Third reader. 113 as I read the letter, of what he said to me years ago, ’Beware of the first drink!’ 12.  “Ah, my dear boys, when old Uncle Philip is gone, remember that he told you

the story of Tom Smith, and said to you, ’Beware of the first drink!’ The man who does this will never be a drunkard.”

        114 Eclectic series.

Lesson XLIII.

Speak gently.

1.  Speak gently; it is better far
To rule by love than fear: 
Speak gently; let no harsh words mar
The good we might do here.

2.  Speak gently to the little child;
Its love be sure to gain;
Teach it in accents soft and mild;
It may not long remain.

3.  Speak gently to the aged one;
Grieve not the careworn heart: 
The sands of life are nearly run;
Let such in peace depart.

4.  Speak gently, kindly, to the poor;
Let no harsh tone be heard;
They have enough they must endure,
Without an unkind word.

5.  Speak gently to the erring; know
They must have toiled in vain;
Perhaps unkindness made them so;
Oh, win them back again.

        Thirdreader. 115

6.  Speak gently:  ’tis a little thing
Dropped in the heart’s deep well;
The good, the joy, which it may bring,
Eternity shall tell. 
George Washington Langford.

LESSON XLIV.

The seven sticks. 1.  A man had seven sons, who were always quarreling.  They left their studies and work, to quarrel among themselves.  Some bad men were looking forward to the death of their father, to cheat them out of their property by making them quarrel about it. 2.  The good old man, one day, called his sons around him.  He laid before them seven sticks, which were bound together.  He said, “I will pay a hundred dollars to the one who can break this bundle.” 3.  Each one strained every nerve to break the bundle.  After a long but vain trial, they all said that it could not be done.

116 Eclectic series. 4.  “And yet, my boys,” said the father, “nothing is easier to do.”  He then untied the bundle, and broke the sticks, one by one, with perfect ease.

5.  “Ah!” said his sons, “it is easy enough to do it so; anybody could do it in that way.” 6.  Their father replied, “As it is with these sticks, so is it with you, my sons.  So

Third reader. 117 long as you hold fast together and aid each other, you will prosper, and none can injure you. 7.  “But if the bond of union be broken, it will happen to you just as it has to these sticks, which lie here broken on the ground.”

Home, city, country, all are prosperous found,
When by the powerful link of union bound.

Lesson XLV.  The mountain sister. 1.  The home of little Jeannette is far away, high up among the mountains.  Let us call her our mountain sister. 2.  There are many things you would like to hear about her, but I can only tell you now how she goes with her father and brother, in the autumn, to help gather nuts for the long winter.