t and mind.
I scan the whole broad earth around
For that one heart which, leal and true,
Bears friendship without end or bound,
And find the prize in you.
I trust you as I trust the stars;
Nor cruel loss, nor scoff of pride,
Nor beggary, nor dungeon bars,
Can move you from my side!
As patient under injury
As any Christian saint of old,
As gentle as a lamb with me,
But with your brothers bold;
More playful than a frolic boy,
More watchful than a sentinel,
By day and night your constant joy
To guard and please me well.
I clasp your head upon my breast--
The while you whine and lick my hand--
And thus our friendship is confessed,
And thus we understand!
Ah, Blanco! did I worship God
As truly as you worship me,
Or follow where my Master trod
With your humility,--
Did I sit fondly at His feet,
As you, dear Blanco, sit at mine,
And watch Him with a love as sweet,
My life would grow divine!
_J.G. Holland_
From "The Complete Poetical Writings of J.G. Holland."
[Illustration:]
[Footnote 003: Copyright, 1879, 1881, by Charles Scribner's Sons.]
* * * * *
LEAL (l[=e]l), loyal, faithful.
DUNGEON (d[)u]n' j[)u]n), a close, dark prison, commonly
underground.
Tell what is meant by the terms, dumb friend; willing vassal; glad
partner; my shadow; human kind; frolic boy.
What duty does Blanco teach his master?
Memorize the last two stanzas of the poem.
The three great divisions of time are _past, present, future._ Tell what
time each of the following action-words expresses:
found, find, have found, will find, bears, shall bear, has borne,
crowned, will crown, did crown, crowns.
* * * * *
_42_
ab'bot
clois'ter
min'ster
li'brary
chron' i cle
A STORY OF A MONK.
Many hundreds of years ago there dwelt in a cloister a monk named Urban,
who was remarkable for his earnest and fervent piety. He was a studious
reader of the learned and sacred volumes in the convent library. One day
he read in the Epistles of St. Peter the words, "One day is with the
Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day;" and this
saying seemed impossible in his eyes, so that he spent many an
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