"I beg something of you, dear master," cried Little John.

"And what is that," said Robin Hood, "which Little John begs of me?" And Little John answered, "It is to burn fair Kirkley Hall, and all the nunnery.'

But Robin Hood, in spite of the wrong that had been done him, would not listen to Little John's cry for revenge. "I never hurt a woman in all my life," he said, "nor a man that was in her company. But now I am going to die, that know I well; so give me my bow and a broad arrow, and wheresoever it falls there shall my grave be digged. Lay a green sod under my head and another at my feet, and put beside me my bow, which ever made sweetest music to my ears, and see that green and gravel make my grave. And, Little John, take care that I have length enough and breadth enough to lie in." So he loosed his last arrow from the string and then died, and where the arrow fell Robin was buried.

I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true; I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right; stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong.-Abraham Lincoln.

THE JUMBLIES

EDWARD LEAR

They went to sea in a sieve, they did;
In a sieve they went to sea;

In spite of all their friends could say,
On a winter's morn, on a stormy day,
In a sieve they went to sea.

Far and few, far and few,

Are the lands where the Jumblies live:

Their heads are green, and their hands are blue And they went to sea in a sieve.

They sailed away in a sieve, they did,
In a sieve they sailed so fast,
With only a beautiful pea-green veil
Tied with a ribbon, by way of a sail,
To a small tobacco-pipe mast.
And everyone said who saw them go,

"Oh! won't they be soon upset, you know?
For the sky is dark, and the voyage is long;
And, happen what may, it's extremely wrong
In a sieve to sail so fast."

They sailed to the Western Sea, they did,—
To a land all covered with trees;

And they bought an owl, and a useful cart,

And a pound of rice, and a cranberry-tart,

And a hive of silvery bees;

And they bought a pig, and some green jackdaws,
And a lovely monkey with lollipop paws,
And forty bottles of ring-bo-ree,

And no end of Stilton cheese.

And in twenty years they all came back,—

In twenty years or more;

And everyone said, "How tall they've grown!
For they've been to the Lakes, and the Torrible
Zone,

And the hills of the Chankly Bore."

And they drank their health, and gave them a feast Of dumplings made of beautiful yeast;

And everyone said, "If we only live,

We, too, will go to sea in a sieve,

To the hills of the Chankly Bore."

Far and few, far and few,

Are the lands where the Jumblies live:

Their heads are green, and their hands are blue And they went to sea in a sieve.

Lost-somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes; no reward is offered for they are gone forever.

-Horace Mann.

THE ARGONAUTS

JOHN WAUGH

Now, when the building of the ship Argo was finished, the fifty heroes came to look upon her, and joy filled their hearts. "Surely," said they, "this is the greatest ship that ever sailed the sea."

So eager were they to make trial of the long oars that some, leaping on the shoulders of their comrades, climbed over the sides and drew the rest in after them. Orpheus, upon the mighty shoulders of Jason, the leader of the trip, seized hold of the arm of the blue-eyed goddess, the figure-head of the ship, and, as he climbed on board, her whisper reached his ear. "Orpheus, sing me something." This was the song:

How sweet upon the surge to ride,
And leap from wave to wave,
While oars flash fast above the tide
And lordly tempests rave.
How sweet it is across the main,
In wonder-land to roam,

To win rich treasure, endless fame,
And earn a welcome home.

Then the good ship Argo stirred in all her timbers, and longing for the restless sea came upon her and she rushed headlong into the sea till the lips of the goddess tasted the salt sea spray.

Many a day they sailed through laughing seas and ever they spoke together of the glory of the Golden Fleece which they hoped to bring home from far-off Colchis.

When they were come to the land of Colchis, King Metes sent for them to come to his palace. Beside him was seated his daughter, the beautiful witch maiden, Medea. She looked upon the Greeks and upon Jason, fairest and noblest of them all, and her spirit leaped forth to meet his. And knowing what lay before them she thought, "surely it were an evil thing that men so bold and handsome should perish."

When Jason demanded the Golden Fleece, the rage of the King rushed up like a whirlwind, but he only said, "Choose ye now him who is boldest among you and let him perform the labors I shall set."

That night Medea stole from the palace to warn the hero of the toils and dangers that awaited him— to tame a span of brazen-footed, fire-breathing bulls, with them to plough four acres of unbroken land in the fields of Ares, to sow the ground with serpents' teeth, to slay its crop of warriors, to cross a river, and climb a lofty wall, to snatch the Fleece from a tree round which lay coiled the sleepless dragon. "How can these things be done and that before the