VAN DYKE, HENRY. The Story of the Other Wise Man. Harper and Brothers The First Christmas Tree. Charles Scribner's Sons Charming Christmas stories, founded on tradition, that take the reader back to earlier times and customs. VERNE, JULES. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Charles Scribner's Sons Around the World in Eighty Days. E. P. Dutton and Company Tales of imaginative adventures which modern inventions have made realities. WALLACE, LEW. Ben Hur. Harper and Brothers A thrilling tale of the times of Christ. It contains the famous story of WARNER, CHARLES DUDLEY. Being a Boy. Houghton Mifflin Company WHITE, JOHN S. Plutarch for Boys and Girls. G. P. Putnam's Sons WIGGIN, KATE DOUGLAS. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. Houghton Mifflin Company Rebecca Randall, one of the seven children of a widowed mother, at the age of ten goes to live with her Aunt Miranda and Aunt Jane, who are severe and unreasonable women. Rebecca finds good friends in Mr. Cobb, the stage driver, and in "Mr. Aladdin." WIGGIN, KATE DOUGLAS, and SMITH, NORA ARCHIBALD. Arabian Nights. Charles Scribner's Sons Old tales of great adventure and marvelous happenings. WITHAM, R. ADELAIDE. English and Scotch Popular Ballads. Houghton Mifflin Company A collection of thirty-six poems "made for singing and not for reading," "tales telling themselves" for the delight of all. WYSS, JOHANN DAVID. The Swiss Family Robinson. Like Robinson Crusoe, the Robinson family were shipwrecked on a lonely island and were forced to live without the conveniences of civilized life. Their adventures called for both sturdy character and clev erness. STORIES IN VERSE HERVÉ RIEL ROBERT BROWNING I ON the sea and at the Hogue, sixteen hundred ninety-two, 2 'Twas the squadron that escaped, with the victor in full chase; First and foremost of the drove, in his great ship, Damfreville; Close on him fled, great and small, Twenty-two good ships in all; And they signaled to the place, "Help the winners of a race! Get us guidance, give us harbor, take us quick - or, quicker still, Here's the English can and will!" 3 Then the pilots of the place put out brisk and leaped on board; "Why, what hope or chance have ships like these to pass?" laughed they : "Rocks to starboard, rocks to port, all the passage scarred and scored, Shall the Formidable here, with her twelve-and-eighty guns, Think to make the river-mouth by the single narrow way, Trust to enter where 'tis ticklish for a craft of twenty tons, Now, 'tis slackest ebb of tide. While rock stands or water runs, Not a ship will leave the bay!" 4 Then was called a council straight; Brief and bitter the debate: "Here's the English at our heels; would you have them take in tow All that's left us of the fleet, linked together stern and bow, Better run the ships aground!" Let the Captains all and each Shove ashore, then blow up, burn the vessels on the beach! France must undergo her fate." 5 "Give the word!" But no such word Was ever spoke or heard; For up stood, for out stepped, for in struck amid all these — A Captain? A Lieutenant? A Mate-first, second, third? No such man of mark, and meet With his betters to compete! But a simple Breton sailor pressed by Tourville for the fleet A poor coasting pilot he, Hervé Riel the Croisickese. 6 And "What mockery or malice have we here?" cries Hervé Riel : "Are you mad, you Malouins? Are you cowards, fools, or rogues? Talk to me of rocks and shoals, me who took the soundings, tell On my fingers every bank, every shallow, every swell 'Twixt the offing here and Grève where the river disembogues? Are you bought by English gold? Is it love the lying's for? Morn and eve, night and day, Have I piloted your bay, Entered free and anchored fast at the foot of Solidor. Burn the fleet and ruin France? That were worse than fifty Hogues! Sirs, they know I speak the truth! Sirs, believe me, there's a way! Only let me lead the line, Have the biggest ship to steer, Get this Formidable clear, Make the others follow mine, And I lead them, most and least, by a passage I know well, Why, I've nothing but my life: here's my head!" cries Hervé Riel. Not a minute more to wait. 7 "Steer us in, then, small and great! Take the helm, lead the line, save the squadron !" cried its chief. "Captains, give the sailor place! He is Admiral, in brief." Still the north wind, by God's grace! See the noble fellow's face As the big ship, with a bound, Clears the entry like a hound, Keeps the passage as its inch of way were the wide sea's profound! See, safe through shoal and rock, How they follow in a flock, Not a ship that misbehaves, not a keel that grates the ground, Not a spar that comes to grief! The peril, see, is past, All are harbored to the last, And just as Hervé Riel hollas "Anchor!" - sure as fate, So, the storm subsides to calm : They see the green trees wave On the heights o'erlooking Grève. Hearts that bled are stanched with balm. "Just our rapture to enhance, Let the English rake the bay, Gnash their teeth and glare askance As they cannonade away! 'Neath rampired Solidor pleasant riding on the Rance!" How hope succeeds despair on each Captain's countenance! Out burst all with one accord, "This is Paradise for Hell! Let France, let France's King Thank the man that did the thing!" What a shout, and all one word, "Hervé Riel!" |