GHAPTEE VII. 



WALKING AND SHOEING. 



PRECEPTOB. Good morning, scholar. Providence has 

 again blessed us with another fine morning, so fine that 

 my heart responds with gratitude to the Great Father for 

 the many beautiful mornings he has permitted us to enjoy. 

 This " sweet habit of existence " is doubly sweet when the 

 merry month of May proves so lovely. I have thought the 

 English poets have given it too much prominence over the 

 month of June. There is probably a difference in their 

 climate that gives it the precedence, or they would not 

 have been so unanimous in their expressions of fondness. 

 One of the grandest of that grand body thus apostro- 

 phises it : 



" For thee, sweet month, the groves green liveries wear, 

 If not the first, the fairest of the year ; 

 For thee the graces lead the dancing hours, 

 And Nature's ready pencil paints the flowers." 



PUPIL. I shall certainly coincide with you in preferring 

 June to May, in our northern latitudes ; but the air is as 

 balmy and fragrant tliis morning as could be wished, and 

 the budding flowers and springing leaves are greatly to 

 be admired. The remembrance of the stinging blasts of 

 winter is yet fresh in our memory, and the contrast height- 

 ens the enjoyment. In England, the spring opening earlier 

 than here, May has usurped all of the praises due its 

 flowery reign. Ancient customs have marked this month 

 as proper for the return of gaiety, partially suspended 

 during the dreary period of winter. The Christmas fes- 



