big mil-wheel, upon which we
jumped, and by our weight made it turn over and over, and thus move the
machinery in the mil. Here we were tossed in the air, whirled around, and
at last flung back into the river, where we sailed slowly and quietly as
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before.
"By and by, we saw large boats floating on the water. We passed towns and cities with busy streets and many people; and as our river widened, and we heard the big sea waves dashing
against the shore, we knew our brothers and sisters were singing a welcome home.
"And now farewel, little squirrel. My story is done, and I must hasten to my home in the sea.
Perhaps we shal meet again some day. I may float down to you, a white-winged snowflake,
or patter down as I came this time, a tiny raindrop."
WE PASSED TO WNS AND CITIES.
Write the following:
The water rises from the sea in vapor.
The vapor is turned into clouds, which fal in rain or snow.
The rain forms rivers, which flow back again into the sea.
Thus the water is always going round and round in its long and curious journey--up to the
clouds in vapor, down in rain, back in streams to the place it started from.
LESSON XXIII.
THE RIVER.
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"Oh, tel me, pretty
"And then 'mid
river,
meadowy banks,
Whence do thy waters
I flirted with the
flow?
flowers,
And whither art thou
That stooped with
roaming,
glowing lips
So smoothly and so
To woo me to their
slow?"
bowers.
"My birthplace was the
"But these bright scenes
mountain,
are o'er,
My nurse the April
And darkly flows my
showers;
wave;
My cradle was a
I hear the ocean's roar--
fountain,
And there must be my
O'er-curtained by wild
grave!"
flowers.
"One morn I ran away,
A madcap, noisy ril;
And many a prank that
day
I played adown the
hil!
Where have you seen a river like the one spoken of in the poem? Are rivers born? What is
meant by "My nurse the April showers"? "I flirted with the flowers"? Explain the last stanza.
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LESSON XXIV.