Prodigious, amazing, monstrous; from prodigy. Exceeded, surpassed, was superior to, went beyond. Extravagance, prodigality, expensiveness, excess. Compression, act of pressing together; from compress. Suffocation, stoppage of breath, act of choaking. Æolus, fabled god of the winds, who confined them in a cave. Rebellion, from rebel, revolt, insurrection. Precipice, headlong steep, perpendicular fall. Desperation, despair, desponding; from desper ate. River. What is it made to appear to be? Spell hue, shed a silvery hue ;-hew, hew down the tree. Ever-humid, always moist, ever wet. Steadily, for a long time, unwaveringly. -Guard, protect, defend, limitation, men on watch. Forced, propelled, driven out by violence. Averted, turned away, put by. Vehement, vé-hè'ment, violent, forcible. Exposed, laid open, made liable. Condensed, made thick, grown close and weighty. Rapidity, velocity, swiftness; from rapid. Precipitated, thrown headlong, hastened without pre paration. Innumerable, without number, numberless. .Eels. What kind of fish are they? Saloon, så-loon', spacious parlor, chief apartment. Enormous, huge, very large, unwieldy. Gothic, ancient order of architecture. Ribs, side bones. What does this word make the place ? Rottenness, cariosity, putrefaction. Groan. Explain the whole figure. is projected, with incalculable intensity, a silvery flood, in which the sun seems to dance like a fire-fly. Beneath, is a chasm of death; an anvil, upon which the hammers of the cataract beat, with unsparing and remorseless might; an abyss of wrath, where the heaviest doom might find new torment, and howl unheard. We had now penetrated to the inmost recess. A pillar of the precipice juts directly out into the sheet, and beyond it no human foot can step but to immediate annihilation. The distance from the edge of the falls, to the rock, which arrests our progress, is said to be fortyfive feet, but I do not think this has ever been accurately ascertained. The arch under which we passed, is evidently undergoing a rapid decay at the bottom, while the top, unwasted, juts out like the leaf of a table. Consequently a fall must happen, and, judging from the appearance, may be expected every day; and this is probably the only real danger in going beneath the sheet. We passed to our temporary home, through the valley which skirts the upper stream, among gilded clouds and rainbows, and wild flowers, and felt, that we had experienced a consummation of curiosity; that we had looked upon that, than which earth could offer nothing to the eye or heart of man, more awful or more magnifi cent. LESSON LVIII. Niagara.-BRAINARD. The thoughts are strange, which crowd into my brain, And spoke in that loud voice which seemed to him. Projected, made imminent, extended out. Chasm of death, chasm into which it would be death to fall. Hammer and Anvil. What image do we have now? Abyss of wrath. What is the meaning? Recess, retirement, secession, retreat. Juts, extends itself, projects. Immediate, instant, present with regard to time. Arrests, stops, seizes, takes up. Ascertained, found out, known to be true. Evidently, verily, manifestly; from evident. Undergoing, suffering; of what is it compounded? Unwasted, undecayed, not mouldered. -Appearance, aspect, demeanor. Temporary, lasting only for a time. Skirts, bounds, extends by the side of. Gilded, tinged with gold, brilliant, sparkling. Rainbows. What produced these? Consummation, from consummate, completion, perfection. Curiosity, desire of seeing, inclination to inquiry. Strange, unusual, magnificent, unaccustomed. Brain, head, seat of intellect, matter contained in the skull. Look upward. Why does the writer look upward? Hollow hand, see Isaiah, 40: 12. His bow, rainbow, Genesis 9: 13. Patmos, Island were St. John was banished. Sound of many waters, Revelation 1: 15. Chronicle, record, make account of. Back, past, preceding. Notch, note down, mark by notches. Are all the stirring notes that ever rang From war's vain trumpet, by thy thundering sides? LESSON LIX. Importance of Decision of Character.-FOSTER. the Without decision of character, a human being with powers at best but feeble, is indeed a pitiable atom, sport of divers and casual impulses. It is a poor and disgraceful thing, not to be able to reply, with some de. gree of certainty, to the simple questions, What will you be? What will you do? A little acquaintance with mankind, will supply numberless illustrations of the importance of this character. In many instances, when a determination is adopted, it is frustrated by indecision. A man, for example, resolves to make a journey to-morrow, which he is not under an absolute necessity to make, but the inducements appear this evening so strong, that he does not think it possible he can hesitate in the morning. In the morning, however, these inducements have unaccountably lost much of their force. Like the sun, that is rising at the same time, they appear dim through a mist; and the sky lowers, or he fancies that it lowers, the fatigue appears formidable; and he lingers uncertain, till an advanced hour determines the question for him, by the certainty, that it is now too late to go. A man without decision, can never be said to belong to himself; since, if he dared to assert that he did, the puny force of some cause, about as powerful, you would have supposed as a spider, may capture the hapless boaster the very next moment, and triumphantly show the futility of the determinations by which he was to have proved the independence of his understanding and his Stirring, thrilling, inspiring, exciting. Drowned a world. When was the world drowned? Light wave. What reason for calling Niagara a light wave? What figure of speech is used through all this piece? Powers, faculties, qualities. A pitiable atom, contemptible cypher, object of commiseration. Divers, various, diverse, different. Casual, accidental. Impulses, motives, ideas, impressions from other bodies. Simple, easy, short, unequivocal. Mankind, the human race, the human species. Frustrated, set aside, disappointed, made nugatory. Inducements, motives, impulses. Unaccountably, in a manner that cannot be explained. Force, urgency, importance. What is a comparison? For what purpose introduced? By what words generally? Are they stronger than similes? Is this comparison an appropriate one? See app. Lowers, loů' ůrz, looks gloomy, looks sullen, is clouded. Formidable, fearful, dreadful. Is this conduct of the undecided man foolish ? Belong to himself, do what he pleases, be under his own control. Puny, weak, insignificant, helpless. About, almost, nearly. Capture, seize, take in its net. What is the allusion here? Hapless, unhappy, wretched, miserable. Triumphantly, victoriously. Futility, emptiness, vanity. Independence, fearlessness, boldness, freedom from doubt. |