LESSON 1. A LETTER FROM JAPAN. -- 1 Tokyo, April 15th, 1908. Dear Henry, By the time you read this letter, I shall be a long way from the land of the Rising Sun. Perhaps I shall have reached the Island of Ceylon. As I have already told you repeatedly in my former letters, I am to start for England in a fortnight, to complete my education among you. I am to enter one of the big public schools. Most probably I shall be a Harrow boy, as you yourself are. Father is to take me to England himself, so I am not in the least afraid of my long voyage. I am indeed so glad to think that I am at last to visit my mother-country, which has been the object of my pride and love ever since my earliest childhood. But you won't laugh at my funny affection, when I confess to you that it is not altogether with a joyous heart that I leave this country behind, though it is not for ever. Truth to say, Japan has been my second father-land, where I have spent such a number of happy years among its beautiful scenery and my native friends. My present idea, therefore, is to come back here again, as soon as I have taken a degree, either at Oxford or Cambridge, to serve as a teacher under the Japanese government. I have been very busy preparing for my departure. Besides buying and packing things for the journey, I have many books to read concerning the countries and peoples. I am going to pass by on my way to England. I have already gone through many guide-books. LESSON 2. A LETTER FROM JAPAN. -- 2. We should have preferred a Japanese steamer, if only she stopped at Naples (instead of Marseilles), where we want to cut short our voyage. As it is, we are to sail in one of the German boats, which, on leaving Japan, touches at Shanghai, Hongkong, Singapore, Penang, Colombo, Aden, Suez, and Port Said before reaching Italy. We can go to England by the same steamer, if we like, but father is of the opinion that a voyage of forty days is long enough to make a change desirable. Moreover, the straits of Gibraltar and the Bay of Biscay are notorious for rough weather, and he thinks we had better not risk a storm in these waters, although he is a good sailor, and has never been seasick in his life. At any rate, we are to leave the ship at Naples, and thence to travel by land, rather leisurely, visiting all such noteworthy cities as lie along or near our proposed route. Father wants me to lean as much as possible about Pompeii, Rome, the Swiss mountains, and the French capital, as he tells me we are to spend some time in these places. Geography and books of travel have long been my favorite reading, but I now study them with fresh interest and new vigor. Richard and Alice are very sorry to be left behind with mother. They feel jealous of my good fortune, and are so envious that they would not have helped me in my preparations, had not father promised to send them to Europe too, when they are bigger. Mother is so fond of me that I am sure she will miss me very much. I am almost afraid she will not be quite happy till I come back. She has been loading me with all sorts of cautions and warnings to be observed and followed during my stay in England. She seems to think that I am still young and silly. Yet, I love her all the more for that? She is so very kind. So much for the present. You will hear more from me by the next mail. With my best wishes for you all, I am. Your affectionate cousin, James Baker. LESSON 3. TOPSY-TURVY LAND. China is the queerest country in the world. The people there do everything in their own way, which is the very opposite of our English way. It is most puzzling, and after my first day in China I hardly knew whether I was on my head or my heels. Let me tell you about some of these strange ways. One day I went ashore for a stroll. As soon as I landed I saw a Chinese army officer. He wore a petticoat, carried a fan in his hand, and had a string of beads round his neck. That seems a strange dress for a soldier, does it not? On the top of his sugar-loaf cap he had a button, to show his rank, and a peacock's feather which did not stick up in front like our plumes, but pointed downwards. Several scabbards hung from his belt, but they did not contain swords. They were cases to hold his knife, his fan, and his chopsticks. Soon I came to a book-shop, and as I thought father would like a Chinese book, I stepped in to buy one for him. The book-seller and a friend were just saying good-bye. As a sign of respect, each man clasped his own hands and shook them before his breast. I went into the street again, and saw a funeral passing by. Strange to say, the mourners were dressed in white, and wore white shoes. When the period of mourning has half passed away, they wear light-blue; and when the days of sorrow are quite over they give a feast to their friends. In one part of the town, I saw a prison and in it I found prisoners, each wearing round his neck a heavy frame of board about the size of a kitchen-table. With this about their necks the poor wretches cannot feed themselves, nor can they lie down. If a fly or a bee settles on a prisoner's nose, he can only shake his head and try thus to get rid of it. As I walked on I heard a loud din, and looked in at an open door. It was a Chinese school. Inside there were about a dozen boys shouting their lessons at the top of their voices. If a boy stopped shouting, the teacher thought that he was idle, and at once gave him a sound beating. The Chinese think the first of all duties is to honor and obey their fathers and mothers. The parents are obeyed by their sons and daughters, even when they are grown up. LESSON 4. STORIES OF DUTIFUL SONS. 1. About three thousand years ago there was a man named Lao-lai-tsz'. Notwithstanding his old age, he used to put on bright, many-colored clothes, and then he would play about like a child. Sometimes he would carry water into the hall, and pretend to stumble, and fall flat on the ground; and then he would cry, and run up to his parents' side, to the old people. Lao-lai-tsz' did these things to make his parents forget, for a time at least, that they were of a great age and on the brink of the grave. 2. A man named Wang-pao was very dutiful to his mother. She was a very nervous woman, and used to get very much frightened in a thunder-storm. When she died, Wang-pao buried her in a wood; and whenever the wind rose, and a storm came on, he would run to the grave, where he knelt down, and with tears cried out, "Your son is near you ? don't be afraid, mother." 3. There once was a man named Poh-yu. When he was a boy he was often disobedient, and his mother used to punish him with a bamboo rod. One day he cried bitterly on receiving the blows. This surprised his mother greatly, for he had never cried on similar occasions before "I have beaten you many time, "said his mother," and you have never cried before. Why is it that you cry today?" "Oh mother!" replied he, "you used to hurt me when you flogged me, but now, dear mother, I weep because you are old, and no longer strong enough to hurt me." LESSON 5. AT HONGKONG. When, with the earliest light of dawn, we slowly steamed into the harbor, its beauty, so suddenly brought into sight, left me mute with delight. Perhaps the contrast between these encircling ranges of shapely hills and the dead level of the Shanghai coast helps-to make them seem more impressive. The island of Hongkong, a Chinese name meaning "Fragrant Harbor," lies at the mouth of the Canton river. This island, which is in size about half as large as the Isle of Wight, i. e. thirty miles round, has belonged to England since 1841. Victoria, the city the English have built there, rises from the water-side in terraces cut upon a steep hill-face, making a fine show of white houses, and at night sparkling with thousands of lights, the highest of which seem to mingle with the stars. By day the Union Jack is seen floating from the crowning peak, 1825 ft. above sea-level. More than two hundred thousand people from all parts of the world live here, of whom less than a twentieth part are Europeans. The main source of the prosperity of Hongkong is of course the harbor which is one of the best in the world. A remarkable contrast is shown between the European steamer and men-of-war at anchor in one part of the harbor, and the miles of junks and other native vessels lying in another part. A Chinese junk is an unwieldy-looking vessel, with square sails made of palm-leaf. It is commonly armed with a rusty old-fashioned gun as a means of defense against the Malay pirates, who used to swarm the China seas. But now these sea-robbers have to a great extent been put down by the British cruisers, which here, as elsewhere, might be called the police of the ocean. LESSON 6. THE TALL CHIMNEY. Do you see that tall, round tower, which stand on the hill on the other side of Hongkong harbor? It looks like a light-house, but it is not. It is only a chimney. You see it has no lamp on the top, as the light-house has, nor any door at the bottom; and there is no stairway inside. The men have finished building it, and have just come down from the top -- all but one man! How did they get down? At the top of the chimney is a large pulley, and over this the men hung a rope, so long that both ends of it could touch the ground at the same time. Each man, when his turn came, put his feet into a loop at one end of the rope, and came safely down. But one careless man pulled the rope too far through the pulley, and it fell to the ground. See! There is one man left on the top. How can he get down? There is no ladder that will reach so high, and has no rope. The men below stand in silence, looking up at their lonely friend on the top. I will tell you how this man got down. His wife was there, and with all her strength she called out. "John, ravel your stocking! Begin at the toes!" John knew what she meant; so he drew off his stocking, cut the toe, and began to ravel the yarn. When he thought he had enough yarn raveled, he tied a piece of brick to it and let it down to the ground. While John was thus engaged, his wife had brought a ball of twice. She tied twine to the end of the yarn, and the men shouted to John, "Put it up!" John pulled and pulled, and at last the people below heard him say, "I have it!" Then they tied the rope to the end of the twine, and John pulled that up. With a glad heart he put the rope over the pulley, and let himself down safely to the ground. LESSON 7. CATCHING A SHARK. -- 1. "So you want me to tell you a story," said uncle Ben to his nephews and nieces. "Well, what shall it be about -- a bear, a shark, or a whale? "A whale?" cried Philip. "A shark!" cried May, just to show that she had a mind of her own. "We must give way to the ladies, of course," said uncle Ben, "so here is a shark story. Some years ago, when I was mate on the brig Saucy Fane, we were sailing off the coast of Burma. It was glorious weather, the sun glaring down at us out of a cloudless sky, and the wind scarcely strong' enough to lift the sails. "One day the wind dropped altogether, and there we lay, ' as idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean,' as the poet says. Well, some of the men began to whistle for a wind, and an old sailor declared that, if we could only kill a shark, we should start a breeze. "Of course, we only laughed at that as a bit of sailor's nonsense; but we kept a look-out for a shark all the same. One morning, a great fellow was seen floating lazily a yard or two from the ship. Now, if there is anything I do hate, it's a shark. The very look of his ugly mouth and his greedy eyes just sets my blood a-boiling. "What did I do? 'Here, cook.' said I ' bring me a good fat piece of pork.' The men all came round, and watched me fix the pork on a shark-hook. Then, just to encourage Mr. Shark, I threw a small bit of pork into the water." You have seen a dog sniff a bone before he gnaws it? Well, believe me the shark swam round and round that bit of pork, sniffing and looking narrowly at it, for fully five minutes. Then, quite satisfied that all was right, he turned on his side, opened his great mouth, and -- the pork was gone! LESSON 8. CATCHING A SHARK. -- 2. "'Another little bit, cook,' I shouted, 'just to whet his appetite.' The second bit went the same way as the first, and then I thought it was time to lower my hook. Down it went till it touched the water. Up swam the shark, seemed to smile when he saw the large piece of pork, and was Just going to open his jaws to swallow it, -- when he caught sight of the line! "He shut his jaws with a snap, and looked offended. Then, with a sad shake of his tail, he swam away; and the howled with disappointment 'Be easy, boys', said I, ' we won't say good-bye to him yet.' Then I drew up the line, and let the baited hook fall back with a splash. "'That will fetch him,' I said, and sun enough it did. We soon saw his greenish-white belly up through the still water. Once more he rose and swam to the pork. Could he resist that lovely dinner? We watched him eagerly, and at length, after a cautious sniff and a good look round, he turned over, opened his jaws, -- and was hooked! "We soon hauled him on board. Faith, he was a great creature, sixteen feet long. As he lay on deck he lashed about fiercely with his tail, but no one felt any pity for him. We put him out of his pain, and cut up his great body. I got his backbone, cut up his great body. I got his backbone, which is now stuck up in my cabin. The captain took the jaws, which were big enough to cover his shoulders. The rest of the beast was thrown over board, except some parts which the cook kept. What he did with them I don't know; but we had some splendid soup for a week after. And a breeze came up next day. LESSON 9. THE MALAY PENINSULA. South of Burma runs out the Malay Peninsula, a long point of mountainous land. The upper part of this belongs to the Kingdom of Siam, while the lower end of the peninsula is occupied by British Settlements and by native states living quietly under British protection. The point of the peninsula comes down almost to the Equator, so you may suppose that the climate is very hot. It is damp as well all the year round. Here grow abundantly sugar, pepper, cocoa-nuts, rice, and other plants which are at once hungry for heat and thirsty for rain. Tropical fruits as pine-apples, mulberries, and others are very plentiful. The forest yield dyes and India-rubber. The greater part of this county is still a thick forest. The tangled woods are the home of elephants, tigers, bears, apes, and snakes. They are full of brightly-colored birds and butterflies of every shade, not to speak of lizards, and that giant lizard, the crocodile, which infest the waters. The capital of the British settlements, where the Governor resides, is Singapore This is a new city of nearly 200,000 people consisting of natives. Europeans, and Chinese who live in separate quarters. It owes it prosperity to the fine harbor, which is the chief station of English trade between India and China. The great sight of Singapore is the Botanical Gardens, which cannot fail to be rich in tropical plants when all over the island pine-apples are as common as potatoes. Behind the city rises a slope covered with the bungalows and gardens of Englishmen, who find the climate not at all unbearable. A good deal of refreshing rain falls during the night; then by day there is an intensely blue sky and sea, and a bright show of evergreen vegetation very welcome to the eye. LESSON 10. A LETTER FROM SINGAPORE. Singapore, May 3rd, 1908. Dear Mamma, After all, the long voyage is not so tedious a thing as I supposed it would be. There are so many people on board that we feel more as if we were in a little town than on a steamer sailing over the wide, wide sea. The passengers are of all nationalities. There are Europeans, Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, Indians, and so on. All, or at least most of them speak English more or less fluently. So we can very easily understand one another. When it is fine and calm we play games on the deck. Some throw rings at a short stick placed upright at a little distance, others try hard at the bull with sand bags. Cards, dominoes, and chess are played everywhere. The ladies sometimes play on the piano in the saloon, and we have a regular band twice a day. Races and balls are to be got up every two weeks, while we sail through the tropics. On rainy days and on windy evenings, we often sit together around the tables in the big dining-room, and talk of various things. Some of the stories I hear on such occasions are very sad, while others are extremely amusing. All are interesting, however, in their own ways, and as different as the faces of the talkers. We have had among the rest the story of Columbus and his famous voyage of discovery, and of Sir Francis Drake and his adventures with the Spanish galleons. But the most popular tales have been about the animals that are found in these parts of the world. The sea has been very calm up to this point, except for two rough days off the Island of Formosa. It was then so stormy that we could not go to the help of a small ship struggling with the angry waves about two miles leeward of us. They were showing signals of distress. I have now got my sea-legs, and am able to walk on deck even when it is heaving under me. I was not sea-sick even on the worst days, when almost all the passengers kept their cabins! With all my best wishes for you. I hope Richard and Alice are doing my duty towards you in my stead. I am, dear Mamma, Your very affectionately, James. LESSON 11. SAVED FROM THE SEA. -- 1. A storm was raging along the coast. A life-boat is nearly ready to make its way to a ship which, at some short distance from the land, is hoisting signals of distress. The life-boat still needs one man. Ned Brown, a fisher-lad and a good sailor, wishes to fill the place. But first he bends down gently to a woman who stands beside him, and says to her, in a clear, brave voice, "Mother, will you let me go?" The mother has been a widow only six months. Her husband was a fisherman. He put out one day during the early part of the year in a small fishing-boat upon a calm sea. A sudden and terrible storm came on; pieces of the boat were seen the next morning, but the fisherman returned no more. The woman is about to refuse; but her sad eyes move slowly towards the helpless ship. She thinks of the many lives in danger within it, and of the many distant homes which may lose their loved ones. She turns to her boy, and in a voice as calm and brave as his own -- "Go, my son," said she; "and may God bring you back in safety to your mother's arms!" She leaves the beach in haste and seeks her lonely home, and thinks of her old sorrow and her new fear. Morning dawns again. The storm is over. The waves are tossing their heads, but the sea will soon be calm. A fine ship has gone down under the waters: but the life-boat has done its noble work, and all in the ship have been saved. LESSON 12. SAVED FROM THE SEA. -- 2. But why does Ned Brown stay outside his mother's door? He has shown himself the bravest of the brave throughout the night. Why does he hold back? Beside him stands a tall, weary-looking man; a man whom he has saved from a watery grave; a man whose eyes, full of tenderness, are fixed on his deliverer. Around the two are many friends; hands are extended to the man, and happy words are spoken. "Who will dare to tell her?" So says one with a voice nearly choked with emotion "I will. " And in another moment. Ned Brown enters the house, and is in his mother's arms. "Mother, listen. I have a tale for your ears. One of the men saved last night is a fisherman. A storm had overtaken him upon the sea several months ago. He was seen and saved by a foreign ship. The ship was bound for the Philippines. "Away from home, from wife, from friends, the man was forced to sail. By his wife and friends he was mourned as dead. He was taken to a distant land, from which he had set sail again in the first ship bound for England. "Last night he found himself within sight of home; but a storm was raging on sea and land, and once more the man stood face to face with death. Help came in his time of need. Mother, try to bear the happy truth. "When your brave heart -- a heart which, with its own sorrow, could feel for the sorrows of others -- sent me forth last night, you knew not (how should you know?) that you sent me to save my dear father's life." "Not another word is spoken. A step is heard; the rescued man stands by his own fireside! With a cry of great joy the mother rushes forward and falls into her husband's arms. From The Royal Star Readers. LESSON 13. COLUMBUS AND HIS VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY. More than three hundred years ago, there stood near a small town on the coast of Spain, an ancient convent. It still stands there, on a height above the sea, surrounded by a forest of pine trees. A stranger, traveling on foot with a little boy, one day stopped at the gate of the convent, and asked the porter to give him some bread and water for his child. Poor and friendless as he was, when he stood at the convent, he afterwards became one of the most famous of men. That stranger was the great Christopher Columbus ; and the little boy was his son, Diago. Seven years afterwards, he was befriended by Isabella, Queen of Spain ; and, on the 3rd of August, 1492, Columbus set sail from Spain with three small ships, on the great voyage which ended in the discovery of America. He wanted to find out a new way to India. He believed that the world was round, though few people did so at that time. Columbus was not aware that there was any such land as America. He thought that if he sailed on and on, always keeping to the west, he would at last come to India. Look at the map of the world, and you will see that, if there had been no America, he would have been right. At that time, no one in Europe had the slightest notion of its existence. Anyhow Columbus sailed into what was then an unknown sea. Many thought that he would never come back. For a long time there was no sign of land -- nothing but wide waters all around him. Day after day and night after night passed by in the same discouraging way. The men who were with him became alarmed, and tried to compel him to return. Still he kept on his course bravely, and at last the great Atlantic Ocean was crossed, and the ships came in sight of one of the West India Islands. When Columbus saw the much longed-for land, he thought it was the country he had come to seek. So he called it India. This is the reason why it came to be called the West Indies. When the people of the island saw the ships of Columbus, they were very much surprised; for they had never heard of Europe, nor of the people who lived there. After having filled his ships with various treasures got from the natives, Columbus sailed back to Spain. LESSON 14. MONKEYS. A gentleman was once traveling in India with a party of natives. In that country monkeys are as common in the woods as birds or squirrels are in ours. It so happened that one of the men saw a monkey with a baby monkey in her arms. He wanted to carry the little one away with him; so he raised his gun and fired at the mother. The shot hurt her, but it did not kill her. Wounded and bleeding, she ran into the wood, carrying her baby with her. The men rushed in after her, hoping to get the little monkey; and the gentleman, with a friend, watched them from the boat near the shore. Presently they heard a great shouting, and very soon they saw the natives coming out of the forest and running as fast as they could, crying "Ling, ling, ling!" which meant " Monkeys, monkeys, monkeys!" "What is it?" said the gentleman to his friend. "Are they after the monkeys?" "Oh, no!" replied he; "the monkeys are after them!" Just then the gentleman saw hundreds upon hundreds of monkeys come pouring out of the woods, all screaming and chattering as loud as they could. The poor wounded mother had found some way of telling her friends what had happened, and so great troops of them had hurried out to drive the men away. When the men saw them coming, they turned quickly and ran for their lives. The monkeys were so angry, and there were so many of them, that, if they had caught the men, they would have killed them. The tide was out, and between the men and the boat there was a quantity of soft mud. Into this the men rushed, sinking up to their knees at every step, with the monkeys close behind them. Scarcely were they in the boat and out in the bay, before thousands of the little creatures stood at the edge of the water, still screaming and chattering in a most terrible manner. The men were pale with fright, and, I think, never wanted to trouble a monkey again. LESSON 15. SNAKE-CHARMERS. In India there is a class of men called snake-charmers, who profess to be able to handle these fearful reptiles in any way that they like, and cause them to move in time to certain musical sounds. It is said that these men have a body charmed against the bite of their venomous playmates. One of them will take a cobra in his bare hands, toss it about with perfect freedom, allow it to twine about his bare breast, tie it round his neck, and treat it with as much fearlessness as if it were an earth-worm. It cannot be known for certain how much, if any, of this performance is done by trickery. But the following extract from the diary of a gentleman, who lived in Ceylon, may be quoted in proof of the fact that these men do in reality possess some power to draw a snake out of its hole, and make it perform certain fantastic tricks at his command: "A snake-charmer came to my bungalow in 1854, and requested me to let him show me his snake dance. As I had frequently seen such performances before, I did not care to see another. But I promised the man that I would give him a rupee if he would go with me into the jungle and prove his power over a cobra whose hole I could show him. He agreed to go with me. "Before starting with the man I examined well to see that he had no snake about his person. When we arrived at the spot, he played upon his pipe, and after some time out came a large cobra from the ant-hill, where I knew the cobra lived. "On seeing the man the cobra tried to escape; but he caught it by the tail and kept swinging it round and round, until we reached out bungalow. He then made it dance, but before long it became angry. The man then held up a cloth; the snake darted at it and caught his fangs in it. "While the snake was in that position, the man passed his hands up its back, and having seized it by the throat he extracted the fangs in my presence, and gave them to me. He then squeezed out the poison on to a leaf. It was a clear oily substance, and when rubbed on the hand produced a fine foam." From The Anglo-Oriental Series of English Readers. LESSON 16. CEYLON. India has been compared to a kite in shape, and the tail of the kite is formed by Ceylon. It is almost jointed on to the maintained by a line of sand-banks and coral reefs known as Adam's Bridge. The native legend tells us that Ceylon was Paradise, and that Adam left the Island by this chain of reefs. Among the mountains, that in the interior rise up to a height of 7,000 and 8,000 feet, one of the most conspicuous is called Adam's Peak. The deep trace in the ground which we find at the peak, is reverenced by some Christians as the first step Adam took on his being driven out of Paradise. But the Buddhists regard it as the foot-print of their immortal Teacher. Buddha was an Indian prince who preached the religion known by his name, which has more believers than any other in the world. Though it has nearly died out in India itself, it still flourishes among the people of Ceylon. Their island, which is not quite so large as Island, but nearly as large as Scotland, was first taken possession of by the Portuguese, and then by the Dutch; but now it belongs to the English. The capital, and residence of the governor, is Colombo, one of the great harbors of Eastern traffic, where vessels call on their way to India, China, Japan, and Australia. Colombo is a handsome town of white houses, half-hidden in leaves and flowers, that look singularly bright in the warm, damp air. The streets are lively with a strange mixture of Eastern peoples -- Indians, Chinese, Arabs, Malays, and so on. The natives of Ceylon themselves are remarkable in that the men look like women, being dressed in white calico petticoats, with their long hair fastened up by a tortoiseshell comb, while the women look more like men. Everywhere are seen Buddhist priests, marked out by their yellow robes and by the yellow umbrellas held over their heads by boys who attend them. The old capital of the island is Kandy, a very beautiful highland town built among lakes and gardens, beneath a circle of richly-wooded hills. Brilliant dragon-flies, moths, and beetles flit about in the sunshine, and at night the scene is lit up by glittering clusters of fire-flies. From The New Century Geographical Readers. LESSON 17. THE ENGLISH GIRL AND HER AYAH. A little English girl in India was one day playing outside her father's tent, near the edge of a jungle. Her attention was attracted by a beautiful little fawn, which seemed too young to run about, and which stood timidly gazing at the child with its soft, dark eyes. The girl moved towards it; but the fawn started back, with a frightened look, and fled. The child gave chase ; but the fawn was soon hidden among the tall reeds and grass of the jungle. When the girl's ayah missed her charge, she quickly hurried after her. But so eager had the child been in chasing the fawn, that she was some distance from the tent before the Indian nurse overtook her. Catching up the girl in her arms, she tried to return ; but the grass and reeds around grew so high that she could scarcely see two yards before her. She walked some steps with the little girl in her arms; then stopped, and looked round with a frightened air. "We are lost!" cried the poor Hindoo, "lost in the dreadful jungle!" Again the ayah tried to find her way ; again she paused in alarm. What was that sound, like a growl, that startled her, and made her sink on the ground in terror, clasping the little girl all the closer in her arms? Both turned in the direction from which that dreadful sound had come. What was their horror on beholding the striped head of a Bengal tiger above the waving grass! The ayah uttered a terrible scream ; and the little girl cried for help to her parents. It seemed like an instant answer to that cry, when the sharp report of a rifle rang through the thicket, quickly followed by a second ; and the tiger, mortally wounded, lay rolling and struggling on the earth. Edith, for that was the girl's name, saw nothing of what followed. Senseless with terror, she lay in the arms of her trembling ayah. It was her father who came to their rescue. Lifting his little girl in his arms, he bore her back to the tent; leaving his servants, who had followed in his steps, to bring in the dead tiger. A. L. O. E. (Adapted.) LESSON 18. WEIGHING AT ELEPHANT. -- 1. "An Eastern king," said Teddy's mother," had been saved from some great danger. To show his gratitude for his deliverance, he vowed he would give to the poor the weight of his favorite elephant in silver." "Oh, what a great quantity that would be!" cried Lily, opening her eyes very wide. "But how could you weigh an elephant?" asked Teddy, who was a quiet, thoughtful boy. "There was the difficulty," said his mother. "The wise and learned men of the court stroked their long beards, and talked the matter over, but no one found out how to weigh the elephant. "At last a poor sailor found a safe and simple means, by which to weigh the enormous beast. The thousands and thousands of pieces of silver were counted out to the people, and crowds of the poor were relieved by the clever thought of the sailor." "Oh, mamma " said Lily, "do tell us how he did it." "Stop, stop!" said Teddy. "I want to think for myself -- think hard -- and find out how an elephant's weight could be told, with but little trouble and expense." "I am very much pleased," said his mother, "that my little boy should set his mind to work on the subject. If he can find out the sailor's secret before' night, he shall have that orange for his pains." "The boy thought hard and long. Lily laughed at her brother's grave looks, as he sat leaning his head on his hands. Often she teased him with the question," Can you weigh an elephant, Teddy?" LESSON 19. WEIGHING AT ELEPHANT. -- 2. At last while eating his supper, Teddy suddenly cried out, "I have it now!" "Do you think so?" said his mother, "How would you do it?" asked Lily. "First I would have a big boat brought very close to the shore, and would have planks laid across, so that the elephant could walk right into it." "Oh, such a great beast would make it sink low in the water," said Lily. "Of course it would," said her mother. "Then I would mark on the outside of the boat the exact height to which the water had risen all around it while the elephant was inside. Then he should march on shore, leaving the boat quite empty." "But I do not see the use of all this," said Lily. "Don't you?" said Teddy in surprise. " Why, I should then bring the heaps of silver, and throw them into the boat, till their weight would sink it to the mark made by that of the elephant. That would show that the weight of each was the same." "How funny!" cried Lily; "you would make a weighing machine of the boat?" "That is my plan," said Teddy. "That was the sailor's plan," said his mother. "You have earned the orange, my boy;" and she gave it to him with a smile. LESSON 20. A LETTER FROM ADEN. Aden, May 28th, '08. Dear Dick, How do you like the postcards I have sent you from each port? I hope you are pleased with them all. Our ship remains here only a couple of hours to take in some coal. So, no sooner had it cast another in the harbor, than we got ashore. We had a long drive around the place, and have just come back to the ship. Aden, as you have most probably learned, is a peninsula. It is joined to the mainland by a narrow sandy isthmus. The town lies in a large crater, where the heat is terrific. There are no wells to draw good fresh water from, and the British garrison have often to distil sea-water for drinking purposes. To make up for the serious want, there are magnificent old tanks, which were built for the purpose of collecting and keeping the rare rainfall. In an hour or so, we shall be sailing up the Red Sea, and, in five days, shall reach the famous Suez canal. In former days European ships sailing to and from India and other Eastern countries had to go round the Cape of Good Hope. They had no choice but to take this tedious as well as perilous course until some fifty years ago. "In 1854," a guide-book tells me, "a Frenchman, called Lesseps, proposed the scheme of the Suez canal to Said Pasha, and, as the Viceroy of Egypt approved of the great undertaking, a company was formed to put it in execution. The work was begun in 1859 and completed after ten years of hard labor. "The canal is wide enough even in its narrowest part to pass ships of any size, if they go through one at a time There are many junctions where the ships sailing from opposite directions can pass each other without causing any harm. These were originally dried-up lakes into which the water from the Red Sea was let by making the canal. Some of them were 30 feet below the sea-level." I am very curious to see some camels, -- real live camels! -- which, as father tells me, will be found carrying their loads along the banks of the canal. A not less interesting sight is said to be the ships at night, moving cautiously along the narrow passage by means of their dazzling search-lights. But enough! I have written almost too much. You shall hear from me again very soon, and you and Alice shall each have a postcard of the Lesseps' monument at Port Said, as well as some Egyptian stamps. I am sorry not to be able to hear from you until we have got to Paris. Lovingly yours, James. LESSON 21. THE ARAB AND THE ROBBER. A certain Arab of the desert owned a horse, the fame of which was spread far and near. A Bedouin of another tribe, by name Daher, desired extremely to become its owner. Having in vain offered for it his camels and his whole wealth, he was for some time at a loss what new course to take. At length he hit on the following device, by which he hoped to gain the object of his desire. He resolved to stain his face with the juice of a herb, to clothe himself in rags, and to tie up one of his logs, so as to appear like a lame beggar. After having thus disguised himself, he went to a certain place which Naber, the owner of the horse, was expected to pass. When he saw Naber approaching on the beautiful steed, he cried out in a week voice: "I am a poor stranger. For three days I have been unable to move from this spot to seek for food. I am starving -- I am dying. Help me, and Heaven will reward you." The Arab kindly offered to take him up on his horse and carry him home. But the rogue replied; "I cannot ride; I have no strength left." Naber, touched with pity, dismounted, led his horse to the spot, and with great difficulty set the seeming beggar on its back. But no sooner did Daher feel himself in the saddle, than he gave spurs to the horse and galloped off, calling out as he did so: "I am Daher. I have got the horse, and I am off with it!" Naber called after him to stop and listen. Certain of not being overtaken, he turned and halted at a short distance from Naber, who was armed with a spear. "You have taken my horse," said the latter. "Since Leaven has willed it, I submit to my fate. But I beseech you, never tell any one how you obtained it." "And why not?" said Daher. "Because," said the noble Arab, "another man might be really ill, and men would fear to help him. You would be the cause of others refusing to perform an act of charity, for fear of being cheated as I have been." Stuck with shame by these generous words, Daher was silent for a moment. Then springing from the horse, he returned it to its owner. Naber invited him to his tent, and treated him with great hospitality for several days; and the two from that time were fast friends. From The Royal Stars Readers. LESSON 22. THE OBSERVING EYE. While a dervish was traveling alone in the Arabian desert, he met two traders, who seemed in some distress of mind. "Have you not lost a camel?" asked the Mohammedan monk of the traders. "Indeed, we have," replied them. "Was it not blind in its right eye, and lame in its left hind leg?" "Yes, yes, it was." "It had lost a front tooth, hadn't it?" "Precisely; we are glad you saw our camel." "And it was laden with honey on one side, and wheat on the other?" "Exactly; that is the vary camel we have lost. Pray, fetch it here, and we will reward you amply for your trouble." "That I can't, my friends," said the dervish, "I have never seen your camel, nor have I ever heard of it until now." "A very fine story, friend," exclaimed the trader, "but where are the jewels it was conveying in a leather bag?" "I know nothing either of your camel or of your jewels," repeated the cool and mysterious monk, and was going away. This was too much for the desperate traders. They seized the dervish accordingly, brought him by force before the court of justice, and accused him of having stolen their camel, with its precious loads. But the judge was extremely puzzled by the case, and he could not make up his mind. Upon this the dervish, who had maintained his tranquility all the while, begged leave to address the court. "I own," he said, "that there is some ground for your suspicious. But you must allow that I have lived long and alone, and have learned how to make the best use of my eyes. Here are the observations I have made. "Firstly, I knew that I had crossed the track of a stray camel, because I saw no trace of human footsteps on the same path. Secondly, I knew that it was blind of one eye, because it had cropped the grass on one side of the path only; and thirdly. I thought it must be lame of one leg from the faint impression which one of the feet left upon the sand. "Fourthly, I concluded that it had lost a tooth, because, wherever it had glazed, a small tuft of grass was left uncropped in the center of the bite. Lastly, the busy ants on one side of the path, and the swarming flies on the other, clearly informed me that the camel carried both honey and wheat on its back." The judge was perfectly satisfied with the reasons, and immediately acquitted the keen-sighted dervish. From The Royal Readers. LESSON 23. THE OSTRICH. The humming-bird is the smallest, and the ostrich is the largest of birds. There are humming-birds no larger than bees, while the ostrich is often ten feet in height, from the crown of the head to the ground. The home of the ostrich is in the sandy deserts of Africa and Arabia. Among the Arabs, it is called the camel bird, from the form of its neck and body, Like the camel, it dwells in the desert, and can live a long time without water. Though the ostrich has wings, they arc too small for it to fly with; but in running, it uses them like paddles. Spreading them out, and flapping them in the air, it runs along with great speed. The swiftest horse cannot keep up with it! The nest of the ostrich is simply a hole in the sand; and there the female bird lay ten or twelve large eggs. She watches her nest very closely, always sitting on her eggs at night, and leaving them only during the hottest part of the day. The eggs are prepared for food in various ways; and some people are very fond of them. The shells also are made into cup and ornaments of different kinds. The ostrich is often hunted on horseback; but so rapid is its flight, that the hunters would seldom succeed in catching it, if they did not know that it never runs in an even course, but zig-zag. So they themselves push straight forward, thus saving time and keeping up with it. The chase sometimes lasts two or three days, till the poor bird is tired out ; for though swift, it is not so strong as a horse. When overtaken it will turn round upon the hunters, and attack them furiously till it is brought down. According to Mr. Maffet, the wild Bushmen are described as hunting the ostrich with the following method : -- A native is dressed in the skin and feathers of one of these birds ; and, thus disguised, he goes near a flock of ostriches. He imitates the real bird, by pecking on the ground, and shaking his feathers. He trots and walks along, until he gets within bow-shot. Then he shoots a poisoned arrow at one of the flock, and generally succeeds in taking his prey. From The Royal Readers. LESSON 24. A CHAT ABOUT FLAGS. -- 1. I daresay you have seen flags many times, and perhaps you had one of your own to carry about when you used to play at soldiers. I wonder whether you know what flags are for, and what they mean. I will try to tell you. On the King's birthday, or on some other important day, you will see a flag flying over the town-hall or the church tower in England. That flag is the British flag, or the Union Jack, and it shows that the building over which it flies is a British Building. We hoist our fags to the top of the fag-staff when we are rejoicing, and hang them half-mast high when we are mourning the death of some great man who has faith, fully served his town or his country. Look attentively at the British flag, and you will see that the Union Jack consists, of three crosses placed one above the other. First, on a white ground, there is the red cross of St. George, which stands for England. Then above that is the X-shaped cross of St. Andrew, which stands for Scotland. This cross is white on a blue ground. Above the cross of St. Andrew, and like it in shape, is the red cross of St. Patrick, which stands for Ireland. Each of the three countries has its own flag, and these flags are united in the Union Jack, which shows that England, Scotland, and Ireland are all jointed together under on king. We also see flags flying on the masts of ships. If the vessel is a British merchant ship, she will fly a white flag with a Union Jack in the uppermost quarter next to the flag-pole. Wherever the ship sails, this "red ensign" is a sign that she is a British merchant-ship. If the vessel is a British man-of-war, she will fly a white flag with a Union Jack like that of the merchant-ship. Everybody who sees this "white ensign" knows that the ship flying it is a King's ship. Ships fly other flags too. Each shipping company has a flag of its own, to mark its own ships. Then there is a blue flag with a white square in the middle. This is the Blue Peter, which shows that a ship is just about to sail. When a British ship flies the Union Jack upside down, it means that she is in distress and wants help. LESSON 25. A CHAT ABOUT FLAGS. -- 2. Every regiment of soldiers has its flag or colors, of which it is very proud. This flag reminds the soldiers of the glory which their regiment has won on the field of battle. Every good soldier honors his flag, and strives to bring fresh glory to it. In former times the colors were taken into battle, and they waved over the heads of the soldiers even in the thick of the fight. It was then thought to be a gallant thing to capture a flag from the enemy. In the old churches and cathedrals in England you may see hanging from the walls some of the flags which English soldiers captured in gays gone by. When soldiers receive their flags, there is a service held; and when the flags are too old for further use, they are hung up in the churches until they are torn into pieces. What stirring stories some of those shot-rent and tattered flags would be able to tell if they could only speak! Soldiers and sailors use flags in another way. By waving a flag to and fro, up and down, first this way and then that, soldiers can send messages to their friends at a distance. Every ship of war has a number of flags, each of which stands for a letter or a word. These flags are hung one below the other, and the message which they send may be lead by any one who know the meaning of each flag. You remember, I am sure, that Nelson, at the battle of Trafalgar, had the flags so arranged that they told the sailors of his fleet -- "England expects that every man will do his duty." In time of war, if a general on one side wishes to speak to a general on the other side, he sends a messenger with a white fag. When soldiers are beaten and wish to give in, they show a white fag. It is a very wicked and cowardly thing to fire on the white flag, for the bearers of it are no longer fighters, but men who wish for peace. On a battlefield, white flags with a large red cross fly over hospitals and ambulances; and no soldier will ever fire on such flags, for he knows that under them noble men and women are tending the sick and the wounded. The King of England has a grand banner of his own, called the Royal Standard. It is divided into four equal parts, and in each quarter there is a figure which stands for one or other of the countries which make up the United Kingdom. From The Royal Prince Readers. LESSON 26. TRAFALGAR. -- 1. In 1793 a great war broke out between England and France. It lasted for twenty-two years, until the great battle of Waterloo put an end to it in the year 1815. Several times during this war it was expected that the French would invade England. In 1805 an invasion seemed certain. Napoleon Bonaparte, who had recently become Emperor of France, gathered a large army at Boulogne, but he dared not trust it on the sea until the British fleet was disposed of. So he ordered the French and the Spanish fleets (for Spain was now his ally) to sweep the British ships from the neighboring seas. A clean sweep was made, it is true, but not as Napoleon wished, when at daybreak on October 2lst, 1805, Nelson and the British fleet met the combined navies of France and Spain off cape Trafalgar, in the south-west of Spain. During the seven years that had passed since the Battle of the Nile, the French had built a new navy. Their ships were joined by those of Spain; and the two fleets numbered forty vessels. Nelson had thirty-one but four of these took no part in the battle. Nelson formed the twenty-seven fighting-ship into two lines, one of fourteen, the other of thirteen vessels. He himself, in the Victory, led the line of fourteen; Admiral Collingwood, in the Royal Sovereign, led the other. Nelson felt certain that the British would win, and he said to Captain Blackwood, one of his captains; "What would you consider as a victory?" "Why, my load," replied Blackwood, "considering all things, I should say that if we take fourteen ships that would be a glorious victory." "I shall not be satisfied with fewer than twenty!" cried the Admiral. Nelson knew that the only way in which England could be freed from the constant terror of invasion was by destroying the enemy's fleet. As long as the British fleet held the seas, just so long was his island home safe, and no longer. Thus he made up his mind utterly to cripple the enemy at sea, and he knew also that his men could do it. In a short time he gave his last signal to his fleet, his ever-famous last signal: "England expects that every man will do his duty." The British tars received it with a great outburst of cheers, and the issue of the day showed how nobly every man laid the signal to heart. LESSON 27. TRAFALGAR. -- 2. As the Victory bore down on the French line, she was received with a furious hail of shot. It was known that she carried Nelson, and she became a target for the French cannon. To this fire she did not reply with a singly gun. Nelson ordered that the gunners should wait till they were so near that every shot must tell. So the British stood silent beside their cannon, no one moving ,save where a man stepped forward to fill the place of a dead or wounded comrade. Before the Victory fired a shot, she had lost fifty men, and her rigging was cut to pieces; then she crashed into the French line, and at four minuets past twelve her guns roared from both sides of the deck. A little more that an hour after that, an event happened on her deck which cast a gloom over the brilliant victory. At a quarter past one, just when the fight was hottest, Nelson was struck by a bullet fired by a sharpshooter on board the Redoutable, the French ship with which the Victory lay entangled. The bullet struck him in the left shoulder, and entered his body. He fell upon his face on the deck. Captain Hardy, a great friend of Nelson, was a few steps away. He turned round and saw a party of soldiers raising the wounded Admiral. "They have done for me at last Hardy," said Nelson ; "my backbone is shot through." He was carried below, and it was found that he had spoken only too truly -- the wound was mortal. Soon after Nelson was shot, victory began to declare itself for the British fleet. Ship after ship of the enemy struck her fag, and as soon as a ship surrendered the crew of the Victory, raised a great hurrah. The dying Admiral knew well what these sounds meant, and, though life was ebbing fast, his eye brightened and his face lit up with joy at every cheer that that rose. Within a little more than three hours after being shot, Nelson died, repeating, "Thank God, I have done my duty." Before the end he had the joy of knowing that he had won a great victory, and that twenty of the enemy's ships had struck. The fleets of France and Spain were destroyed. England might sleep in peace: no French invasion could now reach her shores. The ship upon which Nelson died, the glorious old Victory, still lies in Portsmouth Harbor, and upon her deck may be seen a tablet marking the spot where fell "the greatest sailor since the world began." From Famous Englishmen. LESSON 28. WHAT IS MY NAME? I am a very funny thing, but a very useful thing at the same time. I will tell you what I am, and then you must try and find out my name. My color is brown, and my body is soft. I am full of holes, in which the creatures that made me what I am, used to live. I have many mouths but no stomach. I can drink a great deal, but eat nothing at all. When you squeeze me hard, I get thirsty again. But even when I am very thirsty, I cannot drink a spoonful of water, unless you put me into it. I am never at home when you see me; and very few people, indeed, do or ever did see me at home. You want to know why it is so? Well, it is because my home is in the deep blue Mediterranean sea, where I cling to the rocks at the bottom. The winds and the waves do not disturb me there. Men think so much of me that they go out in boats, and dive down into the depths of the sea to get me. I am very useful to many people, for I am fond of keeping things clean. I helped your mother to wash you when you were a mere baby? I stand beside you when you take a hot bath. I am on good terms with Mr. Soap; we come very often together, and help each other to make ourselves useful. Doctor are our great friends. They recommend us to you strong, but that only when we are good. I am very patient, and bear a great deal of rough treatment. You sometimes tear me to pieces, and yet I do not complain of your cruelty: I continue to be as useful to you as if I had not sustained any harm at all. Now try and guess my name. He who can tell me who I am at once and correctly, shall have as a prize a large piece of sponge-cake. LESSON 29. WHALE HUNTING. Whales are often seen floating in the Mediterranean Sea. But the chief quarters where they are most abundantly met with and assiduously hunted are the dreary arctic regions. Every year ships sail to the northern seas in search of the whale. They hunt it for its fat to make oil, and for the whale-bone, which is found in the roof of its mouth. The ships carry with them a number of Small boats. When the whaling ground is reached, men are sent to the topmast to be on the look-out ; and, at a signal from them, boats are launched as quickly as possible. Each boat has a man in it called a harpooner. He sits in the bow of the boat. The harpoon is a large spear with a barbed point, made of tough iron. To the shaft of the harpoon a rope is fixed. This rope, which is sometimes a quarter of a mile long, lies carefully coined up near the seat of the harpooner. When the boat is near the whale, it is rowed up to it swiftly, but silently, the harpooner standing up, ready for his work. When within a few yards of the huge creature, the men stop rowing, up goes the harpooner, and in an instant he sends the weapon with all his force into the body of the whale. Smarting with the wound, the whale dives into the ocean, and swims away as far as he can. If the whale were a true fish, he could always remain under water, and never be caught. But he must come up to breathe. He is an animal like the cow or the house, and cannot live without air. In the meantime, the men in the boat have rowed near the place where they expect him to rise. As soon as he comes up, another harpoon is driven into his body. Down dives the whale again; but he soon returns to the surface of the water. In his fury, he lashes the sea so violently with his huge tail, that the noise can some-times be heard two or three miles off! At last, from pain and loss of blood, the poor whale is worn out. The boats arc once more rowed up to him, and the men thrust long steal lances into his body. Soon his huge carcass floats lifeless on the water. Three cheers are given by the men in the boats, and the body of the whale is towed in triumph to the ship. There it is cut into pieces and boiled down into oil; and when the fishing season is over, the oil is taken home in casks. LESSON 30. BRAVE BODDY. -- 1. Some years ago, a ship bound for Sicily had on board, with other passengers, an officer, his wife, their only child -- a little boy five years old, -- and a large Newfound-land dog called Bobby. Everybody in the ship liked Bobby, he was so good-tempered and frolicsome; but the boy was the dog's constant playmate. He was a merry little fellow, and as fond of Bobby as Bobby was of him. One evening while the little boy and the dog were romping together, the ship gave a roll, and splash went the child into the sea! A cry was raised, "A hand over! A hand over!" and the brave dog sprang over the side of the ship. Cleaning it like a greyhound, and swam towards the stern. The little boy's father, half frantic, leaped with others into the jolly-boat, but it was too dark to see far before them. All gave the child up for lost. At last they heard a splash on the left side of the ship. "Pull on, quick!" cried the father. The boat was turned, the men pulled with all their might, and in a moment brave Bobby was alongside, holding up the child in his mouth! Joy! joy! joy! The boat was rowed back to the ship; the half-down boy soon got better; the parents were delighted; and brave Bobby was caressed by all. At Messina, the passengers were to be landed. The officer got into the boat with his wife and child; but he told the sailors to hold the Newfoundland dog tight by the collar till the boat was some distance from the ship. "You will then see," said he, "what a strong swimmer he is." LESSON 31. BRAVE BOBBY. -- 2. Brave Bobby pulled and tugged to get loose, but all in vain; for they held him till the boat was near the shore. But no sooner did the officer give the signal than the clog was set at liberty, and away he went full dash into the sea. Suddenly the poor animal gave a shrill howl, and threw himself out of the water. At first it was thought he had been seized with cramp; but it was worse than that -- a shark was after him!" "A shark! a shark!" sounded from the boat to the ship. Bobby swam right and left, and dived and doubled, showing his teeth, and never allowing the shark time to turn on its back; without doing which the monster could not bite him. The officer in the boat soon saw that there was little chance of reaching the spot in time to save the dog. Poor Bobby swam and dodged, till he was almost tired out. "Stop rowing," cried the officer to the men, "and turn the boat round." Just at that moment the shark, which had got very close to the dog, turned on his back and opened its horrid mouth! Bobby was all but gone. His master rose, pointed his gun, and fired. In a moment the water was tinged with blood: the horrid jaws of the shark were shattered to pieces! The men rowed to the spot where Bobby was swimming about. The officer pulled the dog into the boat; the child threw his little arms around him; and the men in the boat, and sailors in the ship, cried out with joy, "Hurrah! hurrah! Bobby is safe! the shark is killed! Hurrah! hurrah!" From The Royal Readers. LESSON 32. A LETTER FROM NAPLES. Naples, June 7th, 1908. Dear Henry, Our most interesting voyage of forty days came to an end early this morning. We left the ship, not altogether without regret, soon after it had cast anchor in the lovely bay, and have just settled down here in an English Hotel. Everything looks so roomy and quiet in this stately room with its high ceiling and choice furniture, although I still feel as if the floor were heaving under me. The windows open on the bay, and there stands Vesuvius rearing its haughty head 4,000 feet high up against the blue sky. A cloud of vapor is slowly curling up from the top of the active volcano. It makes me tremble with fear when I think of the terrible eruptions that have been recorded since 79 after Christ. You remember that one of the most frightful nature took place as late as 1906. People felt the earthquakes caused by it even in Japan! I am very sorry to write that I missed the chance of visiting Egypt this time, as father bad not time enough for that. I am, however, to see the famous places in Europe, mostly in this country. We have therefore left most of our luggage on board to be forwarded direct to our London address, and so we are ready at any time to begin our tour of sight-seeing on the continent. It is not yet decided whether we shall visit Venice or not. As for me I am very eager to spend a few days in the Queen of the Adriatic, and steer about in the perfect net-work of water-ways in a gondola. Certain it is, however, that we see, besides Rome, Florence, "the Gem of Italy, the home of great artists and the mother of great men -- of Dante, Petrarch, Michael Angelo, and Galileo, -- the brightest star of star-bright Italy;"and Milan, whose cathedral of white marble is adorned with thousands of statues of kings and saints. Anyhow I am glad to think that I am now in this famous lovely city, of which the Italians say, "See Naples and then die," which reminds me of the Japanese saying about Nikko temples. With best wishes for all of you. I close this letter, hoping that we shall be in each other's company in a fortnight or so. Your loving cousin. James. P.S. All your letters for us are to be addressed to the English Embassy at Paris. LESSON 33. THE DESTRUCTION OF POMPELL. -- 1. More than eighteen hundred years ago. Mount Vesuvius had, for ages and ages, been lying quite like any other hill. Beautiful cities were built at its foot. Fair gardens, vineyards, oliveyards covered the mountain slopes. It was held to be one of the paradises of the world. As to the mountain being a volcano, who ever thought of it? To be sure, the top of it was a great crater, a mile or more across, and a few hundred yards deep. But that was all covered with bushes and wild vines, and was full of boars and wild deer. What sign of fire was there in that? There was also an ugly field below, by' the sea-shore, where smoke and brimstone came out of the ground. The lake too was covered with poisonous gases. But what of that? It had never harmed the people, and how could it harm them? So they all lived on happily and merrily enough till the year 79 A.D.. At that time there was stationed in the Bay of Naples a Roman admiral, called Pliny, who was a very studious and learned man. He was also the author of a famous old book on natural history. He was staying on shore with his sister, and, one day, as he sat in his study, she called him out to see a strange cloud which had been hanging for some time over the top of Mount Vesuvius. The good admiral, curious to know the cause of the strange appearance, ordered his boat, and went off across the bay to see what it could be. Earthquakes had been very common for the last few days. When he got near the opposite shore, some sailors met him, and begged him to turn back. Cinders and stones were failing down from the sky, and fames were breaking out from the mountain above. But Pliny would go on. He said that, if people were in danger, it was his duty to help them. LESSON 34. THE DESTRUCTION OF POMPEII. -- 2. But the hot ashes fell faster and faster ; the sea ebbed out suddenly, and the boat was left almost on dry land. Yet Pliny continued his onward course, and went to the house of a friend, who was just going to escape in a boat. Pliny told him not to be afraid, ordered his bath like a true Roman gentleman, and sat down to dinner with a cheerful face. Flames came down from the mountain nearer and nearer as the night drew on, but the fearless admiral persuaded his friend that they were fires in some villages from which persuaded his friend which the peasants had fled. He then went to bed and slept soundly. However, in the middle of the night, they found their courtyard filled with cinders. If they did not wake up the admiral in time, he would never be able to get out of the house. The shocks of the earthquake grew stronger and fiercer, till the house was ready to fall. Pliny, his friend, the sailors, and slaves all fled into the open fields. They tied pillows over their heads to prevent themselves from being knocked down by the great showers of stones and cinders. Day had come by this time, but not the dawn; for the great cloud shut out the light of the sun. It was still pitch-dark. They went down to their boats upon the shore, but the sea raged so fiercely that there was no getting on board of them. By this time Pliny grew tired, and made his men spread the sail that he might lie upon it for a little while to rest. But suddenly there came down upon them a rush of flames and horrible smell of sulphur, and all ran for their lives. Some of the slaves tried to help the admiral upon his feet, but he sank down again, overpowered by the fumes, and so he was left behind. When they came back again, there he lay dead. His clothes, however, were in good order, and his face was as calm as if he were only sleeping. Such was the end of a brave and learned man, a martyr to duty and to the love of science. But what was going on in the meantime? Under clouds of ashes, cinders, lava, and mud, two beautiful cities were buried at once -- Herculaneum and Pompeii. They were buried just as most of the people had fled from them, leaving the furniture, implements, and domestic utensils behind. In many cases the inhabitants had not enough time to carry out their jewels and gold. Here and there among the ruins of the now excavated city, Pompeii, were found the remains of those poor human beings who could not escape the dreadful deluge of molten rock. LESSON 35. THE ETERNAL CITY. Rome, the capital of Italy, is the most famous city in the world. The people who lived in it, the buildings which have been created in it, the paintings and statues which have been collected in its palaces and churches, have strongly impressed mankind. Indeed, they have influenced it so deeply that, so long as the world lasts, every intelligent person will certainly regard Rome with the most intense interest. In early times Rome was surrounded by a wall which took in seven hills, hence it is often called "The City of the Seven Hills." At the height of its splendor it contained 400 temples, besides huge public baths, triumphal arches, great aqueducts, and vast palaces. Most of these buildings are now in ruins; so it is not easy to form an idea from them how magnificent a city Rome once was. The most famous spot in ancient Rome was the Forum. This was an open space, wound which temples and other important buildings stood. It was the place where the Roman citizens met to discuss public affairs. Another building of the greatest interest is the Colosseum. It dates from ancient times, and is still one of the grandest sights of the world. The amphitheatre covered about five acres, and could seat more than fifty thousand persons. For nearly four hundred years it had been used for the fights of gladiators and wild-beasts. On some such public occasions, gold, silver, or amber furniture was used to fit it up splendidly. If the Colosseum is the grandest relic of ancient Rome, the cathedral of St. Peter's is the finest church of modern Rome. It cost more than a million pounds in gold, and took 176 years to build. The immense work was carried on by many architects after the design of Micael Angelo, the great sculptor and painter. The Vatican, the home if the Pope, is building of remarkable interest. It is of immense size, and is made up of palaces, churches, libraries, museums, and galleries, while the whole is surrounded by glorious gardens. The greatest treasures of art in Rome are collected here. They are in such vast numbers that many days are needed to examine them all even slightly. LESSON 36. THE SLAVE AND THE LION. -- 1. A pleasing story used to be told to the children of Rome, about a man named Androclus, and his wonderful doings with a lion. It is stranger than most of those that are made up; but it seems to be a true story -- which is the best part of it. Androclus was a slave at Carthage, a city in the northern part of Africa. He was treated so badly by his master that one day he ran away, and took refuge in a cavern in the desert some miles from the city. Tired out with his long journey, he lay down, and fell fast asleep; but he was suddenly awakened by the roar of a wild beast. Running to the mouth of the cavern, Androclus was met by a great lion, which stood right in his way. Of course he expected nothing else than to be at once torn to pieces; but to his great surprise the lion came gently towards him, making a low, mourning sound as though he were begging help. The man noticed also that the lion limped with one of his legs. Going up to the lion, Androclus saw at once what was the matter. In the ball of one of the lion's paws was a great thorn. Androclus took the paw in his hand, the lion keeping quite still, drew out the thorn, and washed the wound. The animal was soon after free from pain. Now comes the first strange part of our story. The lion began immediately to show his gratitude by every means in his power. He played around Androclus, and licked his hand ; then went out and brought back food which he shared with his friend. In this savage friendship man and lion lived for several months. But one day when the slave had gone off into the woods, he was caught by a band of men sent out to search for him, and was carried back to his master. He was tried as a runaway slave, and sentenced to be killed by wild beasts in the public arena of the Colosseum, at Rome. In those days runaway slaves were often punished in this way, and thousands of people used to go to see the cruel sight. LESSON 37. THE SLAVE AND THE LION.-- 2. It is the day for the death of Androclus. The great circus is crowded with men and women, drawn there by the report that a fierce and hungry lion is to be let loose. In the arena, pale and trembling stands Androclus; hardly daring to look up, for not a face shows sign of pity. Suddenly, with a frightful roar, a huge lion leaps into the arena, and darts forward upon his victim with fierce look and gaping jaws. But what is this that makes ten thousand eyes stare in wonder? The wild beast, instead of springing upon the man, stops short, as though he crouches at his feet, and fawns upon him. What could it all mean? The people were speechless with astonishment. But I know you will guess at once what the people very soon learned. When the governor called on the slave to explain how it was that a savage beast had suddenly become as gentle as a lamb, Androclus told the story of his adventures, and ended by saying that the creature standing at his side was the very lion out of whose paw he had pulled the thorn. On hearing the story, the crowd were so much pleased at the gratitude of the lion, that they shouted with one voice, "Let the man live, let him live!" The governor pardoned the slave on the spot, and set him free, at the same time presenting him with the lion. And for many a day afterwards there might have been seen the curious spectacle of these two strange comrades -- man and lion -- walking, side by side, in the streets of Rome. LESSON 38. CROSSING THE ALPS -- 1. When Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Italy the second time in A. D. 1800, he led his army across the cold and stormy Alps. There the snow lies deep all the year round, and the roads are often blocked up by masses of ice. It was May when he himself crossed the mountains by the St. Bernard Pass; and a few months later he ordered one of his generals, Marshal Macdonald, to cross by the Splugen, with 15,000 soldiers, and join him on the plains below. It was then the end of November, and the winter storms were raging among the mountain passes. It was a perilous undertaking, yet he must obey; and the men began their terrible march, through narrow passages, past over-hanging precipices, six thousand feet up, up, up among the gloomy solitudes of the Alps! The cannon were placed on rough sleds, each drawn by a long team of soldiers, or, when the roads permitted, by oxen; and the ammunition was packed on mules. First came the guides, driving their long black poles into the snow in order to find the path; then came workmen to clear away the drifts; then the dragoons, mounted on their powerful horses, to beat down the track; after whom followed the main body of the army. They encountered severe storms and piercing cold when half way up the mountains, a low, heavy, and continuous sound was heard among the cliffs. The guides looked at each other in alarm, for they knew well what it meant. It grew louder and louder. "An avalanche! An avalanche!" they shrieked, and the next moment a field of ice and snow came leaping down the mountains; striking the line of march and sweeping away thirty dragoons in its wild plunge. The black forms of the houses and their riders were seen for an instance struggling for life, and then they disappeared for ever. LESSON 39. CROSSING THE ALPS. -- 2. The sight struck the soldiers with horror; they crouched and shivered in the blast. Their enemy was not now flesh and blood, but wild winter storms; swords and bayonets could not defend them from the desolating avalanche. Flight or retreat was hopeless; for all around lay the drifted snow, like a vast winding sheet. On they must go, or death was certain; and the brave men struggled forward. "Solders!" exclaimed their commander, "you are called to Italy; your general needs you. Advance and conquer-first the mountain and the snow, then the plains and the enemy." Blinded by the winds, benumbed with the cold, and far beyond the reach of aid. Macdonald pressed on. Sometimes a whole company of soldiers was suddenly swept away. On one occasion, a poor drummer crawled out from the mass of snow which had torn him from his comrades, and began to beat his drum for relief. The dull sound came up from his gloomy resting-place, and was heard by his brother soldiers, but none could go to his rescue. For an hour he beat rapidly; then the strokes grew fainter and fainter, until they were heard no more, and the poor drummer laid himself down to die! Two weeks were occupied in this perilous march, and two hundred men perished in the undertaking. This crossing of the Splugen is one of the bravest exploits in the history achieved by Napoleon's generals; and it illustrates the truth of the well-known saying, "Where there is a will, there is a way." No one can read of heroic deeds like this, -- of brave men grappling with danger and death, -- without a feeling of respect and admiration. But heroic deeds are always the fruit of toil and self-sacrifice. Who can accomplish great things, unless he aims at great things, and pursues that aim with determined courage and perseverance? LESSON XL. THE STORY OF WILLIAM TELL. The people of Switzerland were not always free and happy as they are to-day. Many years ago a proud tyrant, whose name was Gessler, ruled over them, and made their lot a bitter one indeed. One day this tyrant set up a tall pole in the public square, and put his own cap on the top of it; and then he gave orders that every man who came into the town Altorf, should bow down before it. But there was one man, named William Tell, who would not do this. He stood up straight with folded arms, and laughed at the swinging cap. He would not bow down to Gessler himself, he said. When Gessler heard of this, he was very angry. He was afraid that other men would follow Tell's example, and that soon the whole country would rebel against him. So he made up his mind to punish the bold man. Tell's home was among the mountains, and he was a famous hunter. No one in all the land could shoot with bow and arrow so welt as he. Gessler knew this, and so he thought of a cruel plan to make the hunter's own skill bring him to grief. He ordered that Tell's little boy should be made to stand up in the public square with an apple on his head; and then he bade Tell shoot the apple with one of his arrows. Tell begged the tyrant not to have him make this test of his skill. What if the boy should move? What if the bowman's hand should tremble? What if the arrow should hit his dear child? "Will you make me kill my boy? " he said. "Say no more," said Gessler. "You must hit the apple with your one arrow. If you fail, the boy shall be killed by my soldiers before your eyes." Then, without another word, Tell fitted the arrow to his bow. He took aim, and let it fly. The boy stood firm and still. He was not afraid, for he had full faith in his father's skill. The arrow whistled trough the air. It struck fairly in the center, and carried it away. The people who stood by in breathless anxiety now shouted with joy. As Tell was turning away from the place, an arrow which he had hidden under his coat dropped to the ground. " Fellow!" cried Gessler, "what do you mean with this second arrow?" "Tyrant!" was Tell's proud answer, "this arrow was for your heart if I had hurt my child. "Not long after this, as the mediaeval story tells us, Tell did actually shoot the tyrant with one of his arrows, and thus he set his country free from the foreign yoke. LESSON 41. A LETTER FROM PARIS. PARIS, June 25th, 1908. Dear Dick, We are on the point of leaving this city for our beloved England. I cannot help feeling excited when I think that at last I am to find myself in London tomorrow. We are to cross the channel by the shortest route, the Calais-Dover line. Our train leaves Paris at 9 this evening, and we shall be in the English capital a little after 7 in the morning. Uncle Robert and Cousin Henry are coming to Victoria Station to meet us. Father says the crossing of the channel in such fine weather, as it is at present, will be so smooth that we shall hardly notice the fact. It is indeed a great relief to know that any such horrible accident as befell the fatal White Ship nine hundred years ago, has been made almost impossible for ever by modern science and comfort. During the five days of our stay here, I have seen a great many beautiful things -- thing's quite new to me and scarcely dreamt of in Japan, such as the magnificent and imposing edifices, the wonderfully large public gardens, the grand shady streets, with their broad pavements and lofty monument, the picture gallery of the Louvre, the National Library, &c., &c., &c. There are any number of large shops, brilliant with the goods for which Paris is famous. There are again many cafes or restaurants, where people sit, taking their refreshment in the open air. Everywhere are crowds of Parisians, with apparently nothing to do but laugh, talk, and enjoy themselves. Another great feature of Paris is the Seine. The river flows through the city, and is covered with barges and small steamers. Its waters are as clean as those of the Sumida, so they are very pleasant to look at, and can be used for bathing. Besides the many bathing-places, there are floating wash-houses, where scores of washerwomen are diligently employed in their trade amid lively chatter and laughter. Father took me to a music hall yesterday. Oh, how I wished you and Alice had been with us There were comedians, dancers, and even a company of Japanese acrobats, I heartily enjoyed all the performances and returned to our hotel in great satisfaction. The letters from you had been waiting me at the English Embassy, and I was very glad to learn that all of you were in good health. Father and I are quite well. Your affectionate Jack.