PAUL REVERE

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of minute-men ready to meet them. In loud tones Major Pitcairn called on the "rebels" to disperse; but silent and motionless stood the nation's advanced guard, less in numbers than their foe, but strong in the strength born of the justice of a right cause.

The British commander ordered his men to fire, and the patriots, knowing they could not cope successfully with a force so much greater than their own, retreated toward Concord. There they met more of their comrades and all decided to await the enemy at Concord Bridge, where later in the day they gave the British a warm reception. This was the bridge and the battle about which Emerson wrote when he said,

"By the rude bridge that arched the flood,

Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,

Here once the embattled farmers stood

And fired the shot heard round the world."

They did fire "the shot heard round the world," for here the Revolutionary War began. The farmers fought bravely and well and followed the British along the road toward Boston, firing at them from behind trees, rocks, hills, and walls.

The patriots were encouraged by this success to defend their rights, and the British learned that these untrained soldiers (backwoodsmen as they called them) knew many things not found in books and could shoot with the skill of any of the soldiers in old England.

KING SOLOMON AND THE BEES

JOHN G. SAXE

JOHN GODFREY SAXE, an American poet, journalist, lawyer, and lecturer, was born at Highgate, Vermont, June 2, 1816; died at Albany, New York, March 31, 1887. He is best known from his humorous poems, which include "Rhyme of the Rail,' "The Proud Miss McBride," Humorous and Satirical Poems," "Leisure-Day Rhymes," and other poems. In 1859 and in 1860 he was the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for governor of the State of Vermont.

When Solomon was reigning in his glory,

Unto his throne the Queen of Sheba came
(So in the Talmud you may read the story),
Drawn by the magic of the monarch's fame,
To see the splendors of his court, and bring

Some fitting tribute to the mighty king.

Nor this alone; much had her Highness heard
What flowers of learning graced the royal speech;
What gems of wisdom dropped with every word;
What wholesome lessons he was wont to teach
In pleasing proverbs; and she wished, in sooth,
To know if Rumor spoke the simple truth.

KING SOLOMON AND THE BEES

Besides, the queen had heard (which piqued her most)
How all the deepest riddles he could spy;
How all the curious arts that women boast
Were quite transparent to his piercing eye.
And so the queen had come-a royal guest-
To put the sage's cunning to the test.

And straight she held before the monarch's view,
In either hand, a radiant wreath of flowers;
The one, bedecked with every charming hue,

Was newly culled from Nature's choicest bowers;
The other, no less fair in every part,

Was the rare product of divinest Art.

"Which is the true, and which the false?" she said.
Great Solomon was silent. All amazed,

Each wondering courtier shook his puzzled head,
While at the garlands long the monarch gazed,
As one who sees a miracle, and fain,

For very rapture, ne'er would speak again.

"Which is the true?" once more the woman asked,
Pleased at the fond amazement of the king;
“So wise a head should not be hardly tasked,
Most learned Liege, with such a trivial thing!"
But still the sage was silent; it was plain

A deepening doubt perplexed the royal brain.

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While thus he pondered, presently he sees,
Hard by the casement,-so the story goes,~
A little band of busy, bustling bees,

Hunting for honey in a withered rose.
The monarch smiled, and raised his royal head;
"Open the window!"-that was all he said.

The window opened at the king's command;
Within the room the eager insects flew,
And sought the flowers in Sheba's dexter hand!
And so the king and all the courtiers knew
That wreath was Nature's; and the baffled queen
Returned to tell the wonders she had seen.

My story teaches (every tale should bear
A fitting moral) that the wise may find
In trifles light as atoms in the air

Some useful lesson to enrich the mind,
Some truth designed to profit or to please,—

As Israel's king learned wisdom from the bees!

Two things indicate a weak mind-to be silent when it is proper to speak, and to speak when it is proper to be silent. -Persian Proverb.

THE THREE CAKES

A certain carpenter, in a city near the sea, very covetous and very wicked, collected a large sum of money, and placed it in the trunk of a tree, which he set by his fireside, and of which he never lost sight.

"A place like this," he thought, "no one would suspect;" but it happened that while all his household slept, the sea overflowed its boundaries, broke down that side of the building where the log was placed, and carried it away. It floated many miles, and reached, at length, a city in which there lived a person who kept open house. Arising early in the morning, he perceived the trunk of a tree in the water, and thinking it would be of use to him, he brought it home. He was a liberal, kind hearted man and a great benefactor to the poor. It chanced one day that he entertained some Pilgrims in his house, and the weather being extremely cold, he cut up the log for firewood. When he had struck two or three blows with the ax, he heard a rattling sound; and cleaving it in twain, the gold pieces rolled out on the floor. Greatly rejoiced at the discovery, he put them by in a safe place, until he should ascertain who was the owner.

Now, the carpenter, bitterly lamenting the loss of his money, traveled from place to place in pursuit of it. He came by accident to the house of the hospitable man who had found the trunk. He failed not to mention the object