McGuffey's Fourth Eclectic Reader eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 252 pages of information about McGuffey's Fourth Eclectic Reader.

McGuffey's Fourth Eclectic Reader eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 252 pages of information about McGuffey's Fourth Eclectic Reader.

8.  Such as in England would have passed for frightful.  It was not the custom in England, in DeFoe’s time, to wear a full beard.

LV.  SOMEBODY’S DARLING. (150)

1.  Into a ward of the whitewashed halls,
     Where the dead and dying lay,
   Wounded by bayonets, shells, and balls,
     Somebody’s darling was borne one day;

2.  Somebody’s darling, so young and brave,
     Wearing yet on his pale, sweet face,
   Soon to be hid by the dust of the grave,
     The lingering light of his boyhood’s grace.

3.  Matted and damp are the curls of gold,
     Kissing the snow of that fair young brow;
   Pale are the lips of delicate mold
     Somebody’s darling is dying now.

4.  Back from his beautiful, blue-veined brow,
     Brush all the wandering waves of gold;
   Cross his hands on his bosom now;
     Somebody’s darling is still and cold.

5.  Kiss him once for somebody’s sake,
     Murmur a prayer soft and low;
   One bright curl from its fair mates take;
     They were somebody’s pride, you know;

6.  Somebody’s hand has rested there;
     Was it a mother’s, soft and white? 
   And have the lips of a sister fair
     Been baptized in the waves of light?

7.  God knows best! he was somebody’s love: 
     Somebody’s heart enshrined him there;
   Somebody wafted his name above,
     Night and morn, on the wings of prayer.

8.  Somebody wept when he marched away,
     Looking so handsome, brave, and grand;
   Somebody’s kiss on his forehead lay;
     Somebody clung to his parting hand.

9.  Somebody’s watching and waiting for him,
     Yearning to hold him again to her heart;
   And there he lies, with his blue eyes dim,
     And the smiling, childlike lips apart.

10.  Tenderly bury the fair young dead,
      Pausing too drop on his grave a tear;
    Carve on the wooden slab at his head,
     “Somebody’s darling slumbers here.”

Definitions.—­1.  Bay’o-net, a short, pointed iron weapon, fitted to the muzzle of a gun.  Dar’ling, one dearly loved. 2.  Lin’ger-ing, protracted. 3.  Mat’ted, twisted together.  Del’i-cate, soft and fair.  Mold, shape. 4.  Wan’der-ing, straying. 7.  En-shrined’, cherished.  Waft’ed, caused to float. 9.  Yearn’ing, being eager, longing. 10.  Ten’der-ly, gently, kindly.

LVI.  KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. (151)

1.  “What an excellent thing is knowledge,” said a sharp-looking, hustling little man, to one who was much older than himself.  “Knowledge is an excellent thing,” repeated he.  “My boys know more at six and seven years old than I did at twelve.  They can read all sorts of books, and talk on all sorts of subjects.  The world is a great deal wiser than it used to he.  Everybody knows something of everything now.  Do you not think, sir, that knowledge is all excellent thing?”

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McGuffey's Fourth Eclectic Reader from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.