Page 279 - The model orator, or, Young folks' speaker : containing the choicest recitations and readings from the best authors for schools, public entertainments, social gatherings, Sunday schools, etc. : including recitals in prose and verse ...
P. 279
"D ead ! Dead! Oh, my God, am T crazy?
Shure it's brakm1 my heart, yer teliin* me so.
And what in the world will become of me Daisy ?
Oh, what can I do! Oh, where shall I go?
"T h is room is so dark, Ifm not scdn\ yer Honor;
I think I’ll go home ”— and a sob, hard and dry,
Rose up from the bosom of Mary O ’Conner,
But never a tear-drop welled up to her eye.
THE LAST HOURS OF LITTLE PAUL DOM RE Y.
[Among the many pathetic passages in the TvritingH of Dickeu3 this entitt-ed
to tin* foremost rank. It should be read in an easy, fluent. Hlyle, and with evident
emotion. J
P A U L had never risen from his little bed. He lay there, listening
to the noises in the street, quite tranquilly; not caring much
how the time went, but watching every tiling about him with
observing; eyes.
When the sunbeams struck into his room through the rustling
blinds, and quivered on the opposite wall like golden water, he knew
that evening was coming on, and that the sky was red and beautiful.
A s the reflection died away, and the gloom went creeping up the wail,
he watched it deepen, deepen, deepen into night. Then he thought
how the long streets were dotted with lamps, and how the peaceful
stars were shining overhead. His fancy had a strange tendency to
wander to the river, which he knew was flowing through the great
city; and now he thought how black it was, and how deep it would
look, reflecting the hosts of stars, and more than ali, how steadily it
rolled awav to meet the sea.
■■
A s it grew later in the night., and footsteps in the .street became so
rare that he could hear them coming, count them as they passed, and
lose them in the hollow distance, he would lie and watch the many-
colored ring about the candle, and wait patiently for day. His only
trouble was, the swift and rapid river. He felt forced, sometimes, to
