To work him further woe;
And still as signs of life appeared,
They tossed him to and fro.

They wasted o'er a scorching flame
The marrow of his bones;
But a miller used him worst of all--
He crushed him 'tween two stones.

And they have taken his very heart's blood,
And drunk it round and round;
And still the more and more they drank,
Their joy did more abound.

ROBERT BURNS.


A LIFE ON THE OCEAN WAVE.

"A Life on the Ocean Wave," by Epes Sargent (1813-80), gives the swing
and motion of the water of the great ocean. Children remember it almost
unconsciously after hearing it read several times.

A life on the ocean wave,
A home on the rolling deep,
Where the scattered waters rave,
And the winds their revels keep!
Like an eagle caged, I pine
On this dull, unchanging shore:
Oh! give me the flashing brine,