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den, which floated far jlSLAUe'S WOOINtt. fit ?f A? • A Rone Folk Tale bjr ' BJornson. WHEIJ Aslaug became a fall-frown ; girt, peace was gone on Hiisafcyfarm. The finest boys of the parish wrangled and fought there, night after night. It was worse on Saturday nights, but then old Jnnt Husaby went to bed with his leather breeches on and a birch club at his elbow. "Have I got a girl?" he said, " I shall know how to take care of her." Tore Neset was only a squatter's son. There .were people, though, who said that he came oftener to see the farmer's daughter on Husaby than anybody else. Old Junt did not like this talk and said it was not true, for he had never seen him there. But people smiled at one apother and hinted that if he looked better into that corner where Aslaug sat, instead of squabbling with those who strutted on the open floor he would have found Tore. Spring came, and when the cattle were driven up on the hills for grazing Aslaug followed to take care of them. Hot lay the day over the valley, but the cliff rose cool above the sun-smoke, and when from its top the cow-bells tingled and the watch dog Marked and Aslaug sang and played on the ljur, how did the hoys feel toiling in the meadows below! The first Saturday night they all took to the cliff, one faster than the other. But still more fast they came back, one after the other, just where the path turned the hammer. Some one stood and took hold of them, one by one as they came, and wheeled them downward, making his words well re­ membered: "If you choose to come again, you shall be still better served." As far as people could understand, there was in the whole parish only one who had the proper hand for such a piece of work, and that one was Tore Neset. But all the rich farmers' sons thought it rather mean, that he, the squatter's son, should take his stand next to her. Aslaug Husaby. The same thought also old Junt, when he heard it, and he thought fur­ ther that if no one else could ma§ter that chap, he would try, and those sons of his. Junt had begun to grow old, but although he had passed the three­ score, he still liked to try a wrestling- Match with his oldest son when some­ times the company seemed to him to become sleepy. Up to the Husaby grazing-grounds there led only one pathway, and it started just in front of Husaby farm. Next Saturday evening when Tore in­ tended to take this way and already felt a little more quick-footed be­ cause he had cleared the stables, one rushed upon him and grasped him by the throat. " What do you want?" spid Tore, and threw the other to the ground so it rang through his body. ** That I shall tell you," said another, and gave him a blow from behind; it was the brother. "And here is a third,'" said old Junt, and clasped him around the waist. Tore grtfw stronger with the danger; wfere he hit it was felt. And he was limber like a willow-wand; he bowed yM bent; where blows fell, he was not; wfiere Wows* were not expected, he hit. But at last he tumbled, overmatched, and a sound thrashing he got, though afterward old Junt often said that he had never had a finer lad to deal with. The three kept on till the blood came, then Husaby said stop, and added shrewdly: "Now, if next Saturday night you can cheat the old Husaby bear and these cubs of his, you may have the lass." - ' Tore dragged himself along as best be could; when he reached home he lay down. Much was spoken in the parish -pi that fight on Husaby farm, but every­ one said: "What would he there?" there was one, though, who did not say so, and that was Aslaug. She had ^waited for him that Saturday night, and when she heard of the meeting be­ tween him and her father she sat down and cried, and said to herself: "If I cannot get Tore I shall not see anoth­ er glad day in this world." Tore was laid up for the whole Sun- 4py, wad on Monday he felt that he must keep the bed. Tuesday came, and what a fine day it was! It had rained during the night, and the cliff -svas green afresh. The window was open and the smell of the foliage drift­ ed in. Upon the cliff the cow-bells "tinkled and somebody was singing. Jiad it not been for his mother who sat in the room, he would have cried. On Wednesday he was still in bed, but on Thursday he wondered whether lie could not be all right till Saturday, «nd on Friday he was up. He remem­ bered now the words which Junt had said; " If next Saturday night you can cheat the old Husaby bear and these -cubs of his, you may have the lass." He looked away to Husaby farm, time after time. "I don't think there will toe any more beating," he said. . There led, as above mentioned, only one pathway up to the Husaby grazing .grounds, but one who dared, might get tip there, though he did not go the beat­ en way. By rowing round a small land-ship and mooring at the foot of the cliff, one might get up, though the wall was so steep that it had seldom . been trodden by the goat, who else is hot very particular aBout her way. i Saturday came and Tore was out­ doors the whole day. Never was such a day! The sun played, so the woods daubed, and every now and then some one sang and called upon the cliff. He satin front of the door when dusk came and dewy mist crept upward along the hills. He looked toward the cliff; all was quiet there. He looked toward Husaby farm, and then he jumped into the boat and rowed around the slip. Upon the cliff, before the hut, sat Aslaug, her day's work done. She 'bought that since Tore could not come, ^11 the more would other people come, atod she let loose the dog and strolled -away. She sat where she could look •dpwn into the valley, but there stood the mist, and somehow she did not like •either to look down there just now. Then •she moved away, and without anymore thought she came and sat on the oppo- ' site side of the cliff, where she could ' look down over the Fjord. There came peace to her from the long view of the water. ' ^While she was sitting there she thought she should like to sing, and she a semg with long notes and a bur- liked to hear herself sing, and when she came to the end of the first verse, she began the second with louder voice. But when she had sung that verse it seemed to her as if somebody was an­ swering from far below. "Dear me, what can that beP" she/ thought, stepped out on the outermost ledge, ana threw her arms around a tall birch tree which stood there and trembled over the abyss. She looked downward, but she saw nothing. The Fjord lay- quietly asleep; not a bird was stirring. She sat down again and took up her song. Bnt this time somebody an­ swered with the same tune and much nearer. Aslaug sprang up and leaned once more over the ledge. Then she saw a boat moored at the foot of the cliff, but so far below that it looked like a nut-shell. She drew the eyes up­ ward and caught sight of a red cap climbing the naked wall. "Who can that ber' she asked, and made a long leap backward. She dared not answer for she knew full well who it was. She threwhersclf down on the green sward and took hold of the grass with both her hands, as if it were she who must not miss the grasp. The roots loosened; she shrieked, thrust her hands deeper into the sod, and prayed to God Al­ mighty to help him. Then she felt that tnis was truly to try God, and could not be expected to be granted. "But only this one time," she burst out, " help him, oh! only this one time!" She clasped the dog as if it were Tore she would hold fast, rolled with it over the green sward, and thought that these minutes would never come to an end. But suddenly the dog sprang up, started toward the ledge, wagged his tail and barked; turned back to Aslaug, jumped with his forepaws into her lap and barked; twisted round again and barked with frantic restlessness, while a red cap arose above the ledge, and Tore leaped to her bosom. There he lay for a whole minute. Neither of them spoke, and when they began to talk there was not much wit in what they said. But old Junt, when he heard about it, said a word which was not unwitty. He threw his fist down on the table, and thundered through the room, "There is might in that boy, and the girl shall be his."--Translated for the N. Y. Times. A Great Enterprise. EVER since men began to dig for di­ ver and gold in Colorado, one of the many hard things they have had to do has been the journeying into the rich silver-regions of the San Juan country. The great Sangre di Cristo Range, with its uncounted peaks, all from 12,000 to ,15,000 feet high, is a barrier which only seekers after gold or after liberty would have courage to cross. One of the most picturesque sights which the traveler in Southern Colora­ do, during the past two or three years, has seen,nas been the groups of white- topped wagons creeping westward toward the passes of this range; some­ times thirty or forty together, each wagon drawn by ten, fifteen or even twenty mules; the slow-moving proces­ sions look like caravan-lines in a des­ ert; two, three, four weeks on the road, carrying in people by households; car­ rying in food and bringing out silver by the ton; back and form, back and forth, patient men and patient beasts have been toiling every summer from June to October. This sort of thing does not go on for many years before a railroad comes to the rescue. Engineering triumphs where brute force merely evades; the steam- engine has stronger lungs than mules or men, and the journey which was counted by weeks is made in hours. Such a feat as this, the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad (narrow-gauge) is now performing in Colorado. A little more than a year ago, I saw the plow­ share cut the first furrow for its track through the cuchuras meadows at the foot of the Spanish Peaks. -One day last week I looked out from car-win­ dows as we whirled past the same spot; a little town stood where then was wil­ derness, and on either side of our road were acres of sunflowers, whose brown- centered disks of yellow looked like trembling faces still astonished at the noise. Past the Spanish Peaks; past the new town of Veta; into the Yets Bass; up, up, 9,000 feet up, across a neck of the Sangre di Cristo Range itself; down the other side, and out among the foot-hills to the vast San Luis Valley, the plucky little railroad has already pushed. It is a notable feat of engineering. As the road winds among the mountains its curves are so sharp that the inex­ perienced and timid hold their breath. From one track, running along the edge of a precipice, you look up to an­ other which you are presently to reach; it lies high on the mountain-side, 400 feet above your head, yet it looks hard­ ly more than a stone's throw across the ravine between. The curve by which you are to climb up this hill is a thirty- degree curve. To the non-professional mind it will perhaps give a clearer idea of the curve to say that it is shaped like a mule-shoe--a much narrower shoe than a horse-shoe. The famous horse­ shoe curve on the Pennsylvania Rail­ road is broad and easy in comparison with tnis. There are three of these thirty-degree curves within a short dis­ tance of each other; the road doubles on itself, like the path of a ship tacking in adverse winds. The grade is very steep--211 feet to the mile; the engines pant and strain, and the wheels make a strange sound, at once sibilant and ringing on the steel rails. You go but six miles an hour; it seems like not more than four, the leisurely pace is so unwonted a one for steam engines. With each mile of ascent the view backward and downward becomes finer; the Spanish Peaks and the plains in the distance, the dark ravines full of pin.e trees in the foreground, and Veta Mountain on the left hand--agiantbul wark furrowed and bare. There are so many seams on the sides of this mountain that they have given rise to its name, Veta, which in the Spanish tongue means "vein."--Scribner for January. * --Where are the knitting-needles of your grandmothers? Mr. J. C. Davis advertised yesterday for 100 deaf-mutes to be made into tel­ egraph-operators. Nine years ago, he says, he taught a deaf-mute named Hoffman telegraphy. Hoffman learned the art in less than three months, and became one of the most expert opera­ tors in the country, being at the time of his death the chief operator in the Mobile telegraph office. Mr. Davis has since taught twenty deaf-and-dumb per­ sons, and says that they are almost in­ variably much quicker to learn than persons who speak and hear, and make far better operators. " I had a call from one to-day," he said, "who told me that he had been a bookbinder. He was at first very skeptical, but I con­ vinced him of the ease with which he could learn by giving him one lesson. In three-quarters of an hour he knew more than half of the Morse alphabet, and, by referring occasionally to the alphabet written out for a guide, he could talk with me on the instrument with ease. Of twenty that I taught in Philadelphia, sixteen are now in Lon­ don, where a number of them are in the Telegraph Department of the Gen­ eral Postoffiee. Two of them have po­ sitions in Philadelphia and one in Montgomery or Mobile, I don't know which. It is marvelous that deaf-mutes should be able to use their sight as they do. There was one of my pupils with whom I could talk with my eyes. They are wonderfully quick and accurate. While they are receiving dispatches, which, of course, they ao either by sight or touch, they are not disturbed by sounds or conversation, and are con­ sequently less liable to make mistakes than a sound operator. I begin with this little instrument--a sounder--and teach them to hold the hand over the key in receiving, so that they may learn by the touch first. Of course there is one requisite to a first-class operator that I do not teach. He must be a rapid penman. After going through a course of three months' tuition, he must spend a week or two in an office to learn the peculiarities of the manner of doing business in that office. Then, if he is a rapid writer, he is a good operator.--N. Y. World. m %• m • in* A Genuine Dead-Beat. NOT long ago a gentleman conduct­ ing a small manufacturing business in the northwestern section of Philadelphia was requested to visit a family in a suf­ fering condition, and, if possible, to relieve their distressing necessities. On entering the house a sight presented itself to the kindly-disposed visitor which would have moved to tears a much less sympathetic heart. Resting on two trestles, placed in the center of the floor, was a coffin, around which were placed burning candles, and near ' it sat the disconsolate widow, pouring forth a stream of lamentations and tears. The visitor kindly inquired what he could do to assuage her grief, and was informed her greatest, in fact, her only, concern was that her departed might be buried in consecrated ground, and not laid away in the Potter's Field; but she had no money to purchase a lot, and to raise a sufficient amount for this purpose was all she prayed for. The gentleman urged her to keep calm, promising to see that her wishes were fulfilled, and to give her the money next morning. With a shower of thanks and blessings invoked on his benevolent person, ne bade the sorrow­ ing mortal adieu, receiving from her the injunction to be sure to call at ten o'clock the next morning, and give the money to the undertaker himself, and be satisfied that it would all be appro- Sriated to the purpose for which it was onated. Returning to his factory, the gentle­ man succeeded (with his own contribu­ tion) in raising twenty-five dollars for the " poor widow." The next morning the thought oc­ curred to him that it was useless to wait until ten o'clock, the appointed hour, but that he would go there al­ though it was but seven o'clock, and leave the money with the object of his charity. ' Arrived at the house a second time, he knocked gently at the door, and, receiving no response, quietly opened the door, walked into the house, and, seeing nothing but the coffin in the room, went softly--as one should do in the house of death--tovthe door of the kitchen, opened it, and there sat the corpse, in his shirt-sleeves, eating breakfast. He concluded on mature reflection to let the dead-beat bury him­ self at his leisure.--Exchange. Beading. In these days, all men and women read something, but the trouble is that by reading in a single vein, which so strongly appeals to their individual tastes and personal idiosyncrasies that it is not study at all, they lose their power to study anything else. The rule for successful and profitable read­ ing would, in the light of these facts, seem to be to read only what one does not like to read. That reading which costs no effort and necessarily dissi­ pates the power of study, is that which we should indulge in only for recrea­ tion, while that which we know to be important in itself, and in its bearings upon broad knowledge and culture, should most engage our time and at­ tention. The trouble is, not that we do not read enough, but that we read so much of that which simply pleases us as to destroy our power to read that which will edify and enlarge us. There are many aspects in which newspaper reading is preferable to much that is considered essential to high culture. It is undoubtedly dissipating to the power of study, but so is any other reading which is pursued as a passion. ' It has this advantage: that it never detaches the mind from a supreme interest in the affairs of to-day. There are studies which separate a man from his time--which shut off his sympathies from- the men and the movements around him. There is a kind of dilet- tanteism which rejoices in mousing in dark corners for the curiosities of his­ tory* and art, which is wise about great nothings--wise about bric-a-brac, wise about antique gems, wise about coins, wise about classical antiquities, wise about old book of whose contents it knows little, wise about dead and use­ less things, and foolish enough to plume itself upon its wisdom.--l)r. Holland, in Scribner for January. - Orders Obeyed. A*Otmo Sub-Lieutenant left Msregi- ment a short time ago on sick leave, and put up at the best hotel, Aot a hun­ dred miles from Poonah, where lie was immediately smitten by the attractions of a lovely maiden who was staying there. He proposed, was accepted, and the happy day was fixed. The Colonel, however, disapproved of Sub-Lieuten- ants getting married, and particularly the marriage of the sub in question. As he happened to be a frienct of the young man's father, he thought to pre­ vent the union of the fond couple by sending a peremptory telegram couched in the following words: " Join at once." The son of Mars was in despair. He presented himself before his intended with the fatal missive in his hand, and anything but a look of pleasure in his countenance; but the lady was equal to the occasion. With a blush of maidenly simplicity and virgin innocence, she cast her eyes on the ground and re­ marked: "Dear me! I'm glad your Colonel approves of the match/ but what a hurry he is in! 1 don't think I can get ready so soon, but I'll do my best, because, of course, love, the com­ mands of our Colonel must be obeyed." The young warrior was puzzled. " Don't you see, my darling," he said, " that this confounded telegram puts a stopper on our plansP You don't seem to understand the telegram. He says peremptorily, 'Join at once.'" The lady's blushes redoubled, but, with a look of arch simplicity, she raised her lovely eyes to her fiance and replied, " It is you, my darling, who don't seem to understand it. Your Colonel says plainly, • Join at Once,' by which he of course means get married immediately. What else can he possibly mean?1' A look of intelligence replaced the air of bewilderment in the young hero's classic features, and, bestowing a regu­ lar feu de joie of chaste salutes on her rosy lips, he accepted the explanation, and was enabled to answer the Colonel's telegram in forty-eight hours afterward in these words, "Your orders are obeyed. We were joined at jnce."-- Bombay Gazette. He Didn't Know the Reason. Sothern invited a party of gentlemen to dine with him. The hour had ar­ rived, and, with one exception, so had the guests. " We may as well begin," said Sothern, " is sure to come, and he would rather we did not wait for him;" upon which the company sat down, and were just finishing soup when the card of the missing guest was handed to Sothern. A sudden inspira­ tion of fun led him to propose that be­ fore the gentleman came in they should all get under the table. Without an objection, and trusting to Sothern's wit for some comical denouement, the un­ suspecting fellows hurriedly crept under the table and awaited results, totally ignorant of the fact that their wicked host had not followed their example, but had quietly continued his soup. The belated guest came in full of apol­ ogy for his tardiness. " Don't mention it," said Sothern; "it isn't of the slightest consequence; we are only at the soup; sit down and be helped." The gentleman did so, but with a puz­ zled look at the empty chairs about the table. "Oh!"said Sothern, '• you miss the other gentlemen. They are all here, but, for some extraordinary rea­ son, they all got under the table! What they are doing is more than I know." It is easier to imagine than to describe the variety of expression upon the faces of the deluded victims as one by one they came crawling sheepishly out from under the table.--Boston Post. After Government Employment. A YOUNG MAN by the name of Henry Atwood, from Nebraska, came to Washington some months ago, well recommended for a position in one of the Departments; but he was unable to obtain an appointment, spent all his money, and recently started on foot for home. He became disheartened, and his dead body was found by the side of a road in West Virginia, the other day, with a pistol in his hand and a bullet in his head. He was the son of a farmer, and had taught school some years; but he looked upon a Gov­ ernment clerkship as the sphere in which he could be most useful and hap­ py. There are dozens of young men in Washington in a.similar state of des«. peration, who came here with a similar ambition. They cannot get places, and have no money. Many of them are . sent home by the charity of the Congressman of the dis­ trict from which they came, or the Sen­ ator from their State. Senators and Congressmen of long experience say they have never haa so many appeals to their charity, nor have they'Seen so much absolute necessity among office- seekers as this winter.--Washington Dispatch to Chicago Inter-Ocean. --An Irish lady called on a photog­ rapher to have a cabinet portrait taken. When the artist removed the plate he told her she need not sit fcoy longer. On coming out from the dark room he found her still bolt upright in the chair, with that look of petrified despair on her face peculiar to the photographic f)ose. "You needn't sit there any onger," said the frightened artist. "What's that?" she hoarsely whispered, without changing a muscle. "I say you needn't sit there now--J have fin­ ished," he explained. " Ain't I to pay ye a dollar?" she interrogated, in the same gurgling tone, with her eyes strained on the mark. " Yes." "Well, thin, do ye mane to say I'm to give ye a dollar for only live' minits in the cheer? Begorra, I'll have a full tin minits fur the money, an' that's little enough, in all conscience!" And she had it. --A family of the name of Ayres, in Niantic, Conn., have had a Bible for 276 years. It was printed in London, in 1599, and has the family chronology since 1600. --Why is humility like the gout? Be­ cause it is not contagious. Youths' Department* MJLTIADES GETS THE BEST OF SANTA CLAUS. " Or course," said Miltiades Peterkin Paul, On the day before Christmas, " I've BO doubt at ' all It is Santa Claas who, every Christmas Eve brings The presents and candy and all the nice thing* Which I find in my stocking; and, doubtless, tis true That he drives six fleet reindeers and comes down the flue. Bnt I should like to see him! Perhaps, too, I might. If I Bat up and kept a sharp lookout to-night." " But that never would do," explained John Henry Jack: " He would turn straight around, and would never come back. For, you see, the old gentleman's taken a whim That not one of yon children shall catch sight of him. If he came to the house and fonnd one single eye Remained open, he'd whip ap and gallop straight by." "Nevertheless," thought Miltiades Peterkin Paul, " I think I shall see him to-night, after alL" So that night, after bed-fime, when in the house all Was quite Btill, young Miltiades Peterkin Paul, (Softly stepped from his bedroom, and, stealthily creeping Past the door where his father and mother were sleeping. Stole down to the sitting-room, where, yon most know, He had huntr by the mantel an hour ago Both his new scarlet stockingB. Ho! hoi" chuckled he, " Now we'll see, Mr. Santa Claus, what we Bhall •eel" Then, from where he had hidden it, under the carpet, He drew out a sttel trap {not really so sharp it Could do serious harm); and with sang-froid, quite shocking. He set it, and placed it deep down in his stock- So that fianta Clans, when he inserted his fist, Wonld find himself caught and held fast by the "There!" said little Miltiades Peterkin Paul, " If that doesn't fix him I'll eat it--that's all!" Then little Miltiades Peterkin Paul, Having made these arrangements, crept back through the hall, And up into bed again. " Now, thenP' he thought, "I'll just lie still and wait till the old fellow's caught, Then Til hurry down-stairs in an instant and free him. " Ho! ho! ho! We'll soon know if a body mav see him. He will find in my sock, when hie puts his hand in it, ~ - A warm grip that will not let him loose in a min­ ute! " But, be careful, Miltiades Peterkin Paul," He presently added. " It won't do to fall Fast asleep at your poBt." Yet he hardly had spoken When lie sank back in slumber. Then silence unbroken Reigned supreme for an hour in Farmer Gray's dwelling. At the end of that time such an unearthly yell­ ing And howling broke in on the stillness of night That the whole household woke in a panic of fright! " Oho!" cried Miltiades Peterkin Panl, As he started upright, " the old fellow can bawl! Why, at this rate, he'll wake the whole house from its nap! I'll go down and release him at once from the trap." So he bounced out of bed, and ran down in a Jiffy; Then, arrived at the threshold, he stopped short, as if he Were struck by a thunderbolt! Well, too, he might, For he certainly saw an astonishing sight. It was not Santa Clans (as before this you all May have guessed) that Miltiades Peterkin Paul Beheld--but his grandfather dancing about. And calling for some one to come help him oat. " Oho!" cried our hero, beginning to Bee At length who old Santa Claus really must be, "Was it i/o it, after all, had a hand in it, pray?" " I should think that it was!"" answered Grand­ father Gray. --John Brownjohn, in Widt-Awake. A Pet Hen. CHILDREN never seem to tire of stories regarding animals. And they like them all the better if they are sure the stories are true. Of all the many different kinds of an­ imals which have been tamed, but few appear to have intelligence enough to make their ways worthy of mention. Most of the wonderful stories are told about monkey and dogs, horses and el­ ephants. Now and then we hear about cats and pigs, but the former animals possess great intelligence in Comparison with other creatures. The seat of intelligence is the brain; and dogs noted for their tricks have usually possessed bigger brains than other dogs of the same kind. It can­ not be the size of brain alone, however, which determines the degree of in­ telligence manifested, for the ant, whose brain is no larger than a min­ ute dot, is one of the brightest animals in existence. Their feats of building and traveling, their powers of com­ municating with each other, and va­ rious other extraordinary things which might be told about them, all go to show that few animals below men are more intelligent. And so, after all, it is quality of brain, and not quantity, that is needed. While many of the domesticated an­ imals are bright, the cow and the hen are generally looked upon as extreme­ ly dull and stupid; but those who are careful to watch their ways often find glimmers of intelligence, and evidences that they are not so very stupid, after all. The stupid, quiet hen! who would ev­ er think of accusing her of conscious pride? We know they look proud enough when they come swelling out from beneath some barn, with a large bfood of little chickens swarming around them like a cloud. In the Nursery an account is given of a hen that had such an inordinate pride that strangers could not glance* at her without exciting in her this desire for admiration to such a degree that she would leave off eating and strut for­ ward in the most ridiculous fashion. Indeed, she would become so ab­ sorbed in displaying herself, that one day she tumbled heels over head through an open scuttle in the barn floor, without noticing where she was going. At another time she was seen to pick up a bright-colored feather which some rooster had shed, and stick it in be­ tween the feathers on her back; and this she did over and over again, as the feather would drop off. „ - Some of the children who read these pages-may have had a pet hen, but we wonder if they ever had a hen so bright as the one we are going to tell about nowP A little girl'who lived in Maine had a little white hen which was called Pet. It belonged to the kind of hen called Bolton Gray, only it was white instead of gray. The hen came to be petted and tamed in the following way: Its mother had sat upon a lot of eggs, and for some reason, only succeeded in hatching out one. And this little soli­ tary chicken seemed so lonesome with all the other big hens and roosters, and they were so rough in walking atfout carelessly, and stepping on her, that this little girl thought she would take it away from its mother, and be a mothm to it herself. r| So it was brought into the house, and a little box was prepared for it lined with soft cotton, and every day the liti tie chicken was taken out "and fed and allowed to run about the house. As it grew up it became very tame, and |a0- customed to the ways of the household: and gradually learned how to ask for something to eat. When the family were at the table Pet would come alon», 8>nd with its bill, seize hold of the dress of the little girl, and pull it seversd times; and this meant that it wanted something to eat. It would go to othaf members of the family as well, and ask for food in the same way. If it was thirsty it would go to the sink in the kitchen, where there was an old-fash­ ioned iron-pump, and peck away at thd cupboard-door beneath the'sink, and make a loud rapping with its bill, and this meant that it wanted some water to drink. Pet was also taught to catch fiieS: and by simply putting the hand dowii in front of her, the hen would jump on and cling to the fingers; and then, by- holding the creature up to the window* and moving it from one pane to the other, the hen would rapidly catch the flies and swallow them. But the funniest thing for the hen to do--and we never heard of a hen doing such a thing before--was to slide down hill with the little girl! There was a steep hill near the house where the lit­ tle girl lived, and in. winter there were nice slides upon it. This little girl used to take her pet hen with her when she went out coasting--or sliding, as they call it in Maine. For the hen would sit quie#tly on the sled while it was going down hill, and when the sled was dragged up (she would scramble1 on again and get a ride up! Sometimes she would slip off, for it was, hard to cling on to the smooth top of' the sled. But no matter how many times she tumbled off, she would chase after the sled and hop oh again, and thus get a ride to the top of the hill, and be ready to have another slide down.--Prof. E. Morse, in Wide-Awake. Harboring a Thief. "Now," said Charlie Piper's mother to him, as he went out of the door to go to school, "don't you harbor that thief to-day; remember." " No, mother, I will not," answered Charlie, deliberately and emphatically. What! a boy of Charlie Piper's age harbor a thief? One would think ne he could have nothing to do with thieves. Yes, one would suppose so, and yet there was one thief so sly that he used to insinuate himself into Char­ lie's good graces, and Charlie used to go with him; and although he well knew that it grieved his mother, and certainly hurt his character, yet it was some time before he had firmness enough to take a manly Btand against him. As he pushes off to school, his moth­ er bids him " remember /" On he goes until he gets almost over the bridge, when he stops a minute to watch the little fishes darting about in the water below. He almost wished he were a fish, that he had no gram mar io learn, or copy to write; he was sure fishes must be very happy, with noth­ ing to do, the live-long day, but play in the water. Charlie well knew that he had not a moment to spare on the bridge; he knew that precisely five minutes after nine the master fastened the door for prayers, and no tardy boy could get in; he knew it was too bad to lose a whole half-day's school, but for all that he kept stopping and delaying. In fact, his old companion, the thief, was by his side, ready to steal his precious moments, so the boy kept stopping and stopping, thinking about the fishes, and saying, "Oh, it is not pleasant to be cooped up in that old schoolroom," until, all at once, his mother's word "REMEMBER," rushed into his mind. It seemed as if she spoke again in his ear. He started up from his lounging atti­ tude, threw back his arms, as much as to say, "Hands off, Mr. Thief!" and took to his heels in the direction of the school-room. Charlie ran with all his might. He arrived just'the moment the master was about locking, the door, and happily got in. "Good," said Charlie, looking as glad as he could be. "Good; I have made my escape this time, I have! Good-bye, Mr. Thief; you and I have, I hope, done having any more dealings together." Charlie was as good as his word; and, from this time, instead of being a boy always delaying, always behindhand, he became the very soul of promptness. Hereafter, " Procrastination," which the proverb calls the "thief of time," kept at a distance, and at last ceased to trouble him altogether. Now, do our young readers know what a bad thing this procrastination is? Procrastination is the spirit of delay­ ing, of being behindhand in all our un­ dertakings, and engagements, and du­ ties. It is aptly called a thief, for it robs us of one of our best treasures-- time. Did you notice how it was trying fgfv steal Charlie's time on the bridge^ Avoid this thief; say "hands on!" whenever he tempts you to dally i||y your duties; and do resolutely and promptly whatever you have to do, or, as the Bible expresses it, Whatsoever you do, " do it heartily as to the Lord." Such a course will certainly rid you of the troublesome and dangerous pres­ ence of the thief. TRY IT. I ̂ AN exchange recommends this as a short and easy road to wealth: "If yon would become a millionaire without trouble of any sort, lend somebody $100 for 100«years at 10 per cent. At the expiration of that time the interest will amount to $1,380,900. If you don't want to live to collect the debt, sell it to somebody that does." . --The Duke of Norfolk drew checks to the amount of $100,000 to pay for his wedding expenses. Ah, it's these little trivial questions of finance that prevent many of us from assuming the marriage state.--Free Press.