No; I am only your keeper, your jailer, and your

humble servant."

Saintine's Picciola.

Beguile, make to pass pleasingly; e. g., he beguiled an hour by looking at the pictures.

Solitude, loneliness; e. g., I found him in solitude.

Occupation, employment; e.g., his only occupation was reading.

Responsible, answerable for; e. g., who is responsible for the safety of the boys?

Conscientious, possessing a high sense of duty; e. g., he acted conscientiously.

Delicacy, tenderness, consideration; e. g., the delicacy with which he did a kindness gave it a double charm.

COME, messmates, 'tis time to hoist our sail;

It is fair as fair can be;

And the ebbing tide and the northerly gale

Will carry us out to sea.

So down with the boat from the beach so steep;
We must part with the setting sun;

For ere we can spread out our nets in the deep,
We've a weary way to run.

As through the night-watches we drift about,
We'll think of the times that are fled,

And of Him who once call'd other fishermen out
To be fishers of men instead.

Like us they had hunger and cold to bear;
Rough weather, like us, they knew;
And He who guarded them by His care
Full often was with them too!

'Twas the fourth long watch of a stormy night,

And but little way they had made,

When He came o'er the waters and stood in their sight, And their hearts were sore afraid;

But He cheered their spirits, and said, It is I,

And then they could fear no harm;

And though we cannot behold Him nigh,
He is guarding us still with His arm.

They had toiled all the night, and had taken nought.

He commanded the stormy sea;

They let down their nets, and of fishes caught

A hundred and fifty-three.

And good success to our boat He will send,
If we trust in His mercy aright;

For He pitieth those who at home depend
On what we shall take to-night.

And if ever in danger and fear we are toss'd

About on the stormy deep,

We'll tell how they once thought that all was lost,
When their Lord "was fast asleep: "

He saved them then-He can save us still

For His are the winds and the sea; And if He is with us, we'll fear no ill, Whatever the danger be.

Or if He see fit that our boat should sink,
By a storm or a leak, like lead,

Yet still of the glorious day we'll think,
When the sea shall yield her dead;

For they who depart in His faith and fear,
Shall find that their passage is short;

From the troublesome waves that beset life here,
To the everlasting port.

NEALE.

Messmates, fellow-fishermen, who eat at the same mess.
Hoist, raise; e. g., to hoist a flag or a sail.

Ebbing, falling; e. g., the tide is ebbing; life was fast ebbing away.
Beset, surrounded; e. g., I was beset by robbers.

Drift, to be carried along by wind or tide; e. g., we drifted before

the wind.

Watch, a division of the night, during which a sailor takes his turn in keeping watch. The Jews divided the night into four watches of three hours each.

Yield, give up; e. g., the man would not yield the property which he had taken.

Passage, a sea voyage, generally a short one, e. g., the passage from Dover to Calais takes about two hours.

WHEN you go to the Zoological Gardens be sure you go to see the pit where the brown bears are kept. It is quite safe to approach the top of the pit and look over the railings. In the middle there is a pole, on each side of which are nailed pieces of wood, to enable the bears to climb up it.

The first time I went to see the bears I put a piece of biscuit on the end of a long stick, and held

it out to a bear who had climbed up the pole, but he could not see it. I think he must have been partly blind. One of the bears at the bottom of the pit could see it very well, and he began to climb up the pole to get it. But each time that he tried

to do so, the bear that was already on the pole began to climb down backwards, and so prevented him from climbing up any farther.

In some very cold countries the bear supplies the natives with many of the comforts of life. The skin forms a coverlet for their beds, coverings for their

heads and hands, and leggings, which, when drawn over their shoes, keep them from slipping on the ice. The fat and the flesh are their daintiest food. The intestines are used instead of glass in the windows of their huts.

In Lapland, when a bear is found, the peasants form a wide ring round the spot where it is known to be, and gradually close in upon it. On one of these occasions an old soldier stationed himself in a narrow way where he thought the bear would be likely to pass. Before long he saw the bear right in front of him. He levelled his gun and drew the trigger, but, owing to the dampness of the morning, the gun missed fire.

What was he to do? The bear advanced upon him. He had no time to see to his gun. He had no other weapon. He made up his mind that he would try to thrust the muzzle of his gun down the bear's throat. But this was more easily planned than done. The bear soon wrested the gun out of his hands and laid him on his back. It then smelled him as he lay motionless, pretending to be dead, and left him almost unhurt. It next went to the gun, which was only a few feet away, and began to smell that.

The soldier, fearing lest his gun should be injured, stretched out one hand to lay hold of it and draw it to him. At the same time the bear seized the other end. The bear then resumed his attack on the soldier, and dreadfully wounded him. Once more the soldier pretended to be dead, and the bear lay down beside him.