That did his will; but Thou, O Lord, The room was hushed; in silence rose GLOSSARY. Jester; chastening; balsam. STUDY. Why did the king order his jester to make a prayer? Did he expect the sort of prayer that followed? What did the jester's “bitter smile" mean? Notice the points to his prayer, the indictments he brings against humanity for its follies. Do you see any satire in his, “O Lord, be merciful to me, a fool"? What effect did the prayer have on the king and court? Explain the king's action and words at the close. What had he been brought to realize? Study with special care stanzas 6 and 7. THE CHAMPION STONECUTTER HUGH MILLER 35 40 We were joined in about a fortnight by the other workmen from the Low Country, and I resigned my temporary charge (save that I still retained the time-book in my master's behalf) into the hands of an ancient mason, remarkable over the north of Scotland for his skill as an operative, and who, though he was now turned of 5 sixty, was still able to build and hew considerably more than the youngest and most active man in the squad. He was at this time the only survivor of three brothers, all masons, and all not merely first-class workmen, but of a class to which, at least to the north of the Grampians, only they themselves belonged, and 10 very considerably in advance of the first. And on the removal of the second of the three brothers to the south of Scotland, it was found that, amid the stonecutters of Glasgow, David Fraser held relatively the same place that he had done among those of the north. I have been told by Mr. Kenneth Matheson-a gentleman well 15 known as a master builder in the west of Scotland—that on erecting some hanging stairs of polished stone, ornamented in front and at the outer edge by the common fillet and torus, his ordinary work20 men used to complete for him their one step apiece per day, and David Fraser his three steps, finished equally well. It is easily conceivable how, in the higher walks of art, one man should excel a thousand, -nay, how he should have neither competitor when living nor successor when dead. The English gentleman who, 25 after the death of Canova, asked a surviving brother of the sculptor whether he purposed carrying on Canova's business, found that he had achieved an unintentional joke. But in the commoner avocations there appear no such differences between man and man; and it may seem strange how in ordinary stonecutting one 30 man could thus perform the work of three. My acquaintance with old John Fraser showed me how very much the ability depended on a natural faculty. John's strength had never been above the average of that of Scotchmen, and it was now considerably reduced; nor did his 35 mallet deal more or heavier blows than that of the common workHe had, however, an extraordinary power of conceiving of the finished piece of work, as lying within the rude stone from which it was his business to disinter it; and while ordinary stonecutters had to repeat and re-repeat their lines and drafts, and 40 had in this way virtually to give to their work several surfaces in detail ere they reached the true one, old John cut upon the true figure at once, and made one surface serve for all. In building, too, he exercised a similar power: he hammer-dressed his stones with fewer strokes than other workmen, and in fitting the inter45 spaces between stones already laid, always picked from out of the heap at his feet the stone that exactly fitted the place; while other operatives busied themselves in picking up stones that were too small or too large; or, if they set themselves to reduce the too large ones, reduced them too little or too much, and had to fit and 50 fit again. Whether building or hewing, John never seemed in a hurry. He has been seen, when far advanced in life, working very leisurely, as became his years, on the one side of a wall, and two stout young fellows building against him on the other sidetoiling, apparently, twice harder than he, but the old man always contrived to keep a little ahead of them both. 55 David Fraser I never saw; but as a hewer he was said considerably to excel even his brother John. On hearing that it had been remarked among a party of Edinburgh masons that, though regarded as the first of Glasgow stonecutters, he would find in the eastern capital at least his equals, he attired himself most uncouthly 60 in a long-tailed coat of tartan, and, looking to the life the untamed, untaught, conceited little Celt, he presented himself on Monday morning, armed with a letter of introduction from a Glasgow builder, before the foreman of an Edinburgh squad of masons engaged upon one of the finer buildings at that time in the course 65 of erection. The letter specified neither his qualifications nor his name: it had been written merely to secure for him the necessary employment, and the necessary employment it did secure. The better workmen of the party were engaged, on his arrival, in hewing columns, each of which was deemed sufficient for a 70 week; and David was asked, somewhat incredulously, by the foreman, if he could hew. "Oh, yes, he thought he could hew." "Could he hew such columns as these?" "Oh, yes, he thought he could hew columns such as these." A mass of stone in which a possible column lay hid was accord- 75 ingly placed before David, not under cover of the shed, which was already occupied by workmen, but, agreeably to David's own request, directly in front of it, where he might be seen by all, and where he straightway commenced a most extraordinary course of antics. Buttoning his long tartan coat fast around him, he 80 would first look along the stone from the one end, anon from the other, and then examine it in front and rear; or, quitting it altogether for the time, he would take up his stand beside the other workmen, and, after looking at them with great attention, return and give it a few taps with the mallet, in a style evidently imitative 85 of theirs. but monstrously a caricature. The shed all that day resounded with roars of laughter; and the only thoroughly grave man on the ground was he who occasioned the mirth of all the others. Next morning David again buttoned 90 his coat; but he got on much better this day than the former: he was less awkward and less idle, though not less observant than before: and he succeeded ere evening in tracing, in workmanlike fashion, a few drafts along the future column. He was evidently greatly improving. On the morning of Wednesday he threw off 95 his coat; and it was seen that, though by no means in a hurry, he was seriously at work. There were no more jokes or laughter; and it was whispered in the evening that the strange Highlander had made astonishing progress during the day. By the middle of Thursday he had made up for his two days' trifling, and was abreast 100 of the other workmen; before night he was far ahead of them; and ere the evening of Friday, when they had still a full day's work on each of their columns, David's was completed in a style that defied criticism; and, his tartan coat again buttoned around him, he sat resting himself beside it. 105 The foreman went out and greeted him. "Well," he said, "you have beaten us all: you certainly can hew!" "Yes," said David, "I thought I could hew columns. Did the other men take much more than a week to learn?" "Come, come, David Fraser," replied the foreman; "we all guess who you are: you 110 have had your week's joke out; and now, I suppose, we must give you your week's wages, and let you away." "Yes," said David; "work waits for me in Glasgow; but I just thought it might be well to know how you hewed on this side of the country." GLOSSARY. Low Country; Grampians; fillet and torus; Canova; avocations; interspaces; eastern capital; tartan; Celt; caricature. STUDY. In what way did the Frasers differ from ordinary stonecutters? What is the point to the English gentleman's unintentional joke? Give some of the facts that show that John Fraser's ability depended on a "natural faculty." Tell the story of David Fraser. What was his object in concealing his identity? Why did the foreman and the other workmen guess who he was? DICKENS IN CAMP FRANCIS BRET HARTE Above the pines the moon was slowly drifting, The river sang below; The dim Sierras, far beyond, uplifting Their minarets of snow. The roaring camp fire, with rude humor, painted 5 On haggard face and form that drooped and fainted Till one arose, and from his pack's scant treasure 10 And cards were dropped from hands of listless leisure And then, while round them shadows gathered faster, He read aloud the book wherein the Master Had writ of "Little Nell." Perhaps 'twas boyish fancy,-for the reader But, as he read, from clustering pine and cedar A silence seemed to fall; The fir trees, gathering closer in the shadows, Listened in every spray, While the whole camp with "Nell" on English meadows And so in mountain solitudes-o'ertaken As by some spell divine Their cares dropped from them like the needles shaken 15 20 25 |