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SQUIRE. Please be seated, gentlemen, and I will read the last will and testament of your deceased relative. [He reads.] "Imprimis: Whereas, my nephew, Francis Millington, by his disobedience and ungrateful conduct, has shown himself unworthy of my bounty, and incapable of managing my large estate, I do hereby give and bequeath all my houses, farms, stocks, bonds, moneys and property, both personal and real, to my dear cousins, Samuel Swipes, of Malt street, brewer, and Christopher Currie, of Fly Court, saddler”—

SWIPES. Generous creature! Kind soul! I always loved her!

CURRIE. She was always a good friend to me, and she must have had her senses perfectly, as the Squire says.

FRANK. Gentlemen, I must leave you. [Going.]

SQUIRE. Pray, gentlemen, keep your seats. I have not done yet. Let me see where was I? Ay--" all my property, both personal and real, to my dear cousins, Samuel Swipes, of Malt street, brewer❞—

SWIPES. Yes!

SQUIRE. "And Christopher Currie, of Fly Court, saddler"-

CURRIE. Yes, yes!

SQUIRE. "To have and to hold—IN TRUST—for the sole and exclusive benefit of my nephew, Francis Millington, until he shall have attained to lawful age, by which time I hope he will so far have reformed his evil habits as that he may safely be intrusted with the large fortune which I hereby bequeath to him."

SWIPES. You don't mean that we are humbugged? In trust! How does that appear? Where is it?

SQUIRE. There; in two words of as good English as I ever penned.

CURRIE. Pretty well, too, Mr. Squire; if we must be sent for to be made a laughing-stock of. She shall pay for every ride she had out of my chaise, I promise you.

SWIPES. And for every drop of my beer! But we will make him feel that trustees are not to be trifled with, CURRIE, That will we!

SQUIRE. Not so fast, gentlemen; for the instrument is dated three years ago, and the young gentleman is of age and able to take care of himself. Is it not so, Francis?

FRANK. It is, sir.

SQUIRE. Then, gentlemen, having attended the breaking of this seal according to law, you are released from any further trouble in the premises.

W. B. FoWLE.

LESSON XXXVII.

THE BUGLE-SONG.

HE splendor falls on castle walls

TH

And snowy summits old in story;
The long light shakes across the lakes

And the wild cataract leaps in glory.

Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying,
Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.

2. O hark, O hear! how thin and clear,

And thinner, clearer, farther going!

O sweet and far from cliff and scar

The horns of Elfland faintly blowing!

Blow, let us hear the purple glens replying:

Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.

3. O love, they die in yon rich sky,

They faint on hill or field or river;
Our echoes roll from soul to soul,

And grow forever and forever.

Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying,
And answer, echoes, answer, dying, dying, dying.

TENNYSON.

LESSON XXXVIII.

THE CONVENT OF ST. BERNARD.

Be nev'o lent, having a dispo- | Gla ́çier, a great field or mass of

sition to do good; kind. Con'vent, a company of people devoted wholly to a religious life; a house occupied by such

a company.

Monk, a person who retires from the world, and devotes himself wholly to a religious life; a member of a convent. Found'ed, provided for; estab

lished.

Săv'oy ärd', an inhabitant of
Savoy.

"FA

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AR away from any other habitation, perched on the summit of the snow-clad Alps, there exists a little world of active, benevolent men, who spend the best years of their lives in the rescue of their fellowmen from untimely death, and the amelioration of their sufferings. Storms of snow and clouds of mist come upon travelers so suddenly in those awful regions, that there is no time for escape, unless they can crawl into

one of the little storm-huts, erected here and there on the snow-covered mountain, which are often visited by these good people and their dogs, bringing help and comfort to all poor, lost creatures they may find huddled there.

2. "It is the convent of St. Bernard. It was founded over nine hundred years ago by Bernard de Menthon,

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a Savoyard nobleman, who was thus the means of saving many a life. The Pass of St. Bernard, in which it is situated, has become famous since the first Napoleon crossed it with an army of forty thousand men on his way to Italy. The convent is the highest habitation in Europe.

3. "It is a fearful neighborhood for the good monks

to pass their lives in. Fancy! no pleasant corn-fields, no trees, no fragrant groves; nothing but vast and gloomy mountains, frozen glaciers, yawning precipices, and thundering avalanches,-which in their fall scatter and crush all before them, rocks, precipices, and glaciers, all arrayed in one vast mantle of snow and ice.

4. "One moment the traveler may see a beautiful blue sky, hard, and cold, and bright, above his head. The sun may be shining, glittering on the snowy ramparts around. Suddenly all is changed! Deep, dense darkness surrounds him! A storm of mingled snow, hail, and rain, such as we have no idea of here, bewilders and terrifies the poor creature, who soon loses the track and wanders about deserted and hopeless, knowing, perhaps, that the convent is somewhere near, but knowing, also, that it is quite possible to be lost and perish even within a few yards of its walls.

5. "But at such times, the monks and their noble dogs keep a sharp look-out, and go out in little parties to search about the mountain side; and the dogs seem to take an equal interest with their masters in saving human life. When they go with the good brothers in search of travelers, they have food and cordials strung around their necks in a kind of little keg.

6. "Thus provided, and being able with their light feet to cross dangerous snow-sheets where men dare not venture, these dogs save many an unfortunate wanderer, cold, and lost, and dying, but for the timely help of these unhoped-for friends. The hounds are of a Spanish breed, large-limbed, deep-mouthed, and broad-chested, seemingly made for the difficult work they understand so well."

7. "I wonder what the dogs do when they find people," said Johnny, who was very much interested.

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