they caught the animal's eye, and quick as a flash he charged them.

A cry of horror went up from the group of farmers, as the two little girls, now aware of their danger, started to run hand in hand.

A stalwart young farmer soon appeared a short distance behind them. He took in the situation at a glance. By hard running, he overtook the bull when but a few feet from the children, quickly grasped with both hands the horn nearest him, set his feet firmly, and with one quick, strong, downward and backward jerk, threw the animal heavily to the ground.

With the help of the other farmers, who by this time had reached the spot, the bull was secured and led away where he could do no more harm.

Thus, in less time than it has taken to tell it all, oc curred examples of three distinct human qualities, which in the minds of many people are often confounded-bravado, recklessness and courage.

It was in Union Square, where the jam was greatest, that the three-horse team drawing a fire-engine took fright and ran away, straight into the crowd, dragging the ponderous vehicle after them. Two seconds and scores would have been trampled helpless under their feet. Escape there was none. A shriek of horror went up, that was turned into an exhultant cheer as Policeman Griffenhagen threw himself in the path of the horses, seized their bits, and was dragged into the multitude, torn, bleeding, and trampled by the iron-shod hoofs, but still hanging to them, barring the way with his body till help came. Griffenhagen never recovered from his supreme effort. He was retired after years of invalidism, his nervous system hopelessly shattered; but every policeman walked with a lighter step that night and after. The dull routine of his life was glorified by his comrade's heroism,

BERNARDO DEL CARPIO

1. The warrior bowed his crested head, and tamed his heart of fire,

And sued the haughty king to free his long-imprisoned

sire;

"I bring thee here my fortress-keys, I bring my captive

train,

I pledge thee faith, my liege, my lord!-0! break my father's chain!"

2. "Rise, rise! even now thy father comes, a ransomed man, this day!

Mount thy good horse; and thou and I will meet him on his

way."

Then lightly rose that loyal son, and bounded on his steed,

And urged, as if with lance in rest, the charger's foamy. speed.

3. And lo! from far, as on they pressed, there came a glittering band,

With one that 'midst them stately rode, as a leader in the land:

"Now haste, Bernardo, haste! for there, in very truth, is he, The father whom thy faithful heart hath yearned so long to see."

4.

His dark eye flashed, his proud breast heaved, his cheek's hue came and went;

He reached that gray-haired chieftain's side, and there, dismounting, bent;

A lowly knee to earth he bent, his father's hand he tookWhat was there in its touch that all his fiery spirit shook?

5. That hand was cold-a frozen thing-it dropped from his like lead!

He looked up to the face above-the face was of the dead! A plume waved o'er the noble brow-the brow was fixed

and white;

He met, at last, his father's eyes-but in them was no sight!

6. Up from the ground he sprang and gazed; but who could paint that gaze?

They hushed their very hearts, that saw its horror and

amaze

They might have chained him, as before that stony form he stood;

For the power was stricken from his arm, and from his lip the blood.

7. "Father!" at length he murmured low, and wept like

childhood then:

Talk not of grief till thou hast seen the tears of warlike

men!

He thought on all his glorious hopes, and all his young

renown

He flung his falchion from his side, and in the dust sat

down.

8. Then covering with his steel-gloved

darkly mournful brow,

hands his

"No more, there is no more," he said, "to lift the sword

for, now;

My king is false-my hope betrayed! My father-O! the

worth,

The glory, and the loveliness, are passed away from earth!

9. "I thought to stand where banners waved, my sire, beside thee, yet!

I would that there our kindred blood on Spain's free soil had met!

Thou wouldst have known my spirit, then-for thee my fields were won;

And thou hast perished in thy chains, as though thou hadst no son!"

10.

Then, starting from the ground once more, he seized the monarch's rein,

Amid the pale and wildered looks of all the courtier train: And, with a fierce, o'ermastering grasp, the rearing warhorse led,

And sternly set them face to face-the king before the dead.

11. "Came I not forth; upon thy pledge, my father's hand to kiss?

-Be still, and gaze thou on, false king! and tell me what is this?

The voice, the glance, the heart I sought-give answer, where are they?

-If thou wouldst clear thy perjured soul, send life through this cold clay!

12. "Into these glassy eyes put light-be still! keep down thine ire!

Bid these white lips a blessing speak-this earth is not my sire

Give me back him for whom I strove, for whom my blood was shed!

Thou canst not?-and a king-his dust be mountains on thy head!"

13. He loosed the steed-his slack hand fell-upon the silent face

He cast one long, deep, troubled look, then turned from that sad place;

His hope was crushed, his after fate untold in martial

strain

His banner led the spears no more, amid the hills of

Spain.

-Mrs. Hemans.

During my stay in Melbourne the gold fever was at its height. There were lucky and unlucky miners in Australia, as there have been everywhere else in the world's gold-fields. Many found great nuggets that contained fortunes.-while many more found nothing but infinite hardship and heartache. I remember one man who could not even find work and was starving. One day he went to the owners of a mine or shaft that had been worked out, and asked permission to go down to try his luck. They consented. The desperate fellow took his pick and descended to the bottom of the shaft. In a few minutes he had found the biggest nugget ever taken out of the earth's

treasure-house. Two hundred feet below the surface of the ground he had driven his pick, by merest chance, against a huge lump of gold.

He came up out of the shaft, knowing that he had found a pretty big sum, but did not realize how much it was. The nugget was brought up and weighed. It had exactly the weight of a barrel of flour, one hundred and ninty-six pounds. That morning he had been a beggar, and now he was the richest miner in the fields.

"Is-all-that-mine?" he asked, as if the words were as heavy as the big nugget and as valuable. They told him it was.

"It doesn't belong to the government?"

"No."

"All mine," he said in a whisper, and dropped to the floor dead.

No one knew him, not even his name. He was a mere restless wanderer upon the face of the earth, and had broken his heart over the biggest nugget, the richest piece of gold on the globe.-George Francis Train.

LESSON XXV

Study this scene from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar in which the magistrates, Flavius and Marullus, who are envious of Caesar, rebuke the crowd that has come out to see Caesar's triumphal parade.

Mark in the margin all the Feet Attitudes in this selection. You can find here at least one example of each kind.

Flavius. Hence! home, you idle creatures, get you home: Is this a holiday? what! know you not,

Being mechanical, you ought not walk

Upon a laboring day without the sign

Of your profession? Speak, what trade art thou?
First Commoner. Why, sir, a carpenter.

Marullus. Where is thy leather apron and thy rule?

What dost thou with thy best apparel on?
You, sir, what trade are you?

Sec. Com. Truly, sir, in respect of a fine workman, I am but, as you would say, a cobbler.

Mar. But what trade art thou? answer me directly. Sec. Com. A trade, sir, I hope, I may use with a safe conscience: which is, indeed, sir, a mender of bad soles. Mar. What trade, thou knave? thou naughty knave, what trade?

Sec. Com. Nay, I beseech you, sir, be not out with me: yet, if you be out, sir, I can mend you.

Mar. What mean'st thou by that? mend me, thou saucy fellow!

Sec. Com. Why, sir, cobble you.
Flav. Thou art a cobbler, art thou?

20

Sec. Com. Truly, sir, all that I live by is with the awl: I meddle with no tradesman's matters, nor women's matters, but with awl. I am, indeed, sir, a surgeon to old shoes; when they are in great danger, I recover them. As proper men as ever trod upon neat's leather have gone upon my handiwork.

Flav. But wherefore art not in thy shop today? Why dost thou lead these men about the streets?

30

Sec. Com. Truly, sir, to wear out their shoes, to get myself into more work. But, indeed, sir, we make holiday to see Caesar and to rejoice in his triumph.

Mar. Wherefore rejoice? What conquest brings he home?

What tributaries follow him to Rome

To grace in captive bonds his chariot-wheels?