"He will not come," said the gentle child;
And she patted the poor dog's head,

And she pleasantly called him, and fondly smiled:
But he heeded her not in his anguish wild,

Nor arose from his lowly bed.

'Twas his master's grave where he chose to rest—

He guarded it night and day ;

The love that glowed in his grateful breast,

For the friend who had fed, controlled, caressed,
Might never fade away.

And when the long grass rustled near,

Beneath some hastening tread,

He started up with quivering ear,

For he thought 'twas the step of his master dear,
Returning from the dead.

But sometimes, when a storm drew nigh,
And the clouds were dark and fleet,

He tore the turf with a mournful cry,
As if he would force his way, or die,
To his much-loved master's feet.

So there, through the summer's heat, he lay,
Till autumn nights grew bleak,

Till his eye grew dim with his hope's decay,
And he pined, and pined, and wasted away,
A skeleton gaunt and weak.

And oft the pitying children brought

Their offerings of meat and bread,

And to coax him away to their homes they sought;
But his buried master he ne'er forgot,

Nor strayed from his lonely bed.

Cold winter came, with an angry sway,
And the snow lay deep and sore;
Then his moaning grew fainter day by day,
Till, close where the broken tombstone lay,
He fell, to rise no more.

And when he struggled with mortal pain,
And Death was by his side,

With one loud cry, that shook the plain,
He called for his master-but called in vain;
Then stretched himself, and died.

MRS. SIGOURNEY.

Anguish, deep distress; e. g., the poor widow was in great anguish. Gaunt, thin, spare; e. g., his gaunt form showed that he had not had

enough of food.

Control, rule, direct; e. g., I could not control his conduct.

Caress, fondle; e. g., a mother was caressing her baby.
Mortal, deadly; e. g., he received a mortal wound.
Quiver, tremble; e. g., the leaves quivered in the breeze.
Fleet, swift; e. g., he was as fleet as a greyhound.

Or all the ugly-looking animals in the Zoological Gardens of London the hippopotamus is certainly one of the ugliest. Its name means the river-horse, and was given it because it is generally found either in rivers or their neighbourhood, but the hippopotamus is nothing like a horse, either in its form or its habits.

Though it rarely exceeds five feet in height, it is of vast bulk, and, when full grown, will weigh, it is said, as much as four or five oxen. The head is of enormous size, and provided with a mouth of alarming width. The skin, which is of a dark colour and thinly covered with short white hairs, is, in places, nearly two inches thick. The feet are large and divided into four parts, each of which is protected by a hoof.

The hippopotamus lives entirely upon vegetable food, of which it eats vast quantities, as much as six bushels of grass having been found in its stomach. But it is not so much the amount of food which it consumes, as what it destroys, that makes the African dread its visits to the standing crops. Its body is so huge and its legs are so short that it tramples down far more than it eats. It is provided with a tremendous array of teeth, some of which

weigh from five to eight pounds. With these it cuts down the grass and shrubs on which it lives. as if they were mown with a scythe.

The hippopotamus, in spite of its awkward form, is an excellent swimmer and diver, and can remain

under water for as much as ten minutes. During the first few months of its life the young hippopotamus is carried upon its mother's neck. When born it is not much larger than a terrier dog.

The hippopotamus is caught in various ways. Sometimes a number of pitfalls, having sharp stakes at the bottom, are dug across the path which

it pursues. In the darkness of the night it falls. into one of these, and is impaled on the stakes. This is a very cruel mode of capture, and it is to be hoped that the natives who employ it soon put the poor animal out of its misery. It is not easy to shoot it fatally, for, once it is alarmed, it does not readily show itself. It just pushes up its nostrils above the water to take in air, often selecting for this purpose some spot where the reeds conceal its movements, and then sinks again. Sometimes the hippopotamus is harpooned like a whale. As soon as it is struck with the harpoon the hunters fasten the line round a neighbouring tree, and so hold their prey tight until it is despatched. Or, if there is no time for them to get to land, they throw the line, with a buoy attached to it, into the water. The hippopotamus is then pursued in canoes, and every time it rises to the surface it is pierced with javelins, until, at length, it dies from loss of blood. This is dangerous sport, for it sometimes turns upon the hunters and crushes in or capsizes their canoes. Once a hippopotamus, whose calf had been speared on the previous day, attacked a boat in which was Dr. Livingstone. She struck it with such violence, that the forepart was lifted clean out of the water, one of the negro boatmen was thrown into the river, and the whole crew were forced to jump ashore.

Between the skin and the flesh is a layer of fat, which is considered a great delicacy. The flesh also is very good eating. The hide is made into

C