Reading Made Easy for Foreigners - Third Reader Part 3

The former means a frugal and judicious use of things without waste, the latter a too close and sparing use of things needed. Now a person who understands the use of little things is economical; for instance.

If you wipe a pen before you put it away it will last twice as long as if you do not.

Generally the habits we acquire in our youth we carry with us into old age; hence the necessity of proper training in childhood. A woman who attends to trifles and has habits of economy will not hastily throw away bits of cotton or worsted, nor will she waste soap by letting it lie in the water. She will keep an eye to the pins and matches, knowing that the less often such things are bought, the more is saved.

She will not think it above her care to mend the clothes or darn the stockings, remembering that "_a st.i.tch in time saves nine_."

LESSON XI

ROSA BONHEUR

Rosa Bonheur was born at Bordeaux, France, the daughter of a painter.

Her father was her first teacher in art.

At an early age, when most children draw in an aimless way, her father guided his little girl's efforts with his own experienced hand. He taught her to study and sketch from nature instead of relying on copies.

As a child she cared nothing for dolls and toys, but loved animals dearly. Is it any wonder, then, that she took them for her subject when she began to paint?

In her childhood she had two dogs and a goat for pets, and later on kept a sheep in her Parisian apartment. Still later, when she had become a distinguished woman, her studio included a farmyard.

Her animal paintings are so real and life-like that a study of the faces of all the horses in that wonderful picture, "The Horse Fair,"

will reveal distinctly different expressions in each face.

Although most simple in her personal habits and in her life, Rosa Bonheur was the greatest woman artist that ever lived.

"The Horse Fair," Rosa Bonheur's most famous painting, was bought by an American gentleman and presented by him to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York.

LESSON XII

ALEXANDER AND THE ROBBER

_Alexander_--What! art thou that Thracian robber, of whose exploits I have heard so much?

_Robber_--I am a Thracian, and a soldier.

_Alexander_--A soldier!--a thief, a plunderer, an a.s.sa.s.sin, the pest of the country; but I must detest and punish thy crimes.

_Robber_--What have I done of which you can complain?

_Alexander_--Hast thou not set at defiance my authority, violated the public peace and pa.s.sed thy life in injuring the persons and properties of thy fellow-subjects?

_Robber_--Alexander, I am your captive. I must hear what you please to say, and endure what you please to inflict. But my soul is unconquered; and if I reply at all to your reproaches, I will reply like a free man.

_Alexander_--Speak freely. Far be it from me to take advantage of my power, to silence those with whom I deign to converse.

_Robber_--I must, then, answer your question by another. How have you pa.s.sed your life?

_Alexander_--Like a hero. Ask Fame, and she will tell you. Among the brave, the bravest; among sovereigns, the n.o.blest; among conquerors, the mightiest.

_Robber_--And does not Fame speak of me too? Was there ever a bolder captain of a more valiant band? Was there ever--but I scorn to boast.

You yourself know that I have not been easily subdued.

_Alexander_--Still, what are you but a robber,--a base, dishonest robber?

_Robber_--And what is a conqueror? Have not you too gone about the earth like an evil genius, plundering, killing without law, without justice, merely to gratify your thirst for dominion? What I have done in a single province with a hundred followers, you have done to whole nations with a hundred thousand. What; then, is the difference, but that you were born a king, and I a private man; you have been able to become a mightier robber than I.

_Alexander_--But if I have taken like a king, I have given like a king.

If I have overthrown empires, I have founded greater. I have cherished arts, commerce, and philosophy.

_Robber_--I too have freely given to the poor what I took from the rich. I know, indeed, very little of the philosophy you speak of, but I believe neither you nor I shall ever atone to the world for the mischief we have done it.

_Alexander_--Leave me. Take off his chains, and use him well. Are we, then, so much alike? Alexander like a robber? Let me reflect.

LESSON XIII

THE AMERICAN INDIAN

Not many generations ago, where you now sit, surrounded with all that makes life happy, the rank thistle nodded in the wind, and the wild fox dug his hole unscared. Here lived and loved another race of beings.

Beneath the same sun that rolls over your heads, the Indian hunter pursued the panting deer; he gazed on the same moon that smiles for you, and here too the Indian lover wooed his dusky mate.

Here the wigwam blaze beamed on the tender and helpless, the council fire glared on the wise and daring. Here they warred; and when the strife was over, here curled the smoke of peace.

Here, too, they wors.h.i.+ped; and from many a dark bosom went up a pure prayer to the Great Spirit. He had written His laws for them, not on tables of stone, but He had traced them on the tables of their hearts.

The poor child of nature knew not the G.o.d of revelation, but the G.o.d of the Universe he acknowledged in everything around.

He beheld Him in the star that sunk in beauty behind his lonely dwelling; in the flower that swayed in the morning breeze; in the lofty trees as well as in the worm that crawled at his feet.

All this has pa.s.sed away. Four hundred years have changed the face of this great continent, and this peculiar race has been well-nigh blotted out. Art has taken the place of simple nature, and civilization has been too strong for the savage tribes of the red man.

Here and there a few Indians remain; but these are merely the degraded offspring of this once n.o.ble race of men.

SELECTION XI

MY FATHERLAND

There is a land, of every land the pride, Beloved by Heaven o'er all the world beside, Where brighter suns dispense serener light, And milder moons imparadise the night.

O land of beauty, virtue, valor, truth, Time-tutored age, and love-exalted youth!

The wandering mariner, whose eye explores The wealthiest isles, the most enchanting sh.o.r.es, Views not a realm so bountiful and fair, Nor breathes the spirit of a purer air.

In every clime, the magnet of his soul, Touched by remembrance, trembles to that pole; For, in this land of Heaven's peculiar race, The heritage of nature's n.o.blest grace, There is a spot of earth supremely blest, A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest, Where man, creation's tyrant, casts aside His sword and scepter, pageantry and pride, While, in his softened looks, benignly blend The sire, the son, the husband, brother, friend.

Here woman reigns; the mother, daughter, wife, Strew with fresh flowers the narrow way of life; In the clear heaven of her delightful eye, An angel guard of love and graces lie; Around her knees domestic duties meet, And fireside pleasures gambol at her feet.