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Primary Readers 253
At length, when years had passed away, Some English came to Virginia ; 'Twas sixteen hundred seven ; be sure You let this in your mind endure; For 'twas the first bold colony Planted in North America; The first that laid the deep foundation, On which has since been built a nation. Well, here they raised a far-famed Town On James' river, called Jamestown. They struggled hard 'gainst many sorrows, Sickness and want, and Indian arrows ; But bold and strong at length they grew, And were a brave and manly crew.
'Twas eight years after this, — I mean The year sixteen hundred fifteen, — Some Dutch, from Holland, settled pat on An Island which they called Manhattan, And straight they sat themselves to work, And built the city of New-York. Now let the laughing wags and jokers Say that the Dutch are stupid smokers; We only tell, that, dull or witty, They founded famous New-York city; The largest city in the west, For trade and commerce quite the best.
A curious lesson found in The Union Primer, 1832, was this : —
A boy who was idle and wicked, saw an old man with poor clothes on — he went up to him as he was in the grave-yard, and said, " Father, you are in a very miserable condition if there is not another world." " True, son," |
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