held aloft by the right arm of the young hero. And thus he brought the
child back to the distracted mother.

With a most fervent blessing, she thanked the young man for his heroic
deed. And was this blessing heard? Most assuredly; for the
self-sacrificing spirit which characterized the life of this youth was
none other than that of George Washington, the First President of the
United States.




LESSON XLI

AUTUMN

September has come. The fierce heat of summer is gone. Men are at
work in the fields cutting down the yellow grain, and binding it up
into sheaves. The fields of corn stand in thick ranks, heavy with ears.

The boughs of the orchard hang low with the red and golden fruit.
Laughing boys are picking up the purple plums and the red-cheeked
peaches that have fallen in the high grass. Large, rich melons are on
the garden vines, and sweet grapes hang in clusters by the wall.

The larks with their black and yellow breasts stand watching you on the
close-mown meadow. As you come near, they spring up, fly a little
distance, and light again. The robins, that long ago left the gardens,
feed in flocks upon the red berries of the sumac, and the soft-eyed
pigeons are with them to claim their share. The lazy blackbirds follow