While the cool, scented breath of the hollow Seems to call to the twilight to followAnd to whisper "Good-bye " to the sun As he dips in the west once again.
And it"s oh for the turn of the track And the next hill but one to our own,Where there"s some one who waits for the rattle Of the wagon and harness and cattle,And the clang of the wheel on the stone
As I pass by the way, coming back.
There"s an eye like an emu"s to gleam
With the flash and the flame of a star,
When it catches a glimpse through the mallee, On the opposite side of the valley,Where the great golden-wattle trees are, Of a man coming home with a team.
Charles H. Souter, in The Mallee Fire and Other Verses.
About the Author.-Charles H. Souter(soot"-"r) is an Australian writer who was born in Scotland, and who came here when a boy. He now lives in Adelaide. His poems have for many years been appearing in the Sydney Bulletin. Collections have come out in book form-Irish Lords, The Mallee Fire, and To Many Ladies.
About the Poem.-In the poem, what season of the year is it? What time of the day? Where is the scene laid? What birds and insects are mentioned? What kind of team was it? What was the probable load? Who had "an eye like an emu"s"? What do you think of the two lines about the plover? What kind of "hills" and "valleys" are there in the mallee country?
Lesson 23
THE JuDGE AND THE pOOR mAN
A man that kept a small farm came to the house of a judge. "Well, my man, " said the judge, "what do you come to me for? " "If you please, my lord, I have a sad tale to tell. " "Ha, the old tale! You folk with your small farms fall out, and then you come to plague me. " "Nay, my lord, this time it is with you and me. I have a bull that breaks out of his bounds, and he has got to your best field of corn, and has spoilt half of it; now I want to know what you would have me do in this case? " "Well, I must say you are a staunch old man to come and tell me of it, and I shall send my man John to look at the waste, and what he says it comes to you must pay. As to your bull, as you say he breaks out of his bounds, you must kill him, and that at once. " "Bless my heart! " said the man, "what was it I told you? I have but two small cows in the world. No, it was that red bull of yours, my lord, which locks and bars will not keep in; it is he that breaks through the fence of my cornfield, and fine work he has made of it; but, as you say you will send your man tomake things right, I thank you, and take my leave. " "No," said the judge, "you must not play me such a trick as this. I would not part with that red bull for all the world, and as to the field of corn, of course, you must take your chance. "The law will catch small flies, but wasps will breakthrough.
We weigh not in the same scale the ills we do and the ills we feel.
From the fables of ?sop
About the Author.-?sop was a Greek slave who lived about,600 years before the time of Christ. He was set free and became a favourite of the rich king Cr?sus. His fables were full of wisdom. Whether he wrote all that is set down to him we do not know.
About the Story.-It has been said that no man can judge his own case. The fable proves it. But this judge did not seem to be wise and just. Suppose him to be wise and just: now give the story a different ending.
Make up a play about the judge and the poor man.
Lesson 24
THE STONE IN THE ROAD
A long time ago, there lived a king who took great delight in teaching his people good habits. "Bad luck comes only to the lazy and careless, " said he; "but to the busy workers God gives the good things of this life. " One night he put a large stone in the middle of the road near his palace, and then watched to see what the people who passed that way would do.
Early in the morning, a sturdy old farmer named Peter came along with his heavy bullock-wagon laden with corn. "Oh, those lazy people ! " he cried, driving his bullocks to one side of the road. "Here is this big stone right in the middle of the road, and nobody will take the trouble to move it. " And he went on his way, scolding about the laziness of other people, but never thinking of touching the stone himself.
Then came a young soldier, singing a merry song as he walked along. A gay feather was stuck in his hat, and a big sword hung at his side; and he was fond of telling great stories of what he had done in the war. He held hishead so high that he did not see the stone, but stumbledover it, and fell flat in the dust.
This put an end to his merry song; and, as he rose to his feet, he began to storm at the country people. "Silly drones, " he said, "to have no more sense than to leave a stone like that in the middle of the road! " Then he passed on; but he did not sing any more.
A n h o u r l a t e r t h e r e c a m e d o w n t h e r o a d s i x merchants with their goods on pack-horses, going to a fair that was to be held near the village. When they reached the stone, the road was so narrow that they could hardly drive their horses between it and the wall. "Did anyone ever see the like? " they said. "There is that big stone in the road, and not a man in the country but is too lazy to move it ! "And so the stone lay there for three weeks: it was in everybody"s way, and yet everybody left it for somebody else to move.
Then the king sent word to all his people to meet together on a certain day near his palace, as he had something to tell them.
The day came; and a great crowd of men and women gathered in the road. Old Peter, the farmer, was there, and so were the merchants and the young soldier. "Ihope the king will now find out what a lazy set of peoplehe has round him, " said Peter.