Reading Made Easy for Foreigners Third Reader by John L. Huelshof

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LESSON XXXVI

WORK PROCLAIMS A WORKMAN

A certain baron had an only son, who was not only a comfort to his
father, but a blessing to all who lived on his father's land. Once,
when the young man was away from home, a gentleman called to see his
father, and using the name of God irreverently, the good old baron
reproved him.

"Are you not afraid," said he, "of offending the great Being who reigns
above, by thus using His name in vain?" The gentleman said he neither
feared nor believed in a being he could not see.

The next morning the baron showed the gentleman a beautiful painting
that adorned his hall. The gentleman admired the picture very much,
and, when told by the baron that his son painted it, said: "Your son is
an excellent painter."

The baron then took his visitor into the garden, and showed him many
beautiful flowers, arranged in the most perfect order. "Who has the
direction of this garden?" said the gentleman. "My son," said the
baron. "Indeed," said the gentleman; "I begin to think he is something
uncommon."

The baron then took him into the village, and showed him a small, neat
cottage, where his son had established a school, in which a hundred
orphans were fed and taught at his expense. "What a happy man you
are," said the gentleman, "to have so good a son!"

"How do you know that I have so good a son?" replied the baron.
"Because I have seen his works," said the gentleman, "and I know he
must be talented and good." "But you have never seen him," said the
baron. "I have seen what he has done, and am disposed to love him,
without having seen him," said the gentleman.

"Can you see anything from that window?" asked the baron. "The
landscape is beautiful," said the gentleman; "the golden sun, the
mighty river, the vast forest, are admirable. How lovely, and pleasant
and cheerful, every object appears!"

"How happens it," said the baron, "that you could see such proof of my
son's existence, in the imperfect work of his hands, and yet you can
see no proof of the existence of a Creator, in the wonders and beauties
which are now before you? Let me never hear you say again that you
believe not in the existence of God, unless you would have me think
that you have lost the use of your reason."

LESSON XXXVII

REPUBLICS

The name Republic is written upon the oldest monuments of mankind. It
has been connected in all ages with the noble and the great in art and
letters.

It might be asked, what land has ever felt the influence of liberty,
that has not flourished like the spring? With regard to ourselves, we
can truly say that we live under a form of government the equal of
which the world has never seen. Is it, then, nothing to be free? How
many nations in the history of the world have proved themselves worthy
of being so?

Were all men as enlightened, as brave and as self-respecting as they
ought to be, would they suffer themselves to be insulted by any other
form of government than a republic? Can anything be more striking or
more sublime, than the idea of a republic like ours; which spreads over
a territory far more extensive than that of the ancient Roman empire?

And upon what is this great and glorious combination of states, so
admirably united, really founded? It is founded upon the maxims of
common sense and reason, without military despotism or monarchical
domination of any kind. The people simply govern themselves, and the
government is of the people, by the people and for the people.

FREEDOM OF THOUGHT

We must have an end of all persecution of ideas.

I condemn the government of France and Prussia when they oppress the
Jesuits.

I condemn the government of Russia when it oppresses the Jews.

I affirm that to persecute ideas is like persecuting light, air,
electricity, or the magnetic fluid.

Ideas escape all persecution. When repressed they explode like powder.

LESSON XXXVIII

FALSE NOTIONS OF LIBERTY

People talk of liberty as if it meant the liberty of doing what a man
likes. The only liberty that a man should ask for is the privilege of
removing all restrictions that prevent his doing what he ought to do.

I call that man free who is able to rule himself. I call him free who
has his flesh in subjection to his spirit; who fears doing wrong, but
who fears nothing else.

I call that man free who has learned that liberty consists in obedience
to the power and to the will and to the law that his higher soul
approves. He is not free because he does what he likes, but he is free
because he does what he ought.

Some people think there is no liberty in obedience. I tell you there
is no liberty except in loyal obedience. Did you ever see a mother
kept at home, a kind of prisoner, by her sick child, obeying its every
wish and caprice? Will you call that mother a slave? Or is this
obedience the obedience of slavery? I call it the obedience of the
highest liberty--the liberty of love.

We hear in these days a great deal respecting rights: the rights of
private judgment, the rights of labor, the rights, of property, and the
rights of man.

I cannot see anything manly in the struggle between rich and poor; the
one striving to take as much, and the other to keep as much, as he can.
The cry of "My rights, your duties," we should change to something
nobler. If we can say "My duties, your rights," we shall learn what
real liberty is.

LESSON XXXIX

THE VOICE

A good voice has a charm in speech as in song. The voice, like the
face, betrays the nature and disposition, and soon indicates what is
the range of the speaker's mind.

Many people have no ear for music; but everyone has an ear for skillful
reading. Every one of us has at some time been the victim of a cunning
voice, and perhaps been repelled once for all by a harsh, mechanical
speaker.

The voice, indeed, is a delicate index of the state of mind.

What character, what infinite variety, belongs to the voice! Sometimes
it is a flute, sometimes a trip-hammer; what a range of force! In
moments of clearer thought or deeper sympathy, the voice will attain a
music and penetration which surprise the speaker as much as the hearer.

LESSON XL

THE INTREPID YOUTH

It was a calm, sunny day in the year 1750; the scene a piece of forest
land in the north of Virginia, near a noble stream of water.
Implements for surveying were lying about, and several men composed a
party engaged in laying out the wild lands of the country.

These persons had apparently just finished their dinner. Apart from
the group walked a young man of a tall and compact frame. He moved
with the elastic tread of one accustomed to constant exercise in the
open air. His countenance wore a look of decision and manliness not
usually found in one so young.

Suddenly there was a shriek, then another, and several in rapid
succession. The voice was that of a woman, and seemed to proceed from
the other side of a dense thicket. At the first scream, the youth
turned his head in the direction of the sound. When it was repeated,
he pushed aside the undergrowth and, quickening his footsteps, he soon
dashed into an open space on the bank of the stream, where stood a rude
log cabin.

It was but the work of a moment for the young man to make his way
through the crowd and confront the woman. The instant her eye fell on
him, she exclaimed: "Oh, sir, you will do something for me. Make them
release me, for the love of God. My boy, my poor boy is drowning, and
they will not let me go." "It would be madness; she will jump into the
river," said one, "and the rapids would dash her to pieces in a moment."

The youth scarcely waited for these words, for he recollected the
child, a fine little boy of four years old, who was a favorite with all
who knew him. He had been accustomed to play in the little inclosure
before the cabin, but the gate having been left open, he had stolen
out, reached the edge of the bank, and was in the act of looking over,
when his mother saw him.

The shriek she uttered only hastened the catastrophe she feared; for
the child lost its balance, and fell into the stream. Scream now
followed scream in rapid succession, as the agonized mother rushed to
the bank.

One glance at the situation was enough. To take off his coat and
plunge in after the drowning child were but the actions of a moment.

On went the youth and child; and it was miraculous how each escaped
being dashed to pieces against the rocks. Twice the boy went out of
sight, and a suppressed shriek escaped the mother's lips; but twice he
reappeared, and with great anxiety she followed his progress, as his
tiny form was hurried onward with the current.

The youth now appeared to redouble his exertions, for they were
approaching the most dangerous part of the river. The rush of the
waters at this spot was tremendous, and no one ventured to approach,
even in a canoe, lest he should be dashed in pieces. What, then, would
be the youth's fate, unless he soon overtook the child? He urged his
way through the foaming current with desperate strength.

Three times he was on the point of grasping the child, when the waters
whirled the prize from him. The third effort was made above the fall;
and when it failed, the mother groaned, fully expecting the youth to
give up his task. But no; he only pressed forward the more eagerly.

And now, like an arrow from the bow, pursuer and pursued shot to the
brink of the precipice. An instant they hung there, distinctly visible
amid the foaming waters. Every brain grew dizzy at the sight. But a
shout of exultation burst from the spectators, when they saw the boy
held aloft by the right arm of the young hero. And thus he brought the
child back to the distracted mother.

With a most fervent blessing, she thanked the young man for his heroic
deed. And was this blessing heard? Most assuredly; for the
self-sacrificing spirit which characterized the life of this youth was
none other than that of George Washington, the First President of the
United States.

LESSON XLI

AUTUMN

September has come. The fierce heat of summer is gone. Men are at
work in the fields cutting down the yellow grain, and binding it up
into sheaves. The fields of corn stand in thick ranks, heavy with ears.

The boughs of the orchard hang low with the red and golden fruit.
Laughing boys are picking up the purple plums and the red-cheeked
peaches that have fallen in the high grass. Large, rich melons are on
the garden vines, and sweet grapes hang in clusters by the wall.

The larks with their black and yellow breasts stand watching you on the
close-mown meadow. As you come near, they spring up, fly a little
distance, and light again. The robins, that long ago left the gardens,
feed in flocks upon the red berries of the sumac, and the soft-eyed
pigeons are with them to claim their share. The lazy blackbirds follow
the cows and pick up crickets and other insects.

At noon, the air is still, mild, and soft. You see blue smoke off by
the distant wood and hills. The brook is almost dry. The water runs
over the pebbles with a soft, low murmur. The goldenrod is on the
hill, the aster by the brook, and the sunflower in the garden.

The twitter of the birds is still heard. The sheep graze upon the
brown hillside. The merry whistle of the plowboy comes up from the
field, and the cow lows in the distant pasture.

As the sun sinks in the October haze, the low, south wind creeps over
the dry tree-tops, and the leaves fall in showers upon the ground. The
sun sinks lower, and lower, and is gone; but his bright beams still
linger in the west. Then the evening star is seen shining with a soft,
mellow light, and the moon rises slowly in the still and hazy air.

November comes. The flowers are all dead. The grass is pale and
white. The wind has blown the dry leaves into heaps. The timid rabbit
treads softly on the dry leaves. The crow calls from the high
tree-top. The sound of dropping nuts is heard in the wood. Children
go out morning and evening to gather nuts for the winter. The busy
little squirrels will be sure to get their share.

SELECTION XIV

THE RETORT

One day, a rich man, flushed with pride and wine,
Sitting with guests at table, all quite merry,
Conceived it would be vastly fine
To crack a joke upon his secretary.

"Young man," said he, "by what art, craft, or trade
Did your good father earn his livelihood?"
"He was a saddler, sir," the young man said;
"And in his line was always reckoned good."

"A saddler, eh? and had you stuffed with Greek,
Instead of teaching you like him to sew?
And pray, sir, why did not your father make
A saddler, too, of you?"
At this each flatterer, as in duty bound,
The joke applauded, and the laugh went round.

At length the secretary, bowing low,
Said (craving pardon if too free he made),
"Sir, by your leave I fain would know
Your father's trade."

"My father's trade? Why, sir, but that's too bad!
My father's trade? Why, blockhead, art thou mad?
My, father, sir, was never brought so low:
He was a gentleman, I'd have you know."

"Indeed! excuse the liberty I take;
But if your story's true,
How happened it your father did not make
A gentleman of you?"

_G. P. Morris_.

LESSON XLII

WORDS AND THEIR MEANING

I tell you earnestly, you must get into the habit of looking intensely
at words, and assuring yourself of their meaning, syllable by syllable,
nay, letter by letter. You might read all the books in the British
Museum, if you could live long enough, and remain an utterly
illiterate, uneducated person; but if you read ten pages of a good
book, letter by letter,--that is to say, with real accuracy,--you are
forevermore, in some measure, an educated person.

The entire difference between education and non-education (as regards
the merely intellectual part of it) consists in this accuracy. A
well-educated gentleman may not know many languages, may not be able to
speak any but his own, may have read very few books; but whatever word
he pronounces, he pronounces rightly.

An ordinarily clever and sensible seaman will be able to make his way
ashore at most ports; yet he has only to speak a sentence to be known
for an illiterate person; so also the accent, or turn of expression of
a single sentence, will at once mark a scholar.

Let the accent of words be watched, and closely; let their meaning be
watched more closely still. A few words, well chosen, will do the work
that a thousand cannot do, when every one of those few is acting
properly, in the function of one another.

LESSON XLIII

HOW TO SELECT A BOY

A gentleman advertised for a boy, and nearly fifty applicants presented
themselves to him. Out of the whole number he selected one and
dismissed the rest.

"I should like to know," said a friend, "on what ground you selected
that boy, who had not a single recommendation?"

"You are mistaken," said the gentleman; "he has a great many. He wiped
his feet when he came in, and closed the door after him, showing that
he was careful. He gave his seat instantly to that lame old man,
showing that he was thoughtful. He took off his cap when he came in
and answered my questions promptly, showing that he was gentlemanly.

"He picked up the book which I had purposely laid on the floor and
replaced it on the table, and he waited quietly for his turn, instead
of pushing and crowding; showing that he was honorable and orderly.
When I talked to him I noticed that his clothes were brushed and his
hair in order. When he wrote his name I noticed that his finger-nails
were clean.

"Don't you call those things letters of recommendation? I do; and I
would give more for what I can tell about a boy by using my eyes ten
minutes than for all the letters he can bring me."

LESSON XLIV

SALT

Salt is an every-day article, so common that we rarely give it a
thought; yet, like most common things, it is useful enough to be ranked
among the necessaries of life. "I could not live without salt," would
sound to us exaggerated in the mouth of any one. Have you ever fancied
that you could do without it?

How would meat taste without salt? Would not much of our vegetable
food be insipid, if we neglected this common seasoning? And even the
"daily bread" demands its share.

Where is this salt found, that we prize so little, yet need so much?
The sea furnishes some, and salt-mines and salt-springs give the rest.
Most of the salt used in this country is obtained from the water of
certain springs. Among the richest of these springs are those at
Salina, now a part of the city of Syracuse, New York. Forty gallons of
water from these wells yield one bushel of salt.

LESSON XLV

STUDIES

Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief
use for delight is in privateness; for ornament, in discourse; and for
ability in the judgment and disposition of business.

To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for
ornament is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules is the
humor of a scholar.

Crafty men contemn studies; simple men admire them; and wise men use
them. Read not to contradict and confute, or to believe and take for
granted, or to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider.

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be
chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts;
others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly,
and with diligence and attention.

Reading makes a full man; conference, a ready man; and writing, an
exact man.

SELECTION XV

A PSALM OF LIFE

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
"Life is but an empty dream!"
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
"Dust thou art, to dust returnest,"
Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way,
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting;
And our hearts, though strong and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle,
Be a hero in the strife.

Trust no future, however pleasant;
Let the dead past bury its dead:
Act,--act in the living present,
Heart within, and God o'erhead.

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time.

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us then be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.

_H. W. Longfellow_.

LESSON XLVI

RULES OF BEHAVIOR

Every action in company ought to be done with some sign of respect to
those present.

In presence of others, sing not to yourself with a humming noise, nor
drum with your fingers or feet.

Speak not when others speak; sit not when others stand; speak not when
you should hold your peace; walk not when others stop.

Turn not your back to others, especially in speaking; jog not the table
or desk on which another reads or writes; lean not on any one.

Be no flatterer; neither play with any one that delights not to be
played with.

Read no letters, books, or papers, in company; but when there is a
necessity for doing it, you must ask leave. Come not near the books or
writings of any one so as to read them, unless desired.

When another speaks, be attentive yourself, and disturb not the
audience. If any one hesitates in his words, help him not, nor prompt
him, without being desired; interrupt him not, nor answer him till his
speech is ended.

Be not curious to know the affairs of others, neither approach to those
that speak in private.

Make no show of taking great delight in your victuals; feed not with
greediness; lean not on the table; neither find fault with what you eat.

Let your discourses with men of business be short.

Be not immoderate in urging your friend to discover a secret.

Speak not in an unknown tongue in company, but in your own language,
and as those of quality do, and not as the vulgar.

LESSON XLVII

USING THE EYES

The difference between men consists, in great measure, in the
intelligence of their observation. The Russian proverb says of the
non-observant man, "He goes through the forest and sees no firewood."

"Sir," said Johnson, on one occasion, to a fine gentleman, just
returned from Italy, "some men will learn more in the Hampstead stage
than others in the tour of Europe." It is the mind that sees as well
as the eye.

Many, before Galileo, had seen a suspended weight swing before their
eyes with a measured beat; but he was the first to detect the value of
the fact. One of the vergers in the cathedral at Pisa, after filling
with oil a lamp which swung from the roof, left it swinging to and fro.
Galileo, then a youth of only eighteen, noting it attentively,
conceived the idea of applying it to the measurement of time.

Fifty years of study and labor, however, elapsed before he completed
the invention of his pendulum,--an invention the importance of which,
in the measurement of time and in astronomical calculations, can
scarcely be overvalued.

While Captain Brown was occupied in studying the construction of
bridges, he was walking in his garden one dewy morning, when he saw a
tiny spider's-net suspended across his path. The idea occurred to him,
that a bridge of iron ropes might be constructed in like manner, and
the result was the invention of his Suspension Bridge.

So trifling a matter as a straw may indicate which way the wind blows.
It is the close observation of little things which is the secret of
success in business, in art, in science and in every other pursuit in
life.

LESSON XLVIII

THE AFFECTION AND REVERENCE DUE A MOTHER

What an awful state of mind must a man have attained, when he can
despise a mother's counsel! Her name is identified with every idea
that can subdue the sternest mind; that can suggest the most profound
respect, the deepest and most heartfelt attachment, the most unlimited
obedience. It brings to the mind the first human being that loved us,
the first guardian that protected us, the first friend that cherished
us; who watched with anxious care over infant life, whilst yet we were
unconscious of our being; whose days and nights were rendered wearisome
by her anxious cares for our welfare; whose eager eye followed us
through every path we took; who gloried in our honor; who sickened in
heart at our shame; who loved and mourned, when others reviled and
scorned; and whose affection for us survives the wreck of every other
feeling within. When her voice is raised to inculcate religion, or to
reprehend irregularity, it possesses unnumbered claims of attention,
respect and obedience. She fills the place of the eternal God; by her
lips that God is speaking; in her counsels He is conveying the most
solemn admonitions; and to disregard such counsel, to despise such
interference, to sneer at the wisdom that addresses you, or the aged
piety that seeks to reform you, is the surest and the shortest path
which the devil himself could have opened for your perdition. I know
no grace that can have effect; I know not any authority upon earth to
which you will listen, when once you have brought yourself to reject
such advice.

USEFUL INFORMATION

The officials and clerks by whom the people's business in the
administration of the government is carried on, constitute the Civil
Service. About five thousand of these officials are appointed by the
President alone or with the consent of the Senate; about fifteen to
twenty thousand more are appointed under what is known as the
"Civil-Service Rules," and the remainder of our office-holders are
appointed by heads of departments.

Competitive examinations for admission to the Civil Service are held at
regular intervals by a Board of Examiners in each of the principal
cities of the United States. Men and women receive the same pay for
the same work in government service.

The salary of the President of the United States is $75,000 a year.
The Vice-president receives $8,000; Cabinet officers, $8,000; Senators,
$5,000 and mileage. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court receives
$10,500. Ministers to foreign nations receive from $5,000 to $18,000
annually. The amount varies with the importance of the post.

The total number of Indians in the United States is about 250,000,
Alaska not included. The most numerous tribes are the Cherokee and
Choctaw Indians. The Apaches are the most savage. About half of the
Indian tribes are now partly civilized and are self-supporting.

WISE SAYINGS

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