most lively interest in the "advance of empire," for wherever there is a road, there they congregate in unusual numbers. In the centre of the main street at Salina three of these little fellows had established themselves; they seemed to enjoy the bustle of that place, and were the great delight of the children, who used to feed them with nuts and crackers, and get them to sit upon their haunches and eat with their claws. To frighten or kill one would have brought down the just indignation of the whole neighbourhood. As our line of waggons moved along the road and approached a "dog town," the little fellows who were above ground, cropping the grass and playing about, would immediately rush each to his "look-out station" on the top of his mound, while lots of little heads would suddenly appear as those from below came up to see the fun, and join in the chorus of sharp barks with which they were wont to greet intruders. They would shake their sides with barking, and at every bark the tails would wag until, worked up to a climax of fear and delight, they would rush into the earth with a volley of half-uttered barks, and a last defiant wag of the little tail. No sooner had we passed than they would appear again, and keep up a chorus of adieus until we were out of hearing. Their flesh is good to eat, being very much like squirrel or chicken; but they are too sharp to be caught away from the top of their mounds, and if shot in this position they always fall into their holes, and die out of reach. The only way to get them is to drown them out by pouring water into their holes, but if the subter

ranean connections are extensive, or the soil very porous, this cannot be accomplished.

QUESTIONS. Of what class of animals is the prairie dog? What is it like? Do they live apart, cr how? On what do children feed them? When the waggons passed, what did the prairie dogs do? How only can they be got out of their holes? In what part of the world are the Prairies?

THE WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING.

A WOLF once thought he would put on the skin which he had stripped from a poor sheep, and pass himself off for a sheep, that he might the more easily get among the flocks for his own ends. The silly sheep were quite cheated by this trick, and many of them were killed and eaten; but at last the shepherds spied the trick, and having caught the wolf, at once put a rope round his neck and hanged

him on the next tree. "What are you doing?" said one of the sheep; "hanging a sheep!" "Silly thing," replied the shepherd, "we never hang a sheep, but we will always hang a wolf though he has put on a sheep's skin, for he deserves it all the more for his hypocrisy."

QUESTIONS.-What did the wolf do, and for what end? What did the sheep think? What did they do with him? What reason did they give for hanging him? What is hypocrisy ? DICTATION.-Use the fable as it stands.

THE SOWER'S SONG.-Carlyle (b. 1795).

Now hands to seed-sheet, boys,

We step and we cast; old Time's on wing;
And would ye partake of Harvest's joys,
The corn must be sown in Spring.

Fall gently and still, good corn,
Lie warm in thy earthy bed;
And stand so yellow some morn,

For beast and man must be fed,

Old Earth is a pleasure to see

In sunshiny cloak of red and green;
The furrow lies fresh; this Year will be
As Years that are past have been.
Fall gently and still, &c.

Old Mother, receive this corn,

The son of Six Thousand golden sires;
All these on thy kindly breast were born,
One more thy poor child requires.
Fall gently and still, &c.

Now steady and sure again,

And measure of stroke and step we keep;
Thus up and thus down we cast our grain :
Sow well, and you gladly reap.

Fall gently and still, good corn,
Lie warm in thy earthy bed;
And stand so yellow some morn,

For beast and man must be fed.

QUESTIONS.-What is needed if we would have corn in harvest?

Who are the "six thousand golden sires"?

of stroke and step" needed for?

DICTATION.-Use the first double verse.

What is the "measure

As an exercise in composition, try to express the same thoughts in prose, with as many changes of words as possible.

THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.-Charles Dickens. (A.D. 1066.)

am-bas-sa-dors con-se-cra-ted reg-ul-ar-ly

Nor-we-gi-an

in-tel-li-gence

vic-tor-i-ous

North-um-ber-land hon-our-a-ble

re-con-cil-i-a-tion rep-re-sent-ing car-ous-ing

spec-ta-cle

HAROLD was crowned King of England on the very day of Edward the Confessor's funeral. When the news reached Norman William, hunting in his park

at Rouen, he dropped his bow, returned to his palace, called his nobles to council, and presently sent ambassadors to Harold, calling on him to keep his oath, and resign the crown. Harold would do no such thing. The barons of France leagued together round Duke William for the invasion of England. of England. Duke William promised freely to distribute English wealth and English lands among them. The Pope sent to Normandy a consecrated banner, and a ring containing a hair which he warranted to have grown on the head of St. Peter! He blessed the enterprise, and cursed Harold, and requested that the Normans would pay "Peter's pence "—or a tax to himself of a penny a year on every house-a little more regularly in future, if they could make it convenient.

King Harold had a rebel brother in Flanders, who was a vassal of Harold Hardrada, King of Norway. This brother and the Norwegian king, joining their forces against England, with Duke William's help won a fight, in which the English were commanded by two nobles, and then besieged York. Harold, who was waiting for the Normans on the coast of Hastings, with his army, marched to Stamford Bridge, upon the river Derwent, to give his brother and the Norwegians instant battle.

He found them drawn up in a hollow circle, marked out by their shining spears. Riding round this circle at a distance, to survey it, he saw a brave figure on horseback, in a blue mantle and a bright helmet, whose horse suddenly stumbled and threw him.