e_ before each of the following words, and
then give the meaning of each.

turned told join capture call

* * * * *

LESSON XXXVIII.

dikes, _high banks of earth_.

con'tra ry, _quite different from what is usual_.

dis as'trous, _causing great loss or suffering_.

keels, _strong timbers extending along the bottom of boats_.

stork, _a kind of bird_.

bus'tle, _quick and excited motion_.

mire, _soft and wet earth_.

scorn'ing, _turning from any thing as if of no value_.

sat'u rat ed, _wet through and through_.

moored, _tied fast, as a ship to land_.

slouched, _hung down_.

mim'ic, _copied in a smaller form_.

* * * * *

HOLLAND.

PART I.

Holland is one of the queerest countries under the sun. It should be
called Odd-land, or Contrary-land; for, in nearly every thing, it is
different from other parts of the world.

In the first place, a large portion of the country is lower than the
level of the sea. Great dikes have been built at a heavy cost of money
and labor, to keep the ocean where it belongs.

On certain parts of the coast it sometimes leans with all its weight
against the land, and it is as much as the poor country can do to stand
the pressure.

Sometimes the dikes give way, or spring a leak, and the most disastrous
results follow. They are high and wide, and the tops of some of them are
covered with buildings and trees. They have even fine public roads upon
them, from which horses may look down upon wayside cottages.

Often the keels of floating ships are higher than the roofs of the
dwellings. The stork, on the house-peak, may feel that her nest is
lifted far out of danger, but the croaking frog in the neighboring
bulrushes is nearer the stars than she.

Water-bugs dart backward and forward above the heads of the chimney
swallows; and willow-trees seem drooping with shame, because they can
not reach so high as the reeds near by.

Ditches, canals, ponds, rivers, and lakes are every-where to be seen.
High, but not dry, they shine in the sunlight, catching nearly all the
bustle and the business, quite scorning the tame fields, stretching
damply beside them. One is tempted to ask: "Which is Holland--the shores
or the water?"

The very verdure that should be confined to the land has made a mistake
and settled upon the fish ponds. In fact the entire country is a kind of
saturated s