high, made of blocks of snow laid compactly and smoothly together. On these were placed whale bones and seal skins, making two comfortable beds. In the centre of the room was a smaller platform for the cooking lamp, and over this was constructed a rude wooden scaffolding, on which to hang the cooking utensils.

The business was accomplished in three hours. The boys had worked like beavers, "just for the fun of the thing," and were not in the least tired.

"Now for our traps," they shouted, as they dashed out of the village. The traps were in a lonely plain between the icy mountain and the frozen sea, at some distance from the Mission House, and the boys felt that they must hurry if they wanted to get home by supper-time.

But they were not to see their traps that day. Newerk, who was in advance, stopped as he turned the corner of a jutting rock, so that Pierk nearly fell over him.

"Bears!" said Newerk, in a low, terrified voice as he pointed up the mountain-side.

The boys turned back and darted off at their swiftest run for the Mission House. They had not been in the house many minutes when the bears came into view.

"The bears have come!" shouted Pierk.

"We'll have to go out and fight them!" cried Newerk.

Mr. Lay smiled. He knew that two men, unskilled in bear warfare, and two boys, would not

prove very effective in an encounter with four polar bears; but he hoped that as the fierce creatures could not enter the house, their patience would soon be exhausted, and they would leave the place to seek food elsewhere.

"Not they!" said the boys, who knew much more about bears than Mr. Lay. "They must be savagely hungry to venture into a settlement in this way; and now they have come, they won't go away in a hurry. They have smelt the cooking in the smoke of the kitchen chimney, and they'll stay till they get their supper. There is but one thing to do-go out and fight them."

A great head was now thrust against the window bars. Here was one bear, but where were the others? It was hoped they had made a descent on the village, where there were men enough to give battle to them, for the Esquimaux are good hunters and brave ones. But this hope was soon dispelled. "They are on the roof," said Mr. Lay.

A silence followed this announcement.

No one knew exactly what to think of this position the besiegers had taken. The scratching of their huge claws upon the ice could be heard distinctly, and it was not a pleasant sound. The bear which had been looking through the window, now joined its companions on the roof. It seemed as if the house trembled under the heavy tread of the four huge beasts. Certainly the inmates did. Mrs. Lay and the Esquimaux woman who lived there did not attempt to conceal their fears. Mr.

Lay thought the bears could not break through, but he was by no means sure.

A sound of gnawing and tearing could now be heard, accompanied by low, savage growls. Could it be possible that they had broken through the layers of solid ice with which the roof was covered, and had reached the wood?

"Let's make a hole in the roof," said Newerk, "and put a gun through."

"I have it! I have it!" cried Pierk, jumping up and down in his excitement. "The fireworks! the fireworks! They scared me nearly out of my senses when I first saw them, and a bear, cunning as he is, has not got as much wit as I have. The fireworks! Make a hole in the roof, and pop right among them!"

The previous summer a ship had brought some fireworks, and Mr. Lay had let them off to the great delight of the natives; but, as there was a large number of Roman candles, Mr. Lay had saved some for a future occasion, and they were packed away in a chest in the lumber room.

It was at once evident to all the besieged that Pierk's idea was a good one; for if the Roman candles did not frighten the bears, they would arouse the men in the village, and bring them to the Mission House to raise the siege.

The women flew to the chest, and speedily unpacked the innocent-looking pasteboard tubes, and the boys stood at the foot of the ladder, ready to light them, long before Mr. Lay, at the top of the

ladder, had succeeded in making a hole through the roof; for he not only had to bore into the wood, but to break through a thick layer of ice. But at last it was done. A Roman candle was lighted, and passed up to Mr. Lay, who pushed it quickly through the hole.

Whizz! pop pop! pop! went the candle. The party below could hear, but not see. The party above could both see and hear; and before all the stars had flown out of one candle, the bears scrambled down from the roof and made off quickly, howling as they ran.

Great was the relief of the inmates of the Mission House. The two boys were so delighted at having outwitted the bears, that they sat down on the floor and laughed until the tears rolled down their fat cheeks.

The Esquimaux men soon came running in to learn what was the matter. They were all armed, and watched anxiously, hoping the bears would return; for a good supply of bear meat would have been very acceptable in the village. But the animals had been too effectually frightened, and came back no more.

Describe the construction of an ice house. What happened to the inmates of the Mission House? What bright idea flashed through the mind of one of the boys? Tell how it was carried out, and with what result.

1 Greenland, a country in the north of North America. Nearly the whole of it is in the north frigid zone. 2 Mission House. The Germans have been very active in sending missionaries to the most desolate regions of the earth. 3 pared, shaved off a thin slice; smoothed. dome, a round roof, like half a globe, scaffolding;

4

6

a frame or structure for temporary use. Esquimaux, natives of Arctic America and Greenland. 7 besieger, one of a party who besieges or surrounds a place for the purpose of compelling it to surrender. raise the siege, to cause the attempt at besieging a place to be relinquished (given up).

THE HOMES OF ENGLAND.

THE 'stately Homes of England!
How beautiful they stand,
Amidst their tall ancestral trees,

O'er all the pleasant land!

The deer across the greensward bound
Through shade and sunny gleam;
And the swan glides by them with the sound
Of some rejoicing stream.

The merry Homes of England!

Around their hearths, by night,

What gladsome looks of household love

Meet in the ruddy light!

There woman's voice flows forth in song,
Or childish tale is told,

Or lips move tunefully along
Some 'glorious page of old.

The blessed Homes of England!
How softly on their "bowers

Is laid the holy quietness

That breathes from Sabbath hours!
Solemn, yet sweet, the church-bell's chime
Floats through their woods at morn ;
All other sounds in that still time,

Of breeze and leaf are born.

The cottage Homes of England!

By thousands on her plains,

They are smiling o'er the 'silvery brooks,

And round the hamlet-fanes.