Page 58 - Third Book of Reading Lessons

READING LESSONS.
57
Mediterranean, and is procured by diver_s, who are early trained to this employment. Sponge absorbs uids rapidly, and yields them again when com­ pressed. It was equently saturated with wine and myrrh, and given to persons su ering the punish­ ment of cruci xion, in order to deaden the sense of
pain, and subdue the intolerable thirst which is the
consequence of their agony.
LESSON XXIV.
MAYO,
THE TRAVELLER AT THE SOURCE OF THE N E.
1. sunset's light, o'er Afric thrown, A wand'rer proudly stood
Beside the well-spring, deep and lone, Of Egypt's awful ood:
The cradle of that mighty birth, So long a hidden thing to earth !
2. He heard its life's rst murmuring sound, low mysterious tone ;
A music sought, but never und, By kings and warriors gone ;
He listen'd-and his heart beat high­ That was the song of victory !
3. The rapture of a conqueror's mood Rush'd burning through his ame,­
The depths of that green solitude
Its torrents could not tame ;
Though stillness lay, with eve's last smile, Round those r untains of the Nile.