"We are almost rich on our New Year's day. I was much afraid that we should not get any work; but I have already swept one chimney, and run one errand."

“Take care not to tire yourself," said Pierre. "You are not strong, my poor Pierrette. It is I who ought to work, and you to rest. Today I have done nothing, except that I have opened the door of a carriage; and certainly they have paid me well for a little thing."

"Ten and sixteen make twenty-six. What shall we do with our money?" asked Pierrette. "We must put aside thirteen sous," said Pierre. "You know that we have agreed to save half of that which we earn for bad days, for the time when one does not find anything to do." "And also to return home," added Pierrette. Pierre smiled. "I believed that you did not think of that any more," said he.

"Not think of it more!" exclaimed the little girl. "O, I think of it all the time, only I do not speak of it to you, for fear that it would give you pain. Last night I dreamed about it. Just imagine that we were both on the road to Clermont, and almost there; and the town, with its great black cathedral, was before us. I should see the Puy-de-Dôme just as I see you; I should walk so fast, so fast, that I would pass by the houses, the mountains, all, and I would find myself right in the middle of our village, just before our house, before our grandmother's house, and —”

19

SIR MARMADUKE'S CAGE.

[SEE FULL-PAGE PICTURE.]

an

SIR MARMADUKE TRAVERS was English gentleman, and he was travelling in Coromandel, no one knew why or for what purpose. At that time there happened to be a Hindoo widow somewhere in those parts. This lady was very rich, very young, very beautiful, and very fond of tormenting her admirers. And, as fate would have it, the travelling Englishman was completely taken captive by this dark beauty; and, taking advantage of the hold she had obtained upon his heart, she amused herself by making him do all sorts of out-of-the-way things. Sometimes she would bid him let his mustache grow, then she would order him to cut it off; he had to worship Brahma, adopt the fashion of the Hindoos, and had even to undergo the indignity of having his head tied up in a dirty pocket-handkerchief. Well, nothing would please the lady, in one of her caprices, short of Sir Marmaduke's going alone to the jungle and killing a tiger or two for her. This caused him some little uneasiness. However, the widow's hand was to be the reward of the achievement, and the thing must consequently be done. Being, however, a bit of a philosopher, he considered with himself that if, by chance, he should perish in the attempt, he would lose the widow all the same, and that he could not think of with anything like equanimity. To extricate himself from this dilemma he sent a despatch to an enterprising friend of his, then stationed with his regiment at Calcutta, requesting his advice; instead of which this friend sent him a strong iron cage, fifteen feet square, very solid. This was shipped on board a cutter commanded by Captain Littlestone, whilst an express was sent off to Sir Marmaduke.

He rigged himself in tiger-hunting costume, and went and bade the lady good by, - who coolly wished him good sport, mounted a horse, and rode off to conquer a lady who, as a proof of her affection, had so cavalierly consigned him to the tender mercies of the wild beasts.

In the mean time the cage had been conveyed to a valley surrounded with mountains,

entire colonies of tigers. Here also came Sir

[TO BE CONTINUED.]

inside were placed a table and a sofa, with crimson velvet cushions. In one corner there

was a case containing a dozen bottles of pale ale, and as many of champagne; in another was a second case, containing curry pies and a variety of preserved meats; in a third case were five and twenty loaded rifles, together with a complete magazine in miniature of powder and shot. On the table were sundry cases of Havanas, a box of allumettes, the last number of the Edinburgh Review, and a copy of the Times.

Towards night the men returned to the cutter, first scattering two or three quarters of fresh beef in the vicinity of the cage.

About midnight Sir Marmaduke could count thirty noble brutes capering in the moonlight, and feasting upon the beef that had been provided for them. He took aim at the most magnificent specimen of the herd, and fired. No sooner had he done this than the whole pack came scampering towards the cage, thinking, doubtless, they had nothing to do but crunch the bones of the solitary hunter. This was the signal for a regular slaughter. Sir Marmaduke discharged his rifles point blank in the noses of the animals that environed him on all sides; those who were not wounded by the balls were severely injured by the spikes of the cage in their furious efforts to seize their enemy. The howling, yelling, and fury was quite a new sensation for Sir Marmaduke; he rather enjoyed the thing whilst the excitement lasted. However, all things must have an end; when the sun appeared on the horizon the wounded retired, leaving the dead masters of the situation.

Shortly after, the widow was astonished to see an army of coolies marching in procession towards her door, all, like the slaves of Aladdin, heavily laden; and she was not awakened from her surprise till the master of the ceremonies had placed the following letter in her

hands:

"MADAM: With this you will receive seventeen full-grown tigers, which I have had the honor of shooting for you.

MARMADUKE TRAVERS."

The consequence was, that Sir Marmaduke's name rang from one end of India to the other. The feat of killing, single-handed, seventeen tigers, converted him into a hero of the first magnitude. No festival was complete without him; he was courted by the fashionables and worshipped by the mob; some enthusiasts even proposed to erect a tomb for him, that being the way they honor their great men in Eastern nations.

The handsome Hindoo was proud of the feat her charms had inspired. She gloried in showing off the redoubtable tiger-slayer at her | réunions, and ended in being completely fascinated herself with her former slave. The match that she had formerly spurned she now earnestly desired; and, as Sir Marmaduke did not declare himself so speedily as she desired, she determined to give him a little encouragement by sending one of the most inviting and most odoriferous of notes.

The new sensations awakened in Sir Marmaduke by the affair of the cage - his recollection of the ferocious brutes as they clung with expiring energy to the bars of the cage, their streaked skins streaming with blood, the fearful howling and terrific death-yells, the formidable claws that were often within an inch of his face had, somehow or other, chased the passion he had felt for the widow completely out of his breast. He began to ask himself, coolly, what a lady, who had made such extraordinary demands upon him before marriage, might not require him to do after; and the result of his cogitations is expressed in the following reply that he sent to the now smiling widow: —

“Sir Marmaduke Travers is highly flattered by the charming note of the adorable daughter of Brahma; he will gladly continue to bask in the sunshine of her smiles, but his ambition desires and will accept nothing more."

THE writings of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Angelical Doctor, were comprised in seventeen thick folio volumes. In one of his works, The Sum of all Theology, which occupies above twelve hundred and fifty pages of close print, in double columns, he has three hundred and fifty-eight articles on angels; and many other subjects are treated almost as fully. We may praise such a writer for his industry, if for nothing else.

MOUNT ARARAT is more than a thou- · sand feet higher than Mont Blanc, the highest of the Alps. Its summit has been reached twice in the present century: first in 1829, and again in 1850. Still the natives at the foot of this celebrated mountain continue to maintain the belief that its top has never been trodden by mortal foot.

ACCORDING to Suetonius, it was the Emperor Caligula, and not Nero, who wished the Roman people had but one neck, that he might be able to behead them all at one

Fox's

Willie Clements is a new correspondent, and is welcome; if he keeps trying, his head work will at last appear in our pages; we cannot always succeed the first time, Willie. - The same suggestion will apply to Leo Miner of Toledo. W. T. Woodruff's solutions are good as far as they go. That "love" rebus by Tom A. Toze is pretty good; but so many have been made on that phrase, that the solution would be too easy. - Ariel sends another good rebus. - -K '72 is inclined to the classics, and we shall allow him to puzzle our Latin scholars a little. - We give the Velocipede credit for a good share of wit, but the printing can be improved.

Jacob Faithful's last was fair, but rather too easy. — Johnnie Anderson's square words will take their turn before long. - John B. Sessions takes a good deal of pains to send us an ingenious table; it is pretty long, but if we can find room we shall print it; at any rate, John, thanks for your patient labor. Reindeer will at last appear on the track. Nellie & Katy are under consideration. - Dexter's geographicals are very good ditto Tempest's rebus. The Starry Flag costs $1.00 without postage, in numbers. F. N. Clement, Unity, N. H., is getting up a Printer's Guide, and wants names and specimens.

rebus. Euclid Avenue sends a very pretty rebus, but it is too easy; it has no other fault. "Wish Correspondents" is for those who desire to enter into correspondence on any subject with "head workers; " we print the postoffice address, and the subject in parentheses. We trust this explanation will answer many questions that are sent to us. - Good for Nothing we find to be good for something. "In D an apple is " seems to be original with several of our friends; funny isn't it?G. W. Simmons's answer is correct, but where were the other answers?

Huron and Herbert's anagrams, &c., are under consideration. The price of Lake Shore Series, in numbers, is $3.75; of Starry Flag Series, $4.12.-"Rowing and Sailing" is published by Routledge & Sons, of London, but can be had at the leading bookstores in our cities; price, twenty cents.-J. Chapman, of Elizabeth, N. J., wishes to purchase a small printing-press at a reasonable rate; who will accommodate him? - John G. Wilder's letter has been answered. -Specs & Cute are always welcome, and we will make a selection of their best head work. But our friends must not think strange if we do not insert all the good "work" even that is sent to us; a page holds only just so much!

Jakey Jewsharp & Co., thanks for your good

Some of Our Boys begin their letters thus: "I take my pen in hand," &c. Is not this a needless piece of information? We take it for granted that our friends usually write with pen in hand; but should any one ever write with his pen in foot, then he may inform us of the curious fact. All of which means that it is not well to begin a letter with that sentence; it has served its time, and should be let alone. - Hyde Parker wants to know who invented checkers. Can any one tell him?

Are not some of the sharp Boys and Girls equal to the task of a higher class of head work than " cross-word enigmas"? Come, now, try for something new and good something that will make the subscribers to the Magazine wear their guessing-caps a long while before they solve the puzzle. Instead of sending a half dozen at a time, concentrate your powers on one that shall contain all the wit and wisdom that would otherwise have been spread thinly over several. But it occurs to us that we have given this advice before!

The Eureka Press has, we believe, a good reputation; you had better send to the company for specimens of work done upon it. We have read and laughed at John's conundrum; he turned his crop to good advantage. Winnewag's compliments make us blushalmost; but as no one is looking at us, we enjoy the kind words at our leisure; the puzzles are in our contribution-box. - Did you ever! Here come a lot of old anagrams that have done good service for years! Why, we remember them in the days of boyhood. Don't copy.

WISH CORRESPONDENTS. - Phol D. Roll, Drawer S, Haverhill, Mass., wants western and southern correspondents. - Duke, Watertown, Mass.-J. C. Moore, U. S. Navy Yard, Washington, D. C.-Walter Piper, Macomb, Ill., wants letters on the cultivation of peanuts. Bockhacker, Box 114, Woburn, Mass. - Frank P., Box 375, San Francisco (stamps).