dying away to the untrodden west. Slowly and sadly they climb the distant mountains, and read their doom in the setting sun. They are shrinking before the mighty tide which is pressing them away. They must soon hear the roar of the last wave which will settle over them forever. CHARLES SPRAGUE. LESSON XVII. BRIMSTONE MORNING AT DOTHEBOYS Com'pound, a mixture of dif ferent things. Trea'ele, a very poor quality of molasses. In stall'ment, a stated part. pur RS. Squeers stood at one of the desks, presiding over an immense basin of brimstone and treacle, of which delicious compound she administered a large installment to each boy in succession, using for the pose a common wooden spoon, which might have been originally manufactured for some gigantic top, and which widened every young gentleman's mouth considerably, they being all obliged, under heavy corporal penalties, to take in the whole of the bowl at a gasp. 2. There was a long row of boys waiting, with countenances of no pleasant anticipation, to be treacled, and another file who had just escaped from the infliction, making a variety of wry mouths indicative of any thing but satisfaction. The whole were attired in such motley, ill-assorted, extraordinary garments, as would have been irresistibly ridiculous, but for the foul appearance of dirt, disorder, and disease, with which they were associated. 3. "Now," said Squeers, giving the desk a great rap with his cane, which made half the little boys nearly jump out of their boots, "is that business over?" "Just over," said Mrs. Squeers, choking the last boy in her hurry, and tapping the crown of his head with the wooden spoon to restore him. "Here, you Smike; take away now. Look sharp." 4. Smike shuffled out with the basin, and Mrs. Squeers, having called up a little boy with a curly head, and wiped her hands upon it, hurried after him into a species of wash-house, where there was a small fire and a large kettle, together with a number of little wooden bowls which were arranged upon a board. 5. Into these bowls Mrs. Squeers, assisted by the hungry servant, poured a brown composition which looked like diluted pincushions without the eovers, and was called porridge. A minute wedge of brown bread was inserted in each bowl, and when they had eaten their porridge by means of the bread, the boys ate the bread itself, and had finished their breakfast; whereupon Mr. Squeers said, in a solemn voice, "For what we have received may the Lord make us truly thankful!" -and went away to his own. 6. After some half-hour's delay Mr. Squeers re-appeared, and the boys took their places and their books, of which latter commodity the average might be about one to eight learners. A few minutes having elapsed, during which Mr. Squeers looked very profound, as if he had a perfect apprehension of what was inside all the books, and could say every word of their contents by heart if he only chose to take the trouble, that gentleman called up the first class. 7. Obedient to this summons, there ranged themselves in front of the schoolmaster's desk half-a-dozen scarecrows, out at knees and elbows, one of whom placed a torn and filthy book beneath his learned eye. 8. "This is the first class in English spelling and philosophy, Nickleby," said Squeers, beckoning Nicholas to stand beside him. "We'll get up a Latin one, and hand that over to you. Now, then, where's the first boy?" "Please, Sir, he's cleaning the back parlor window," said the temporary head of the philosophical class. 9. "So he is, to be sure," rejoined Squeers. "We go upon the practical mode of teaching, Nickleby; the regular education system. C-l-e-a-n, clean, verb active, to make bright, to scour. W-i-n, win, d-e-r, der, winder, a casement. When the boy knows this out of book, he goes and does it. It's just the same principle as the use of the globes. Where's the second boy?" 10. "Please, Sir, he's weeding the garden," replied a small voice. "To be sure," said Squeers, by no means disconcerted. "So he is. B-o-t, bot, t-i-n, tin, bottin, n-e-y, ney, bottinney, noun substantive, a knowledge of plants. When he has learned that bottinney means a knowledge of plants, he goes and knows 'em. That's our system, Nickleby: what do you think of it?" 11. "It's a very useful one, at any rate," answered Nicholas, significantly. "I believe you," rejoined Squeers, not remarking the emphasis of his usher. horse?" "Third boy, what's a 12. "A beast, Sir," replied the boy. "So it is," said Squeers. "Ain't it, Nickleby?” "I believe there is no doubt of that, Sir," answered Nicholas. 13. "Of course there isn't," said Squeers. "A horse is a quadruped, and quadruped's Latin for beast, as everybody that's gone through the grammar knows, or else where's the use of having grammars at all?" 14. "Where, indeed!" said Nicholas, abstractedly. "As you're perfect in that," resumed Squeers, turning to the boy, "go and look after mine, and rub him down well, or I'll rub you down. The rest of the class go and draw water up, till somebody tells you to leave off, for it's washing-day to-morrow, and they want the coppers filled." 15. So saying, he dismissed the first class to their experiments in practical philosophy, and eyed Nicholas with a look, half cunning and half doubtful, as if he were not altogether certain what he might think of him by this time. "That's the way we teach school here, Nickleby," he said, after a pause. CHAS. DICKENS. NOTE.-In the above lesson, and in all succeeding lessons where provincialisms, colloquialisms, or dialect, occur, the teacher should call the attention of the class to all errors in grammar, spelling and pronunciation, and have them corrected. This course will obviate all danger of false impressions on those subjects, and render the exercises of real value to the student. While literature of this kind should not be too fully represented in a School Reader, we are inclined to think that the insipid primness affected by some authors is founded in a mistaken idea. LISTEN, my children, ISTEN, my children, and you shall hear On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five: Who remembers that famous day and year. 2. He said to his friend-"If the British march Through every Middlesex village and farm, 3. Meanwhile, his friend, through alley and street, Till in the silence around him he hears |