55. What does the speech of the Spanish King show of his character? 56. Why does the poet say that we steered the ship "heavily"? 57. Does "no welcome greeted our return" mean that none of the Scotch met the returning soldiers? 58. What were "Douglas Kirk" and "fair Melrose"? (The church of the Douglas clan and the stately abbey of Melrose. The latter may still be seen in beautiful ruins in southern Scotland.) _Annie Laurie_ (Volume VI, page 119) The Scotch dialect in this old favorite is one of its charms, but some readers may require explanation of a few of the terms. "Braes" are hillsides or slopes. "Bonnie" is the Scotch way of spelling "bonny," which, here, means "beautiful." "Fa's" is the Scotch spelling of "falls." "Gie'd" is Scotch for "gave." The last line of the first stanza rendered into English would read, "I'd lay me down and die." "Snaw" is "snow." "Ee" is "eye." The "gowan" is the mountain daisy of Scotland. "Fa'" is "fall." Like many another simple lyric of love and devotion this owes much of its popularity to the sweet melody of the music to which it is usually sung. _The Lost Child_ (Volume VII, page 409) 1. Where did the poet wander? Is the picture on page 409 a beautiful one? Is it your idea of a sunny glade? On what or on whom was the poet musing? Where his thoughts pleasant? To what does he liken his thoughts? What are guideless thoughts? Do you think his "love" is a person, or is it his work, his calling? 2. What chanced to go astray? Did Lowell sometimes fear for the future? How does he express the fear? Who brought back the wandering thoughts? Where did the thoughts rest? Who had the "snowy arms"? If Lowell feared the future at any time, what was it that brought calm to him again? 3. What is the "soft nest"? Who is the "happy one"? Whose hair "shone golden in the sun"? How could a thought of fear seem like a "heavenly child"? Was it Hope that thus transformed all his thoughts? 4. Upon what did Hope's eyes smile mildly down? What was blessed with so deep a love? What clasped the neck of Hope? What was it that fell asleep? What was the lost child? _David Crockett in the Creek War_ (Volume VIII, Page 37) Almost any child who is able to read for himself will know as soon as he has read a few sentences from David Crockett's Autobiography that the man was uneducated, and wrote in what could not be called "good English." However, when the reader has gone a little farther he will realize that Crockett shows his own character in his writings, and that his language is picturesque and entertaining. Moreover, it is language that was characteristic of the early settlers in the region where the frontiersman lived, and hence is of some historical interest to us.