thumb and finger went to work
To move the stubborn lid;
And, presently, a mighty jerk
The mighty mischief did;
For all at once, ah! woeful case!
The snuff came puffing in her face.

7. Poor eyes, and nose, and mouth, and chin
A dismal sight presented;
And as the snuff got further in,
Sincerely she repented.
In vain she ran about for ease,
She could do nothing else but sneeze.

8. She dashed the spectacles away,
To wipe her tingling eyes;
And, as in twenty bits they lay,
Her grandmamma she spies.
"Heyday! and what's the matter now?"
Cried grandmamma, with angry brow.

9. Matilda, smarting with the pain,
And tingling still, and sore,
Made many a promise to refrain
From meddling evermore;
And 't is a fact, as I have heard,
She ever since has kept her word.

DEFINITIONS.-l. Qual'i-ties, traits of character. 2. Med'-dling,
interfering without right. 4. Forth-with', at once. Spied, saw. 5.
A-miss', wrong, faulty. 6. Woe'ful, sad, sorrowful 8. Tin'gling, smarting.
9. Re-frain', to keep from.

EXERCISES.--What did Matilda do? How was she punished? What effect did it
have on her?

X. THE GOOD SON. (44)

1. There was once a jeweler, noted for many virtues. One day, the Jewish
elders came to him to buy some diamonds, to put upon that part of the
dress of their high priest, which the Bible calls an ephod.

2. They told him what they wanted, and offered him a fair price for the
diamonds. He replied that he could not let them see the jewels at that
moment, and requested them to call again.

3. As they wanted them without delay, and thought that the object of the
jeweler was only to increase the price of the diamonds, the elders offered
him twice, then three times, as much as they were worth. But he still
refused, and they went away in very bad humor.

4. Some hours after, he went to them, and placed before them the diamonds,
for which they again offered him the last price they had named; but he
said, "I will only accept the first one you offered to me this morning."

5. "Why, then, did you not close with us at once?" asked they in surprise.
"When you came," replied he, "my father had the key of the chest, in which
the diamonds were kept, and as he was asleep, I should have been obliged
to wake him to obtain them.

6. "At his age, a short hour of sleep does him a great deal of good; and
for all the gold in the world, I would n