1.  The young, the lovely, pass away,
     Ne’er to be seen again;
   Earth’s fairest flowers too soon decay,
     Its blasted trees remain.

2.  Full oft, we see the brightest thing
     That lifts its head on high,
   Smile in the light, then droop its wing,
     And fade away and die.

3.  And kindly is the lesson given;
     Then dry the falling tear: 
   They came to raise our hearts to Heaven;
     They go to call us there.

LXXVII.  SNOW FALLING.

John James Piatt (b. 1835,—­) was born in Dearborn County, Ind., and is of French descent.  He began to write verses at the age of fourteen, and has been connected editorially with several papers.  Several editions of his poems have been issued from time to time, each edition usually containing some additional poems.  Of these volumes we may mention:  “Poems in Sunshine and Firelight,” “Western Windows,” “The Lost Farm,” and “Poems of House and Home.”

1.  The wonderful snow is falling
     Over river and woodland and wold;
   The trees bear spectral blossom
     In the moonshine blurr’d and cold.

2.  There’s a beautiful garden in Heaven;
     And these are the banished flowers,
   Falling and driven and drifted
     Into this dark world of ours.

Definitions.—­1.  Wold, a plain or open country, a country without wood whether hilly or not.  Spec’tral, ghostly. 2.  Ban’ished, condemned to exile, driven away.

LXXVIII.  SQUEERS’S METHOD.

Charles Dickens (b. 1812, d. 1870).  This celebrated novelist was born in Portsmouth, England.  He began his active life as a lawyer’s apprentice, in London; but soon became a reporter, and followed this occupation from 1831 to 1836.  His first book was entitled “Sketches of London Society, by Boz.”  In 1837 he published the “Pickwick Papers,” a work which established his reputation as a writer.  His other works followed with great rapidity, and his last, “Edwin Drood,” was unfinished when he died.  He visited America in 1842 and in 1867.  He is buried in Westminster Abbey.  Mr. Dickens excelled in humor and pathos, and was particularly successful in delineating the joys and griefs of childhood.  His writings have a tendency to prompt to deeds of kindness and benevolence.  The following extract is taken from “Nicholas Nickleby,” one of the best of his novels.

1.  “Come,” said Squeers, “let’s go to the schoolroom; and lend me a hand with my school coat, will you?”

Nicholas assisted his master to put on an old fustian shooting jacket, which he took down from a peg in the passage; and Squeers, arming himself with his cane, led the way across a yard to a door in the rear of the house.

“There,” said the schoolmaster, as they stepped in together; “this is our shop, Nickleby.”