Page 316 - Third Book of Reading Lessons
P. 316
RE DING LESSONS. 315
O atur-anga, the ur angas, or members of an army-has given birth to the words check and chequer. The court of Chequer, or Exchequer, was so styled om a chequered cloth resembling a chess board, which covered the table on which the king's accounts were made up, and scored or marked against his debtors when ex amined : and hence the term to check or examine an account.
GNARLED (nar'led), a., knotty :-the term is applied to the knots of the oak om their greater crash or creak in breaking; om gnyr ran, A.S., to creak.
F TAS1TIC, a., capricious, whimsical. F. Jantastique, from L. and G. phantasia, a vision, and this om (G.) phantazo, I show.
BoREA'us, n., the aurora-borealis, or northern light. L. borealis, (a.) northern, om boreas, the north wind.
IN England we are apt to rm very exaggerated notions of the degree of cold which is experienced in the northern countries. When there is little or no wind, intense cold is scarcely lt to be an inconve nience, provided one be suitably clothed; and du ng by far the greater part of winter, the weather is calm, so that, even when the thermometer stands consider ably below zero, one is able to move about com rta bly, and even to enjoy the ne weather, which so generally attends intense ost. any an English man, who walks abroad on a raw winter's day, dress ed nearly in the same manner as in summer, su rs in nitely more om cold, than he would in Norway, attired in his r-cloak and eared cap, and warm ot gear. For my own part, I can safely aver this r myself. I have su ered ten times the degree of cold travelling on a stage-coach in England, in the ce of a north-east wind, an I ever su ered in a sledge in Norway, when the thermometer has been rty
seven degrees below the eezing point, or fteen de grees below zero. _ Sometimes, indeed, the ost is accompanied by a wind, and then it is scarcely pos sible to stir out of doors ; but, in the southern part. of Norway, the combination of a very intense ost and a severe wind, is scarcely ever felt. It is true also, that in the depth o winter, the shortness of the
