his own spirit is better than he that taketh a city. All honour to the mother of Alfred the Great.

45. CHARLEY'S CHRISTMAS

DREAM.

ex-ist-ence, life, being

braid, trimming

de-clared, said

e-nor-mous, very large

eat-a-ble

pro-posed, wanted, wished re-la-ted, told

or-na-ment-ed re-mem-bered squeez-ing

knick-er-bock-er pos-ses-sion sleeves

mis-chief

prom-i-ses

sponge

trou-sers

va-ri-ous

Charley was a fine little fellow of eight years of age, who went about the world in a knickerbocker suit. He had just had a new suit for Christmas, made of velvet, trimmed with braid, and ornamented with silvery buttons. He felt highly important in this velvet suit, and, of course, made no end of promises to take care of it.

But Charley was very much like all other boys, and could just as easily forget his promises when the chance of doing a bit of mischief presented itself, and so the new suit came to grief in a very early stage of its existence.

Charley was invited to a Christmas party, and, of course, the velvet suit went too. During the evening several of the boys, who were bent upon having as much fun as possible, dressed Charley in a paper cap of various colours, and blacked his face. They then proposed that he should go outside and show himself through the window. Now, as the window was some little distance from the ground, he had to climb, and in doing

so he tore the sleeves of his coat and both knees of his trousers. You can imagine how he looked when he found what he had done to his new velvet suit.

However, the supper was just ready, so Charley soon forgot his trouble for the time, and made. up his mind to make up his supper by tasting everything eatable that was on the table. The result was that he ate sadly too much.

Now, it nearly always happens that people who eat too much supper just before going to bed have their sleep disturbed by unpleasant dreams. And so it was with Charley, as he related to his mother the next morning.

He dreamt that Father Christmas was squeezing him up tightly in his cold, icy arms, and that he turned him into a ragged boy, with his elbows and knees peeping out from his clothes. Then he thought he saw a very large snowball come rolling towards him. But just as it reached him it stretched out a long neck, and opened such a wide mouth, that Charley thought it was going to eat him. He felt quite sure it was the goose that was on the supper-table, and that it had come to punish him for eating its wing. Just behind it was another curious-looking creature. Its tail looked like an enormous Chinese fan, and it seemed to puff itself out larger and larger until it grew quite red in the face. Then Charley remembered that he had had a slice of turkey for supper, and made sure this was the one he had tasted. At last a very strange fancy took possession of him. He thought he saw the large bath-room sponge on a dish, and that flies and beetles were creeping in and out the holes in it, fighting over bits of sugar-candy. All at

once some one put a blazing blue light all round it, and Charley discovered that the sponge turned out to be the plum-pudding, of which he had had two helps at supper. The flies and beetles were the currants and raisins, and the bits of sugar-candy the candied peel. Then Charley awoke, finding his head where his feet should be, and his pillow on the floor. He had had such a restless night that he declared his head felt as heavy as a cold plum-pudding, and that he would never again tear his clothes nor eat twice as much as he ought to.

When I was young, and blithe, and free,
A wee bird sat in the hawthorn tree;
Ever at morn its sweet notes rang,
Ever at night it trilled and sang:

'Love is the ruler of the wise,

Love is the light of earth and skies,
Love is the path to Paradise.'

And now that the flush of youth is gone,
Still the bonnie wee bird sings gaily on;
I hear it high in the summer cloud,
I hear it clear when the storm grows loud :
'The wrong is wrong but for a day;
The wild wind blows the smoke away;
The right is right for ever and aye.'

When nations moan in wild unrest,
By king or kaiser sore opprest,

I hear far off that wee bird's song-
Sad, yet hopeful; sweet, but strong:

The sword shall fail them by and by; The people's hour is drawing nigh.' Bonnie wee bird, sing high! sing high! By permission of Messrs. Ireland & Co.

47. PLAYING AT MARBLES.

cau-tion, great care, forethought

in-qui-ry, seeking to know

pru-dent, careful, wise

re-cords, register, writings
stud-y, learning
u-ni-ver-si-ty, a number
of colleges

I am too old to play marbles now, but I like to stand and watch the boys having a game. How long the game has been known in England I cannot tell, but I hope it will continue to amuse children for many ages to come. The other day I was looking through some old records of the University of Cambridge, and was highly amused to see a rule forbidding students to play at marbles on the college steps. I suppose that in olden times young men were given more to play than to study, and that it was necessary to have such a rule in force.

To win a game at marbles must require some effort and thought. It is a game of skill, and needs practice. I should hardly think an idle, careless, thoughtless boy would ever make a

good marble player. Last week I stood to watch a few boys play at this game. One of them was a famous player; some people would call him a 'crack shot.' If a marble was within ten yards, he would hit it in a moment. One after another he knocked the other marbles over and won the game.

'Now,' thought I, 'I shouldn't wonder if that boy is a right clever fellow in school. Boys who are clever at marbles are, as a rule, clever at their work. I should not be surprised if that boy is at the top of his class. A boy who can beat his playmates in their games can generally beat them at their lessons.'

Upon inquiry, I found that the smart little fellow who won the game at marbles was really the top of his class. The master of the school told me that Dicky (for that was the boy's name) was as earnest, diligent, and quick at his lessons as he was at his play. When he was in school, he worked with a will, and carried off the prizes; when he was at play, he played with a will too, and beat all the other boys.

There is a great deal to be learnt from a game of marbles. It is a game that is sure to try your temper. If you are winning, you will be tempted to be bold and daring in your play. You will begin to think that it is so easy to win that you cannot lose. Presently you cease to watch, and then you find out your mistake.

If you are losing, you are in danger of losing your temper as well. It is rather hard to keep on losing when you are doing your best. You will find as you grow older the same thing to happen to you in many other matters besides playing at marbles. But if you lose your temper,