Definitions.—­l.  Re-venge’, return for an injury.  Re-pent’, to feel sorry for.  Coun’te-nance, the face. 2.  Re-sumed’, took again. 3.  In-duced’, caused. 4.  As-sured, declared positively.  Re-gard’ing, noticing. 5.  Con-sid’ered, thought of care’fully. 7.  Con-tempt’, disdain, scorn.  In-flict’, to impose, to put on. 8.  Hov’er-ing, hanging over or about. 9.  Ag’o-ny, very great pain. 10.  A-bil’i-ty, power.

Exercises.—­What is revenge?  Is it right to take revenge on those who injure us?  How should we treat such persons?

XXXIV.  EVENING HYMN. (97)

1.  Come to the sunset tree,
     The day is past and gone;
   The woodman’s ax lies free,
     And the reaper’s work is done;
   The twilight star to heaven,
     And the summer dew to flowers,
   And rest to us is given,
     By the soft evening hours.

2.  Sweet is the hour of rest,
     Pleasant the woods’ low sigh,
   And the gleaming of the west,
     And the turf whereon we lie,
   When the burden and the heat
     Of the laborer’s task is o’er,
   And kindly voices greet
     The tired one at the door.

3.  Yes, tuneful is the sound
     That dwells in whispering boughs: 
   Welcome the freshness round,
     And the gale that fans our brows;
   But rest more sweet and still
     Than ever the nightfall gave,
   Our yearning hearts shall fill,
     In the world beyond the grave.

4.  There, shall no tempests blow,
     Nor scorching noontide heat;
   There, shall be no more snow,
     No weary, wandering feet;
   So we lift our trusting eyes
     From the hills our fathers trod,
   To the quiet of the skies,
     To the Sabbath of our God.

XXXV.  HOW MARGERY WONDERED. (99) By Lucy Larcom.

1.  One bright morning late in March, little Margery put on her hood and her Highland plaid shawl, and went trudging across the beach.  It was the first time she had been trusted out alone, for Margery was a little girl; nothing about her was large, except her round gray eyes, which had yet scarcely opened upon half a dozen springs and summers.

2.  There was a pale mist on the far-off sea and sky, and up around the sun were white clouds edged with the hues of pinks and violets.  The sunshine and the mild air made Margery’s very heart feel warm, and she let the soft wind blow aside her Highland shawl, as she looked across the waters at the sun, and wondered!  For, somehow, the sun had never looked before as it did to-day;—­it seemed like a great golden flower bursting out of its pearl-lined calyx,—­a flower without a stem.  Or was there a strong stem away behind it in the sky, that reached down below the sea, to a root, nobody could guess where?

3.  Margery did not stop to puzzle herself about the answer to her question, for now the tide, was coming in, and the waves, little at first, but growing larger every moment, were crowding up along the sand and pebbles, laughing, winking, and whispering, as they tumbled over each other, like thousands of children hurrying home from somewhere, each with its own precious little secret to tell.