoken of in the fourth stanza? 16. What contrasts in man's life are noticed? 17. What is meant when it is said that man walks forth a lord of the earth? 18. Why are seventy years spoken of? 19. What does the poet say that seventy years can show? 20. Why does he say that wealth is trouble? 21. What is the cup of life? 22. Why is the cup of life said to be poisoned? 23. What reason is given in the first two lines of the last stanza why we should not murmur at things like these? 24. What is meant by reflection here? 25. What do you mean when you speak of the reflection of the sun's rays? 26. What lesson may we learn when we remember that all these things must be? 1. What does gladden mean? 2. What part of the word means to make? 3. Give other words formed in the same way. 4. Give words having the same force with the en at the beginning. 5. What adjective is wisdom formed from? 6. What is the meaning of dom? 7. Give other words having the same termination. 8. What verb is the word bearer formed from? 9. What is the meaning of the er in this word? 10. Give twenty other words having the same termination. |