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

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One of the things he did while working as a train boy was to print a
paper on the train. The "London Times" spoke of it as the only paper
in the world published on a train. It was named the "Grand Trunk
Herald."

Young Edison worked as a train boy for four years, and he had in that
time saved two thousand dollars, which he gave to his parents.

Once he thought he would like to read all the books in the city
library. He read for a long time, but he found that he could not
finish all the books. He then made up his mind that one would have to
live a thousand years in order to read all the books in that library,
so he gave up the idea.

One day he bought a book on electricity. Soon after that the basement
of his home was filled with many odd things. He used a stovepipe to
connect his home with that of another boy, and through this the boys
could talk when they wished.

A kind friend taught young Edison how to telegraph, and in five months
he could operate well and was given a position. He worked very hard,
night and day, so that he could learn all he could about electricity.
He lost place after place because he was always trying some new idea.
When he first proposed to send four messages on one wire at the same
time, he was laughed at by the people; but Edison succeeded. Later on
he invented the phonograph. His greatest invention is the incandescent
light, which is used for lighting purposes.

Mr. Edison loves his work, and although he is now a very wealthy man,
he keeps on inventing and working every day. It is said that he
sometimes works for twenty-four hours, day and night, without food or
rest, until he has perfected some new invention. Mr. Edison is a true
type of an American gentleman.

SELECTION XVII

OFT IN THE STILLY NIGHT

Oft in the stilly night,
Ere slumber's chain has bound me,
Fond memory brings the light
Of other days around me;
The smiles, the tears
Of boyhood's years,
The words of love then spoken;
The eyes that shone,
Now dimm'd and gone,
The cheerful hearts now broken.
Thus in the stilly night,
Ere slumber's chain has bound me,
Sad memory brings the light
Of other days around me.

When I remember all
The friends, so linked together,
I've seen around me fall,
Like leaves in wintry weather,
I feel like one
Who treads alone
Some banquet hall deserted,
Whose lights are fled,
Whose garlands dead,
And all but he departed.
Thus in the stilly night,
Ere slumber's chain has bound me,
Sad memory brings the light
Of other days around me.

_Thomas Moore_.

LESSON LIX

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

Abraham Lincoln, the restorer of the Union, the sixteenth president of
the United States, was born in Kentucky on the twelfth of February,
1809. His father was a typical backwoodsman, and young Lincoln grew up
among frontier surroundings. The Lincoln family came originally from
Pennsylvania. At a later period the Lincolns moved south to Virginia,
and again they migrated to Kentucky. It was here that the grandfather
of Abraham Lincoln lost his life in a battle with the Indians.

The first seven years of Lincoln's life were spent in the wilds of
Kentucky. In 1816 his father left that state and moved northward to
Indiana, but here the surroundings were not much better. A rude
blockhouse, with a single large room below and a low garret above, was
the home of our young hero. Every hardship and privation of the
pioneer's life was here the lot of our growing youth. But he loved the
tangled woods, and hunting and fishing were his delight.

There were no schools there, and Abraham learned a little reading and
writing from a man who shared the poor blockhouse with the Lincoln
family. For writing, a slate was used, and now and then a pine board,
or even some flat stone upon which the figures were traced with
charcoal. His books were few, but he read them over and over again,
and the impressions they made on him were so much the deeper. In this
way Lincoln acquired the rudiments of education. When Abraham was
scarcely nine years old, his excellent mother died. His father married
again, and fortunately for young Lincoln, his stepmother was a lady of
refinement, who took the greatest interest in her rugged but talented
step-son. She sent him to a private school for a while, and Abraham
learned many useful things and easily kept at the head of his class.
His stepmother also procured more books for him, for Abraham was a most
ardent reader, and he spent all his leisure time in reading and
self-culture. Being tall of stature and well built, young Lincoln had
to help his father on the farm a great deal, and the only time left for
study was late at night or in the early morning.

Thus our future president grew up to manhood; a sturdy, awkward, but
honest backwoodsman, with a sound mind in a healthy body.

When Lincoln was about eighteen years old, his father again moved
northward, this time to Illinois. Here Abraham continued to work and
to improve his mind as best he might. Borrowing books from some law
office, he studied them at night and returned them in the morning. His
honesty and true merit were soon recognized by the rest of the
community where he lived, and he was elected to represent the people in
the legislature.

Lincoln became a lawyer of more than ordinary ability, and although his
appearance remained somewhat ungainly, he easily won his lawsuits by
the clear and logical conclusions which he advanced over those of his
opponents. He had thus secured a splendid law-practice and had settled
in Springfield, Illinois, when he became the republican candidate for
president of the United States in 1860, and was elected the same year.

The country at this time was agitated over two great questions: the
question of slavery and that of secession. The South was ready to
separate from the North, and the entire country was in a most critical
condition. Such was the state of affairs when Abraham Lincoln took the
oath of office as president of the United States. Lincoln was scarcely
three weeks in office when the great war of the Rebellion between the
North and the South broke out; a war of which there is no parallel in
history. Brother fought against brother, and father against son. Here
it was that Lincoln showed his heroic courage, and by his indomitable
will kept the reins of government firmly in his hands, thus saving the
country from utter anarchy. The war continued with unrelenting vigor
for two years, and its horrible consequences were sorely felt
throughout the land. In September, 1862, Lincoln issued his famous
Emancipation Proclamation, by which slavery was forever banished from
this country. Still the warring did not cease. In 1864 Lincoln was
elected for a second term in office. The people knew his noble
character and they had full confidence in him.

At last peace seemed to be in sight. The North had sacrificed the
blood of thousands of its men as well as the wealth of its treasuries.
The South, in the same manner, had not only lost tens of thousands of
its bravest men, but it was utterly ruined, on account of the terrible
punishment the war had inflicted upon that sunny land.

Richmond, the stronghold of the rebellion, had fallen, and victory was
on the side of the Union. Amidst universal rejoicings, there came the
saddest news. On the 14th day of April, 1865, Abraham Lincoln was
assassinated.

The whole nation was thrown into deepest mourning. The noble heart of
Lincoln beat no more. He is called the "Martyr President."

His remains were taken to Springfield, Illinois, where they rest at the
foot of a small hill in Oakwood Cemetery. A simple monument, with the
name--"Lincoln"--upon it, is the only epitaph of him, who next to
Washington was the greatest man of our glorious Republic.

LESSON LX

ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE DEDICATION OF THE CEMETERY AT GETTYSBURG

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this
continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the
proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a
great civil war testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived
and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field
of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a
final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that the nation
might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate--we cannot consecrate--we
cannot hallow--this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who
struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or
detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say
here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the
living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they
who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us
to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from
these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which
they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly
resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain--that this nation,
under God, shall have a new birth of freedom--and that government of
the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the
earth.

_Abraham Lincoln_.

November 19th, 1863.

SELECTION XVIII

THE PICKET OF THE POTOMAC

"All quiet along the Potomac," they say,
"Except now and then a stray picket
Is shot as he walks on his beat to and fro,
By a rifleman hid in the thicket."
'Tis nothing--a private or two now and then
Will not count in the tale of the battle;
Not an officer lost--only one of the men
Breathing out all alone the death-rattle.

All quiet along the Potomac to-night,
Where the soldiers lie peacefully dreaming,
Their tents in the ray of the clear autumn moon,
And the light of the watch-fires gleaming.
A tremulous sigh from the gentle night wind
Through the forest leaves slowly is creeping,
While the stars up above, with their glittering eyes,
Keep watch while the army is sleeping.

There's only the sound of the lone sentry's tread,
As he tramps from the rock to the fountain,
And thinks of the two in the low trundle-bed
Far away in the hut on the mountain.
His musket falls slack; his face, dark and grim,
Grows gentle with memories tender,
As he mutters a prayer for the children asleep,
For their mother,--may heaven defend her!

The moon seems to shine as serenely as then,
That night when the love, yet unspoken,
Lingered long on his lips, and when low-murmured vows
Were pledged, never more to be broken.
Then, drawing his sleeve roughly over his eyes,
He dashes the tears that are welling,
And gathers his gun closer up to its place,
As if to keep down the heart-swelling.

He passes the fountain, the blasted pine-tree--
The footstep is lagging and weary;
Yet onward he glides through the broad belt of light,
Towards the shade of a forest so dreary.
Hark! Was it the night wind that rustled the leaves?
Is it moonlight so suddenly flashing?
It looked like a rifle-- "Ha, Mary, good-night!"
His life-blood is ebbing and dashing.

All quiet along the Potomac to-night,
No sound save the rush of the river;
But the dew falls unseen on the face of the dead--
The picket's off duty forever.

_Ethel L. Beers_.

LESSON LXI

WAGES

Wages are a compensation given to the laborer for the exertion of his
physical powers, or of his skill and ingenuity. They must, therefore,
vary according to the severity of the labor to be performed, or to the
degree of skill and ingenuity required. A jeweller or engraver, for
example, must be paid a higher rate of wages than a servant or laborer.
A long course of training is necessary to instruct a man in the
business of jewelling or engraving, and if the cost of his training
were not made up to him in a higher rate of wages, he would, instead of
learning so difficult an art, betake himself to such employments as
require hardly any instruction.

A skilled mason, who has served a long apprenticeship to his trade,
will always obtain higher wages than a common laborer, who has simply
to use his mere bodily strength. Were it not so, there would be
nothing to induce the mason to spend many years in learning a trade at
which he could earn no higher wages than the man who was simply
qualified to carry lime in a hod, or to roll a wheelbarrow.

The wages of labor in different employments vary with the constancy and
inconstancy of employment. Employment is much more constant in some
trades than in others. Many trades can be carried on only in
particular states of weather, and seasons of the year; and if the
workmen who are employed in these cannot easily find employment in
others during the time they are thrown out of work, their wages must be
proportionally raised. A journeyman weaver, shoemaker, or tailor may
reckon, unless trade is dull, upon obtaining constant employment; but
masons, bricklayers, pavers, and in general all those workmen who carry
on their business in the open air, are liable to constant
interruptions. Their wages, accordingly, must be sufficient to
maintain them while they are employed, and also when they are
necessarily idle.

From the preceding observations it is evident that those who receive
the highest wages are not, when the cost of their education, and the
chances of their success, are taken into account, really better paid
than those who receive the lowest. The wages earned by the different
classes of workmen are equal, not when each individual earns the same
number of dollars in a given space of time, but when each is paid in
proportion to the severity of the labor he has to perform, and to the
degree of previous education and skill it requires. So long as each
individual is allowed to employ himself as he pleases, we may be
assured that the rate of wages in different employments will be
comparatively equal.

SELECTION XIX

COLUMBIA, THE GEM OF THE OCEAN; OR,
THE RED, WHITE AND BLUE

1. O Columbia, the gem of the ocean,
The home of the brave and the free,
The shrine of each patriot's devotion,
A world offers homage to thee.
Thy mandates make heroes assemble,
When Liberty's form stands in view,
Thy banners make tyranny tremble,
When borne by the red, white and blue.

CHORUS.

When borne by the red, white and blue,
When borne by the red, white and blue,
Thy banners make tyranny tremble,
When borne by the red, white and blue.

2. When war winged its wide desolation.
And threatened the land to deform,
The ark then of freedom's foundation,
Columbia, rode safe thro' the storm;
With her garlands of vict'ry around her,
When so proudly she bore her brave crew,
With her flag proudly floating before her,
The boast of the red, white and blue.

CHORUS.

3. The wine-cup, the wine-cup bring hither,
And fill you it true to the brim;
May the wreaths they have won never wither,
Nor the star of their glory grow dim.
May the service united ne'er sever,
But they to their colors prove true.
The Army and Navy forever,
Three cheers for the red, white and blue.

CHORUS.

_David T. Shaw_.

LESSON LXII

LOVE FOR THE DEAD

The sorrow for the dead is the only sorrow from which we refuse to be
divorced. Every other wound we seek to heal--every other affliction to
forget; but this wound we consider it a duty to keep open--this
affliction we cherish and brood over in solitude. Where is the mother
who would willingly forget the infant that perished like a blossom from
her arms, though every recollection is a pang? Where is the child that
would willingly forget the most tender of parents, though to remember
be but to lament? Who, even in the hour of agony, would forget the
friend over whom he mourns? Who, even when the tomb is closing upon
the remains of her he most loved--when he feels his heart, as it were,
crushed in the closing of its portal--would accept of consolation that
must be bought by forgetfulness?

No, the love which survives the tomb is one of the noblest attributes
of the soul. If it has its woes, it has likewise its delights; and
when the overwhelming burst of grief is calmed into the gentle tear of
recollection--when the sudden anguish and the convulsive agony over the
present ruins of all that we most loved is softened away into pensive
meditation on all that it was in the days of its loveliness--who would
root out such a sorrow from the heart? Though it may sometimes throw a
passing cloud over the bright hour of gayety, or spread a deeper
sadness over the hour of gloom, yet who would exchange it, even for the
song of pleasure or the burst of revelry? No, there is a voice from
the tomb sweeter than song. There is a remembrance of the dead to
which we turn even from the charms of the living. Oh, the grave! the
grave! It buries every error--covers every defect. From its peaceful
bosom spring none but fond regrets and tender recollections. Who can
look down upon the grave even of an enemy, and not feel remorse that he
should ever have warred with the poor handful of earth that lies
mouldering before him?

LESSON LXIII

ECONOMY OF TIME

One of the most important lessons to be learned in life is the art of
economizing time. A celebrated Italian was wont to call his time his
estate; and it is true of this as of other estates of which the young
come into possession, that it is rarely prized till it is nearly
squandered. Habits of indolence, listlessness, and sloth, once firmly
fixed, cannot be suddenly thrown off, and the man who has wasted the
precious hours of life's seed-time finds that he cannot reap a harvest
in life's autumn. Lost wealth may be replaced by industry, lost
knowledge by study, lost health by temperance or medicine; but lost
time is gone forever. In the long catalogue of excuses for neglect of
duty, there is none which drops more often from men's lips than the
want of leisure. People are always cheating themselves with the idea
that they would do this or that desirable thing, "if they only had the
time." It is thus that the lazy and the selfish excuse themselves from
a thousand things which conscience dictates should be done. Now, the
truth is, there is no condition in which the chance of doing any good
is less than in that of leisure.

Go, seek out the men in any community who have done the most for their
own and the general good, and you will find they are--who?--Wealthy,
leisurely people, who have plenty of time to themselves, and nothing to
do? No; they are almost always the men who are in ceaseless activity
from January to December. Such men, however pressed with business, are
always found capable of doing a little more; and you may rely on them
in their busiest seasons with ten times more assurance than on idle men.

The men who do the greatest things do them, not so much by fitful
efforts, as by steady, unremitting toil,--by turning even the moments
to account. They have the genius for hard work,--the most desirable
kind of genius.

SELECTION XX

RECESSIONAL

God of our fathers, known of old--
Lord of our far-flung battle-line--
Beneath whose awful hand we hold
Dominion over palm and pine--
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget--lest we forget.

The tumult and the shouting dies--
The captain and the kings depart--
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget--lest we forget.

Far-called our navies melt away--
On dune and headland sinks the fire--
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre.
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,
Lest we forget--lest we forget.

If, drunk with sight of power, we loose
Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe--
Such boasting as the Gentiles use,
Or lesser breeds without the Law--
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget--lest we forget.

For heathen heart that puts her trust
In reeking tube and iron shard--
All valiant dust that builds on dust,
And guarding calls not Thee to guard,--
For frantic boast and foolish word,
Thy mercy on Thy people, Lord. Amen.

_Rudyard Kipling_.

SELECTION XXI

HUMAN PROGRESS

All is action, all is motion,
In this mighty world of ours;
Like the current of the ocean,
Man is urged by unseen powers.

Steadily, but strongly moving,
Life is onward evermore;
Still the present is improving
On the age that went before.

Duty points with outstretched fingers,
Every soul to action high;
Woe betide the soul that lingers--
Onward! onward! is the cry.

Though man's form may seem victorious,
War may waste and famine blight,
Still from out the conflict glorious,
Mind comes forth with added light.

O'er the darkest night of sorrow,
From the deadliest field of strife,
Dawns a clearer, brighter morrow,
Springs a truer, nobler life.

Onward! onward! onward, ever!
Human progress none may stay;
All who make the vain endeavor
Shall, like chaff, be swept away.

_J. Hagan_.

LESSON LXIV

GEORGE STEPHENSON, THE ENGINEER

A famous engineer, named Stephenson, was the first person to
demonstrate the fact that an engine could be built which would draw a
train of cars on a railway. He was an Englishman. His parents were
poor, and the whole family had to live in one room. George was one of
six children; none of them were sent to school, because they had to
work for their living.

From an early age George had assisted his father in tending the fires
of the steam engine which worked the machinery of a large coal mine.
He devoted himself to the study of this engine until he had mastered
every detail of its construction. In 1813, a rich nobleman entrusted
him with money to carry out his favorite plan of building a "traveling
engine," as he then called it.

He made an engine that was fairly successful, as it drew eight loaded
cars on a railway at a speed of four miles an hour. But he was not
contented; he knew that he could do much better. Soon afterward, he
was employed to construct another engine, in which he made some great
improvements that enabled it to go twice as fast as the other.

Accounts of Stephenson's great invention crept into print, and people
began to have faith in the locomotive. In 1822, a company began to
build a line of railway between two towns named Stockton and
Darlington. Stephenson was employed to construct the road-bed and
build the engines. It was completed three years later, and was the
subject of great popular curiosity.

Great crowds came to see the line opened. Stephenson himself drove the
first engine. The train consisted of thirty-four cars. The signal was
given and the train started. Great was the sensation as it moved off,
and still greater was the admiration of the people at Stockton when the
train arrived there after a safe journey. Thus, in 1825, was opened
the first railway ever made for public use.

Stephenson was soon engaged in constructing a railway between
Manchester and Liverpool. But now a storm of opposition broke out.
Pamphlets and newspaper articles were written, making fun of
Stephenson, and declaring that the new railroad would be a failure. It
was claimed that the engine would certainly set fire to the surrounding
country, that it would explode and kill the passengers, and that it
would run over the people before they could get out of its way.

A committee was appointed by the English Parliament to look into the
matter. They sneered at Stephenson as a lunatic, when he assured them
that he could run his engine at twelve miles an hour. One of these
wise men said to him: "Suppose a cow were to get in the way of an
engine running at that rate of speed, wouldn't that be a very awkward
circumstance?" "Yes," answered Stephenson, "very awkward for the cow."

But the consent of Parliament was at last obtained, and the line was
completed in 1830, after many great obstacles had been overcome. It
was shown that a train could be run at thirty miles an hour with
safety, and thus the enemies of Stephenson were silenced.

Stephenson superintended the building of many other lines of railroad,
and lived to see his best hopes realized. He became quite wealthy, and
many honors were bestowed upon him. Nevertheless he remained always a
simple, kindly man, even in his years of prosperity.

When England had experienced such success with railways, it was not
long before America began building railroads on a large scale.

More than three hundred thousand miles of railroads are now in
operation in the United States, and many more miles are added each
year. The great systems of railways, with their modern improvements
for fast travel, are a triumph of skill, energy and enterprise.

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