ll
think of me, and look this way."

He raised his head and glanced from the fluttering signal to his idle bat,
that lay, with slate, and book, and other boyish property, upon the table
in the room. And then he laid him softly down once more, and again clasped
his little arms around the old man's neck. The two old friends and
companions--for such they were, though they were man and child--held each
other in a long embrace, and then the little scholar turned his face to
the wall and fell asleep.

* * * * * * * * *

The poor schoolmaster sat in the same place, holding the small, cold hand
in his, and chafing it. It was but the hand of a dead child. He felt that;
and yet he chafed it still, and could not lay it down.

From "The Old Curiosity Shop," by Dickens.

XXVII. THE SNOW SHOWER. (141)

William Cullen Bryant, 1794-1878, was the son of Peter Bryant, a physician
of Cummington, Massachusetts. Amid the beautiful scenery of this remote
country town, the poet was born; and here he passed his early youth. At
the age of sixteen, Bryant entered Williams College, but was honorably
dismissed at the end of two years. He then entered on the study of law,
and was admitted to the bar at the age of twenty-one. He practiced his
profession, with much success, for about nine years. In 1826, he removed
to New York, and became connected with the "Evening Post," a connection
which continued to the time of his death. For more than thirty of the last
years of his life, Mr. Bryant made his home near Roslyn, Long Island,
where he occupied an "old-time mansion," which he bought, fitted up, and
surrounded in accordance with his excellent rural taste. A poem of his,
written at the age of ten years, was published in the "County Gazette,"
and two poems of considerable length were published in book form, when the
author was only fourteen. "Thanatopsis," perhaps the best known of all his
poems, was written when he was but nineteen. But, notwithstanding his
precocity, his powers continued to a remarkable age. His, excellent
translations of the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey," together with some of his
best poems, were accomplished after the poet, had passed the age of
seventy. Mr. Bryant visited Europe several times; and, in 1849, he
continued his travels into Egypt and Syria. Abroad, he was received with
many marks of distinction; and he added much to his extensive knowledge by
studying the literature of the count