The Judge look'd back as he climb'd the hill, And saw Maud Müller standing, still.

"A form more fair, a face more sweet,
Ne'er hath it been my lot to meet.

"And her modest answer and graceful air
Show her wise and good as she is fair.
"Would she were mine, and I to-day
Like her a harvester of hay:

"No doubtful balance of rights and wrongs,
And weary lawyers with endless tongues,
"But low of cattle and song of birds,
And health of quiet and loving words."

But he thought of his sisters, proud and cold
And his mother, vain of her rank and gold.

So, closing his heart, the Judge rode on,
And Maud was left in the field alone.

But the lawyers smiled that afternoon,
When he humm'd in court an old love tune;
And the young girl mused beside the well,
Till the rain on the unraked clover fell.

He wedded a wife of richest dower,
Who lived for fashion, as he for power.
Yet oft, in his marble hearth's bright glow,
He watch'd a picture come and go:
And sweet Maud Müller's hazel eyes
Look'd out in their innocent surprise.

Oft when the wine in his glass was red,
He long'd for the wayside well instead.
And closed his eyes on his garnish'd rooms,
To dream of meadows and clover blooms.

And the proud man sighed, with a secret pain; "Ah, that I were free again!

"Free as when I rode that day,

Where the barefoot maiden raked her hay."
She wedded a man unlearned and poor,
And many children played round her door.
But care and sorrow, and racking pain,
Left their traces on heart and brain.

And oft, when the summer sun shone hot
On the new-mown hay in the meadow lot,
And she heard the little spring-brook fall
Over the roadside, through the wall,
In the shade of the apple-tree again
She saw a rider draw his rein:

And, gazing down with timid grace,
She felt his pleased eyes read her face.
Sometimes her narrow kitchen walls
Stretch'd away into stately halls;

The weary wheel to a spinnet turn'd,
The tallow candle an astral burn'd,
And for him who sat by the chimney lug,
Dozing and grumbling o'er pipe and mug,

A manly form at her side she saw,

And joy was duty, and love was law.

Then she took up her burden of life again,
Saying only, "It might have been!"

Alas! for Maiden, alas! for Judge,
For rich repiner and household drudge !
God pity them both! and pity us all,
Who vainly the dreams of youth recall.
For of all sad works of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these: "It might have been!"
Ah, well for us all some sweet hope lies
Deeply buried from human eyes:

And, in the hereafter, angels may
Roll the stone from its grave away!

J. G. WHITTIER.

Maud Müller.-The poem is a sermon on the words, "It might have been." We have the simple country maiden, busily engaged with her rustic duties, but occasionally dreaming of a different lot. We have the accidental meeting with the Judge, and the effect produced on both by this meeting. Both are dreamers. She dreams of wealth and grandeur; he of rural peace and quietness. Each marries the Judge a wealthy lady of fashion-the maiden a clodhopper. Here again the dream is renewed-only to end in the words, "It might have been," on which the author founds the moral of the poem.

The mock bird.-The mocking-bird of America is referred to. It has a wonderful facility of imitating the tone of almost every bird, from the twitter of the humming-bird to the scream of the eagle,

.—Compare—

Who for delay seeks a vain excuse.—

"Parting is such sweet sorrow,

That I shall say good-night till it be morrow."

No doubtful balance of rights and wrongs.—He means that he would not be harassed day by day in deciding cases, in which it was often difficult to determine where the right and the wrong lay.

The wheel to a spinnet turned.-The common spinningwheel was exchanged for a spinnet, which is a musical instrument, somewhat resembling a harpsichord. Astral. An astral lamp is one in which the light is placed under a concave glass.

EXERCISES.

1. Give an analysis of this poem. What great lesson does it teach? Show how it teaches it.

2. What is meant by these phrases-(a) Glowed the wealth of simple beauty. (b) A nameless longing filled her breast. (c) He drew his bridle. (d) Care and sorrow left their traces on her brain. (e) The tallow candle an astral burned. (f) Joy was duty, and love was law. (g) She took up her burden of life again.

3. Give the derivation of rustic, echo, surprise, excuse, painted, closing, dower, innocent, secret, human.

AFTER a day of the most painful experience, I sit

down in the evening to continue my brief notice of events. I rose, as is my wont, at five o'clock. I went on deck, and took the usual rounds of the ship. The weather was a little overcast, and the sea ran high. Suddenly, about twenty minutes past eight, the terrible cry of "A man overboard!" came from the forecastle. He was lowering the fore-top-gallant-sail, about a hundred and ten feet above the deck, and fell, striking one of the lower sails, and then bounding into the sea.

The captain was just coming up with his quadrant, to take an observation. He sprang forward, and gave his orders like lightning. The ship was hove to, but with a tremendous strain upon masts and rigging; one of the boats was lowered, and three men jumped in. The sea was heavy, and the motion of the ship violent; the boat capsized, throwing the three men into the sea. One, the boatswain, caught hold of the tackle by which the boat was still held to the stern of the ship, and was drawn on board. The other two were struggling in the waves. A fourth stripped himself and clambered down into the boat, which had righted itself, but was nearly full of water.

Just at that moment, a tremendous lurch of the ship dashed the boat against her, broke the tackling, tore off the davits, and she again capsized, with such a weight hanging underneath that it was impossible for her to right herself again. The