66

If the postman cannot possibly find the person who should receive a letter, he takes it back to the Post Office, and it is then sent to the Returned Letter Department." Here it is opened, to see who sent it. It is then fastened up again in another envelope, and returned to the sender.

What a nice thing it is to be able to send our letters about as easily and cheaply as we do! We can make known our thoughts to our friends, even if they live in Australia, thousands of miles away.

We will suppose that little Edith Home has a sister, Grace, in Australia, and wishes to tell her that she is going to send her a book from England. She would take a sheet of paper, and with pen and ink would write a few lines after this fashion :

:

LONDON, 31st March, 1870. MY DEAR GRACE, -I have great pleasure in sending you by the book post, this mail, a very pretty book, which I think will not only be AMUSING, but will give you a great deal of INFORMATION. You must accept it as a present from "Old England."

I remain,

Your AFFECTIONATE sister,
EDITH HOME.

This letter, when folded up, stamped, and posted, will start on its journey to Australia, and after a time Grace will know all about the book coming, just as if she had been told.

In England the letters are taken from town to town by the railway trains, and now in a few hours, where they once took several days by coaches. The train carrying the letters is the mail train.

The sorting of the letters is not only done at the Office, but sometimes also in the mail train as it is going along. The letters are then tied up in coarse bags, and DELIVERED at the VARIOUS stations.

We

Millions of letters are thus passing about. could not carry on the business of life without them. A letter will go hundreds of miles for a penny.

The postman's knock will remind us of the ADVAN

REPORT OF AN ADJUDGED CASE.

77

TAGE it is to be able to send our letters about so cheaply and quickly. Let us help the postman by ADDRESSING our letters in a bold, plain, DISTINCT handwriting.

EXERCISE.

What is meant by addressing a letter?

What is done

with a letter when its owner cannot be found? What are the advantages of letter-writing? How are the letters now carried from town to town? How formerly?

LESSON XXXII.

REPORT OF AN ADJUDGED CASE.

[This poem was written by William Cowper, who died in the year 1800.]

BETWEEN Eyes and Nose a strange CONTEST arose,
The SPECTACLES set them unhappily wrong;
The point in dispute was, as all the world knows,
To which the said spectacles ought to belong.

So Tongue was the lawyer, and argued the cause
With a great deal of skill and a wig full of learning ;
While Chief Baron Ear sat to balance the laws,

So famed for his talent in nicely DISCERNING.

"In behalf of the Nose it will quickly appear,
And your lordship," he said, " will undoubtedly find,
That the Nose has had spectacles always in wear,
Which amounts to possession time out of mind."

:

Then holding the spectacles up to the court,

"Your lordship observes they are made with a straddle

As wide as the ridge of the nose is; in short,
DESIGN'D to sit close to it, just like a saddle.

"Again, would your lordship a moment suppose
('Tis a case that has happened, and may do again)
That the visage or COUNTENANCE had not a nose?
Pray who would, or who could wear spectacles then?
66 On the whole it appears-and my ARGUMENT shows,
With a reasoning the court will not dare to CON-

DEMN

That the spectacles plainly were made for the Nose,
And the Nose was as plainly INTENDED for them."

Then shifting his side (as a lawyer knows how),
He PLEADED again in behalf of the Eyes;
But what were his arguments few people know,
For the COURT did not think they were equally wise.
So his lordship decreed in a grave, solemn tone,
Decisive and clear, without one if" or "but,"
That whenever the Nose put his spectacles on,
By daylight or candlelight, Eyes should be shut.

EXERCISE.

What arguments were used to show that the spectacles belonged to the Nose? Give reasons to show that this was absurd, and that they really belonged to the Eyes?

LESSON XXXIII.

THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE.--PART 1.

IN 1853 the EMPEROR of RUSSIA made war upon TURKEY, in order to conquer that country, and add it to his own empire. England and France, however, were not willing to allow him to do this, as it was not just and right, so when they found that the Russian ruler did not regard the letters they sent him, they declared war against him, and sent armies into the Crimea.

During the war a sad mistake OCCURRED, which showed how brave and full of courage English soldiers are. It was sad, because it cost the lives of many brave men in trying to do what was IMPOSSIBLE. Lord Raglan, the English commander, sent an order by Captain Nolan, one of his OFFICERS, to Lord Lucan, which it seemed Lord Lucan did not properly_understand. He thought it meant that six hundred English soldiers should ride forward and attack many thousands of Russians.

Lord Lucan then gave the order to the officers under him. Although they saw that some mistake must have been made, still it was their duty to obey, not to

reason

"Their's not to make reply,
Their's not to reason why,
Their's but to do and die."

So these brave and gallant soldiers rode boldly into the very heart of the enemy, and fought with their swords the Russians, who were round them on every side. The thought of danger never seemed to daunt them, and the Russians fell back on all sides before their deadly strokes. But their enemies were NUMEROUS, that it was impossible to drive them away, and they were in a position of the greatest peril.

"Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,

Cannon in front of them,

Volley'd and thunder'd."

SO

After fighting for a long time at such terrible odds, it was NECESSARY that they should withdraw from a battle where they were all THREATENED with DESTRUCTION. Their ranks, however, had been terribly thinned by death. Many had been struck down in close fight with the Russians; many were killed by the murdering cannon-balls and the grape shot. Horses without riders were galloping wildly about, many of them trying to keep in the same line in which they started when their riders were alive upon their backs. When all was done that could be done, and there was no reason to stay any longer

"Then they rode back, but not

Not the six hundred."

The greater part of them had been killed in the unequal battle. Buried in the distant CRIMEA, they never saw father, mother, sister, or brother more.

66

For them, no more the blazing hearth shall burn,

Or busy housewife ply her evening care,

No children run to lisp their sire's return,

Of climb his knees the envied kiss to share."

But if they were thus called to die in their prime of life, their death was very glorious. The poet Tennyson exclaims :