"WE ARE SEVEN."

109

they at once resign their places into the Queen's hands.

England is the freest country on the face of the earth. All those who flee from other countries make England their home, because here they have full liberty to think and act as they like, so long as they obey the laws.

EXERCISE.

What is the title of the Queen's chief servant? What have the other ministers got to do? How are the laws of England made?

LESSON XLVI.

WE ARE

SEVEN."

CLUS'-TER-ED, hung in
clusters or ringlets.
RUS'-TIC, Countryfied.
KER'-CHIEF, same as hand-
kerchief.

POR'-RIN-GER, a dish to eat
porridge from.

MOAN'-ING, crying out in pain.

RE-LEAS'-ED, loosed, made free from.

CON'-WAY, the name of a town in North Wales. CHURCH'-YARD, the field for burial round a church. HEAVEN, the abode of the holy dead.

[This poem was written by William Wordsworth, author of "The Pet Lamb," and "Lucy Gray." He died in 1850.]

A simple child,

That lightly draws its breath,
And feels its life in every limb,
What should it know of death?

I met a little cottage girl:

She was eight years old, she said;
Her hair was thick with many a curl
That CLUSTERED round her head.

She had a RUSTIC, woodland air,
And she was wildly clad,

Her eyes were fair, and very fair,
Her beauty made me glad.

"Sisters and brothers, little maid, How many may you be?"

"How many? Seven in all," she said,
And wondering looked at me.

And where are they? I pray you tell."
She answered, "Seven are we ;
And two of us at CONWAY dwell,
And two are gone to sea.

"Two of us in the CHURCHYARD lie-
My sister and my brother;

And in the churchyard cottage I

Dwell near them with my mother."

"You say that two at Conway dwell,
And two are gone to sea;
Yet ye are seven! I pray you tell,
Sweet maid, how this may be."

Then did the little maid reply,
"Seven boys and girls are we;
Two of us in the churchyard lie,
Beneath the churchyard tree."
"You run about, my little maid,
Your limbs they are alive;
If two are in the churchyard laid,
Then ye are only five."

"Their graves are green, they may be seen," The little maid replied,

"Twelve steps or more from my mother's door, And they are side by side.

My stockings there I often knit,
My KERCHIEF there I hem;
And there upon the ground I sit,
sit, and sing to them.

"And offen after sunset, sir,
When it is light and fair,
I take my little PORRINGER,
And eat my supper there.

"WE ARE SEVEN."

"The first that died was little Jane ;
In bed she MOANING lay,

Till God RELEASED her of her pain,
And then she went away.

"So in the churchyard she was laid:
And, when the grass was dry,
Together round her grave we played,
My brother John and I.

"And when the ground was white with snow,
And I could run and slide,
My brother John was forced to go,

And he lies by her side."

"How many are you, then,” said I,
"If they two are in HEAVEN ?"
The little maiden did reply,

"O master, we are seven!"

"But they are dead, those two are dead!
Their spirits are in heaven!"
'Twas throwing words away; for still
The little maid would have her will,
And said, "Nay, we are seven!"

EXERCISE.

What was the dispute between the poet and the child? What made the child still insist upon counting her dead brother and sister as part of her family?

Why did she play round the grave with her knitting, and eat her supper there?

CABO

IN our class at school there sat two boys near each other, named William Hall and Thomas Fox. They were nice boys, and seemed to pay attention to their lessons.

"Which lesson do you like best?" said William to his companion.

"Oh! I think I like the Reading lessons best, because of the pretty stories."

"I don't," replied William. "I like the Arithmetic best, when we can sit and figure away, adding and SUBTRACTING, or MULTIPLYING. I like the sums, especially when it is 'taking places' in the class." "Like the sums," said Thomas. "Well, I can manage when they are easy ones, but I cannot say I like those hard sums. Do you like them?"

66 Oh, yes," said William, "the harder the better; it makes you think more, and there is more chance of getting to the top, because you get before those who work sums without thinking."

"What do you mean by 'thinking'? Is it working the sum out according to the Rule?"

"Rule! No," said William, " it is just the opposite. It is setting aside the Rule, and asking yourself a few questions about it."

"I cannot say I understand you yet," said Thomas. "Will you give me an example?

"Yes-here is one; we will suppose master wrote on the board this, 'Divide two hundred by five.""

THE HARD SUM.

113

66 Well," ," said Thomas, "I should put the two hundred down and place the five before it, and then begin to divide."

"Very good, but if you want to understand more READILY, you must think to yourself, 'Suppose these were marbles, and I was going to place them in fives, how many fives would there be?' This is dividing. Now in ten there are two fives, in twenty four fives, in a hundred twenty fives, and in two hundred forty fives. This is how you must accustom yourself to think. You must never begin a question till you have thought it well out in this way. Then you will be able to do most DIFFICULT sums with ease."

"Yes, but they are not all so easy as this. There is that TIRESOME Long Division, and harder than that I have heard. I cannot do them, I am sure."

"If you will ask the master," said William, "he will show you all the difficult parts. I did, and I can think out these hard sums quite well."

Still, Thomas would not take his schoolfellow's advice, but WHENEVER a hard sum was set, he was DISHONEST enough to look on the next boy's slate and copy from it; so that, when the time came for him to leave school, he knew little or nothing of this work, which would have been of such use to him afterwards.

The two boys left school about the same time, and both got places in an office where counting and reckoning were required.

William Hall was DELIGHTED with his place. He said the figures seemed easier to him than those he did at school, and his master said he rarely or never made a mistake in his accounts, so that he soon got raised to a higher POST.

But poor Thomas, who would not trouble his head at school, had his head troubled a great deal now. He was often wrong in his figures-so often, indeed, that his master was very angry with him. After some time, he was obliged to give up his good place and take an INFERIOR one, because he was so backward in his reckoning.

He now thought-How I wish I had paid more atten

H