covered, and the father and son summoned to take their trial at Pekin, then an inconsiderable assize town. Evidence was given, the obnoxious food itself produced in court, and verdict about to be pronounced, when the foreman of the jury begged that some of the burned pig, of which the culprit stood accused, might be handed into the box. He handled it, and they all handled it; and burning their fingers as Bo-bo and his father had done before them, and nature prompting to each of them the same remedy, against the face of all the facts, and the clearest charge which judge had ever given,-to the surprise of the whole court, townsfolk, strangers, reporters, and all present, without leaving the box, or any manner of consultation whatever, they brought in a simultaneous verdict of Not Guilty.

The judge, who was a shrewd fellow, winked at the manifest iniquity of the decision; and when the court was dismissed, went privily, and bought up all the pigs that could be had for love or money. In a few days his lordship's town house was observed to be on fire. The thing took wing, and now there was nothing to be seen but fires in every direction. Fuel and pigs grew enormously dear all over the district. The insurance offices one and all shut up shop. People built slighter and slighter every day, until it was feared that the very science of architecture would in no long time be lost to the world.

Thus this custom of firing houses continued, till in process of time, says my manuscript, a sage arose, who made a discovery, that the flesh of swine, or indeed of any other animal, might be cooked (burned, as they called it) without the necessity of consuming a whole house to dress it. Then first began the rude form of gridiron. Roasting by string or spit came in a century or two later, I forget in whose dynasty. By such slow degrees, concludes the manuscript, do the most useful and seemingly the most obvious arts make their way among mankind.

Without placing too implicit faith in the account above given, it must be agreed, that if a worthy pretext for so dangerous an experiment as setting houses on fire (especially in these days) could be assigned in favor of any culinary object, that pretext and excuse might be found in Roast Pig.

-Charles Lamb

Words: mast-nuts; antediluvian-very old, before the Flood; premonitory-giving warning; nether-lower; retributory-punishing; enjoined-instructed; assize-court; privily-quietly, secretly; dynasty-reign; culinary-relating to cookery.

Pleasure Reading:

Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare
Lamb's Adventures of Ulysses

ICARUS*

(Humor is hard to define, but it is none the less real and necessary. We have enjoyed the genial humor of Washington Irving and Charles Lamb, and the kindly wit of Oliver Wendell Holmes. Another American author to whom we are indebted for teaching us to smile is John G. Saxe. His poems are full of humor and very often they drive home an important lesson-as in the selection which follows.)

TH

HERE lived and flourished long ago, in famous Athens town,

One Dædalus,* a carpenter of genius and renown;

('Twas he who with an auger taught mechanics how to bore,An art which the philosophers monopolized° before).

His only son was Icarus, a most precocious lad,
The pride of Mrs. Dædalus, the image of his dad;

And while he yet was in his teens such progress he had made,
He'd got above his father's size, and much above his trade.

Now Dedalus, the carpenter, had made a pair of wings, Contrived of wood and feathers and a cunning set of springs,

By means of which the wearer could ascend to any height,
And sail about among the clouds as easy as a kite!

"O father," said young Icarus, "how I should like to fly!
And go like you where all is blue along the upper sky;
How very charming it would be above the moon to climb,
And scamper through the Zodiac, and have a high old time!

"Oh, wouldn't it be jolly, though,-to stop at all the inns ;
To take a luncheon at 'The Crab,' and tipple° at 'The Twins';
And, just for fun and fancy, while careering through the air,
To kiss the Virgin, tease the Ram, and bait° the biggest Bear?

"O father, please to let me go!" was still the urchin's cry: "I'll be extremely careful, sir, and won't go very high; Oh, if this little pleasure trip you only will allow,

I promise to be back again in time to fetch the cow!"

"You're rather young," said Dædalus, "to tempt the upper air;

But take the wings and mind your eye with very special care; And keep at least a thousand miles below the nearest star. Young lads, when out upon a lark, are apt to go too far!"'

He took the wings-that foolish boy-without the least dismay;
His father stuck 'em on with wax, and so he soared away;
Up, up he rises like a bird, and not a moment stops
Until he's fairly out of sight beyond the mountain tops!

And still he flies-away-away; it seems the merest fun;
No marvel he is getting bold, and aiming at the sun;
No marvel he forgets his sire; it isn't very odd

That one so far above the earth should think himself a god!

Already, in his silly pride, he's gone too far aloft;

The heat begins to scorch his wings; the wax is waxing soft; Down-down he goes!-Alas-next day poor Icarus was found Afloat upon the Egean Sea, extremely damp and drowned!

L'ENVOI°

The moral of this mournful tale is plain enough to all:
Don't get above your proper sphere, or you may chance to fall;
Remember, too, that borrowed plumes are most uncertain
things;

And never try to scale the sky with other people's wings!

-John G. Saxe

Words: monopolized controlled completely; precocious - very bright, talented; tipple-drink, liquor; bait-worry, torment; L'envoi -conclusion, farewell.

Questions: Do you know what a pun is? There is a good pun in the first stanza. Point it out. Find another in the fourth stanza; in the tenth stanza. To understand the reference to the Zodiac in the fourth and fifth stanzas, turn to the Study Plan of Evangeline (page 276) and also to a large dictionary.

T

THE GLORY OF GOD

HE heavens declare the glory of God;

And the firmament sheweth his handiwork.

Day unto day uttereth speech,

And night unto night sheweth knowledge.

There is no speech nor language,

Where their voice is not heard.

Their line is gone out through all the earth,
And their words to the end of the world.

In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,
Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
And rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.

His going forth is from the end of the heaven,
And his circuit unto the ends of it:

And there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.

The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul:
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple,
The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart:

The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes, The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever:

The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: Sweeter also than honey and the honey-comb.

Moreover by them is thy servant warned:

And in keeping of them there is great reward.