Category: Children & Young Adult Reading
“The black steam-engine! steed of iron power; The wondrous steed of the Arabian tale, Launched on its course by pressure of a touch; Ha! ha! it shouts, as on It gallops, dragging in its tireless path, Its load of fire.”
“The black steam-engine! steed of iron power; The wondrous steed of the Arabian tale, Launched on its course by pressure of a touch; Ha! ha! it shouts, as on It gallops, draggin...
2. CHAPTER II.“No clearing to-day, Norman,” said Mrs. Lester, as they left the Cataract Hotel in the drizzling rain to cross over to Goat Island. They paused upon the bridge, and looked upon...
3. CHAPTER III.“We are willing, we are ready; We would learn, if you would teach, We have hearts that yearn to duty; We have minds alive to beauty, Souls that any height can reach.”
4. CHAPTER IV.“I saw the domes before me rise, The lake behind me swell; I thought upon the bygone days, When nature wore a different phase, And man a different skin; And stretching far, thro...
5. CHAPTER V.“These are the gardens of the desert; these, The unshorn fields, boundless and beautiful, For which the speech of England has no name, The prairies.... Lo! they stretch In airy...
6. CHAPTER VI.Home of the Indian’s wild-born race, The stalwart and the brave; Alike their camp and hunting-place, Their battle-field and grave; Where late gigantic warriors stood, As thick a...
7. CHAPTER VII.“It must have been a proud moment for De Soto when he first looked upon the lower waters of this magnificent river,” said Mrs. Lester, as she sat with Norman on the guards of th...
8. CHAPTER VIII.St. Paul, “the diadem city of the northwest,” situated on high bluffs, at a bend of the river, looked very imposing in the light of a glowing sunset. The noisy cries of the hack...
9. CHAPTER IX.Thus our idle fancies shaped themselves that day, Mid the bluffs, and headlands, and the islets gray, As we travel’d southward in our gallant ship, Floating, drifting, dreaming...
10. CHAPTER X.Safely led and guided by pilots who could tell The pulses of the river, its windings, and its swell; Who knew its closest secrets, by dark as well as light, Each bluff and ringi...
11. CHAPTER XI.“O day most calm, most bright, The fruit of this, the next world’s bud; The indorsement of supreme delight, Writ by a Friend and with his blood; The couch of time; care’s balm a...
12. CHAPTER XII.At the boat Norman was delighted to see his friend, the pilot of the Grey Eagle, who introduced them to Captain Gray, of the Kate Cassel. There he saw too the lady who brought w...
13. CHAPTER XIII.A joyful hour! anticipated keen, With zest of youthful appetite ... To spread that table in the wilderness; The spot selected with deliberate care, Fastidious from variety of ch...
14. CHAPTER XIV.The holy sounds float up the dell To fill my ravish’d ear, And now the glorious anthems swell Of worshipers sincere; Of hearts bow’d in the dust that shed Faith’s penitential tear.
15. CHAPTER XV.Types of eternal rest, fair buds of bliss, In heavenly flowers unfolding week by week The next world’s gladness imaged forth in this, Days of whose worth the Christian’s heart c...
16. CHAPTER XVI.“All the while the swaying cars Kept rumbling o’er the rail, And the frequent whistle sent Shrieks of anguish to the gale; And the cinders pattered down On the grimy floor like...
17. CHAPTER XVII.“The wondrous, beautiful prairies, Billowy bays of grass, ever rolling in shadow and sunshine, Bright with luxuriant clusters of roses and purple amorphas; And over all is the s...
18. CHAPTER XVIII.Chicago! thou shalt shine in verse, As my adopted pet; Thou newest slice of this New World, Save what is newer yet. Thy structures seem of yesterday, And shine like scenery in t...
19. CHAPTER XIX.Lake Superior, the mighty lake, fed by two hundred rivers and streams, plunging down falls and rapids to mingle their waters with those of this inland ocean; with its stern rock...
20. CHAPTER XX.In our wake there follow’d, white as flakes of snow, Seven adventurous sea-gulls, floating to and fro; Diving for the bounty of the bread we threw, Dipping, curving, swerving—fi...
21. CHAPTER XXI.A bright band of light clearly defined the eastern horizon, and heralded the approach of the sun. A steamer, making its way along the shore, stood out with great distinctness in...
22. CHAPTER XXII.What spell has o’er the populous city pass’d! The wonted current of its life is stay’d: Its sports, its gainful schemes, are earthward cast, As though their vileness were at onc...
23. CHAPTER XXIII.“Is this an English or American fort?” asked Norman, as he looked at the massive walls of Fort Niagara at the mouth of the river. “It is an American fort,” said a young English...
24. CHAPTER XXIV.Up at four o’clock; the Falls yet unvisited by the sun’s early beams. The birds were singing their merriest song, as Norman and his mother, after an early breakfast, got into th...