"Oh, how delightful!" said she.

"Now we shall have plenty of milk and butter and cheese on the table. That was a capital exchange."

12. "Yes; but I exchanged the cow for a sheep."

"Ah, better still!" cried the wife. "You always think of everything; we have just enough pasture for a sheep. And only think of the woollen jackets and stockings! The cow could not give us these, and her hairs only fall off. How you do think of everything!"

13. "But I made another exchange, and gave the sheep for a goose."

"Then we shall have roast goose to eat on Christmas. You dear old man, you are always thinking of something to please me. This is delightful. We can let the goose walk about with a string tied to her leg, so she will be fatter still before we roast her."

14. "But I gave away the goose for a fowl."

"A fowl! Well, that was a good exchange," answered the woman. "The fowl will lay eggs and hatch them, and we shall have chickens; we shall soon have a poultryyard. Oh, this is just what I have been wishing for!"

15. "Yes; but I exchanged the fowl for a sack of rotten apples."

"What! How very wise and kind you are!" said the wife. "My dear, good husband, now I'll tell you something. Do you know, almost as soon as you left me this morning, I began to think of what I could give you nice for supper this evening, and then I thought of fried eggs and bacon, with sweet herbs. I had eggs and bacon, but I wanted the herbs.

16. So I went over to the schoolmaster's: I knew that they had plenty of herbs, but the schoolmaster's wife

doesn't always like to lend, although she can smile ever so sweetly. I begged her to lend me a handful of herbs. 'Lend!' she cried, 'I have nothing to lend. I could not even lend you a rotten apple, my dear woman.' But now I can lend her ten, or a whole sackful.”

And then she gave him a hearty kiss.

17. "Well, I like all this," said both the Englishmen ; "always going down the hill, and yet always merry; it's worth the money to see it."

So they paid a hundredweight of gold to the peasant, who, whatever he did, was never scolded.

DRIVING HOME THE COWS.

1. Out of the clover and blue-eyed grass
He turned them into the river lane;
One after another he let them pass,
Then fastened the meadow bars again.

2. Under the willows and over the hill,
He patiently followed their sober pace;
The
merry whistle for once was still,
And something shadowed the sunny face.

3. Only a boy! and his father had said He never could let his youngest go: Two already were lying dead,

Under the feet of the trampling foe.

4. But after the evening work was done,

And the frogs were loud in the meadow swamp, Over his shoulder he slung his gun,

And stealthily followed the footpath damp.

5. Across the clover, and through the wheat,
With resolute heart and purpose grim;
Though the dew was on his hurrying feet,
And the blind bat's flitting startled him.

6. Thrice since then had the lanes been white,
And the orchards sweet with apple bloom;
And now, when the cows came back at night,
The feeble father drove them home.

7. For news had come to the lonely farm
That three were lying where two had lain;
And the old man's tremulous, palsied arm
Could never lean on a son's again.

8. The summer day grew cool and late:

He went for the cows when the work was done; But down the lane, as he opened the gate, He saw them coming, one by one:

9. Brindle, Ebony, Speckle, and Bess,

Shaking their horns in the evening wind; Cropping the buttercups out of the grass, But who was it following close behind?

10. Loosely swung in the idle air

The empty sleeve of army blue;

And worn and pale, from the crisping hair,
Looked out a face that the father knew.

11. The great tears sprang to their meeting eyes;
For the heart must speak when the lips are dumb:
And under the silent evening skies

Together they followed the cattle home.

1. Many hundreds of years ago there came pouring into Europe from some unknown regions of Asia great hordes of barbarous people called Huns. Their leader was a fierce warrior named Attila. So cruel were they, and so great were their numbers, that the very sight of them was enough to cause alarm and terror; but when at their head was seen their king, Attila—a savage, the most pitiless of them all the fear of the people through whose country they passed knew no bounds.

2. In appearance the Huns were hideous enough; their heads were large, their noses flat, their shoulders broad, their arms thick and ugly. Most of them were very short,

and had thin, weak, crooked legs, which looked scarcely able to support their large, square bodies. Whether it was true or not that they were less powerful on foot than when riding, I cannot say; but, for some reason or other, they were nearly always mounted on horseback. Their voices were more like the cries of wild animals than human speech, and when they saw anything that they wished to seize or attack, they rushed madly upon it, never stopping to think. They were barbarous in all their ways, even eating their food raw like hungry

wolves.

3. No fitter man to be the leader of such savages could be found than Attila. He was looked upon by his followers as a hero, or rather as a god. His word was law to them, and his slightest wish was obeyed. It was said and believed that where his horse's hoofs had trodden the grass could grow no more; and many countries which had been rich and happy were made by him wild and dreary wastes. "The Scourge of God" was the name given to this mighty chief; and, indeed, he himself believed that he was a scourge in the hand of the Almighty.

4. Greece was the first country to suffer from these cruel savages. They swept over the land like a fierce storm, leaving ruin and despair behind them. The poor people were overcome with terror; they thought that the end of the world was near, and felt as helpless in the hands of their foe as a lamb would be in the clutches of a lion. From Greece the Huns turned their steps toward Constantinople, and that city was saved only by the payment of a large sum of money to Attila.

5. Through Germany, towards France, the barbarians then passed, sweeping everything before them like a great