To stand for truth and honest toil,
To till my little patch of soil,
And keep in mind the debt I owe

To them who died that I might know
My country prosperous and free,
And passed this heritage to me.

I must always in trouble's hour
Be guided by the men in power;
For God and country I must live,
My best for God and country give;
No act of mine that men may scan
Must shame the name American.

To do my best, and play my part,
American in mind and heart;

To serve the flag and bravely stand

To guard the glory of my land;

To be American in deed,

God grant me strength to keep this creed.

(From Over Here, copyrighted by Reilly & Lee Co., Publishers. Reproduced by permission.)

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FROM GREAT BOOKS

Only a few great books can be represented in this small section of your Reader. The extracts are offered in the firm belief that you will wish to read further in the volumes from which they were taken. Good books are like good friends; the better you know them the better you like them; and they stand ready always to give you genuine pleasure.

THE LISTS AT ASHBY

BY SIR WALTER SCOTT

The following is the larger part of chapter eight of Scott's Ivanhoe. The hero of the novel is a Saxon knight, Wilfred of Ivanhoe, son of Cedric. Ivanhoe is in love with his father's ward, Rowena, but Cedric wishes her to marry a thick-headed Saxon thane, or lord, called Athelstane. According to Scott, the period was one of unrest. England had come into the possession of the Normans, and the native Saxons hated their new masters. Richard was king. But since he had gone to the Holy Land as a leader in one of the crusades, his brother, Prince John, ruled in his stead. Both were foreigners, but the common people liked Richard and hated John, who was not only a tyrant, but was also planning to seize his brother's throne. He had had Richard imprisoned in Austria, and had surrounded himself with ambitious and dissatisfied Norman knights. The tournament at Ashby was really a trial at arms between the Prince's followers and those of Richard, of whom Ivanhoe was one.

THE

HE lists now presented a most splendid spectacle. The sloping galleries were crowded with all that was noble, great, wealthy, and beautiful in the northern and midland parts of England; and the contrast of the various s dresses of these dignified spectators rendered the view as gay as it was rich, while the interior and lower space, filled with the substantial burgesses and yeomen of merry England, formed, in their more plain attire, a dark fringe, or border, around this circle of brilliant embroidery, relieving, and at the same time setting off, its splendor.

The heralds finished their proclamation with their usual cry of "Largess, largess, gallant knights!" and gold and

silver pieces were showered on them from the galleries, it being a high point of chivalry to exhibit liberality toward those whom the age accounted at once the secretaries and the historians of honor. The bounty of the spectators was acknowledged by the customary shouts of "Love of s Ladies Death of Champions - Honor to the Generous

Glory to the Brave!" To which the more humble spectators added their acclamations, and a numerous band of trumpeters the flourish of their martial instruments. When these sounds had ceased, the heralds withdrew from 10 the lists in gay and glittering procession, and none remained within them save the marshals of the field, who, armed capa-pie, sat on horseback, motionless as statues, at the opposite ends of the lists.

Meantime, the inclosed space at the northern extremity 15 of the lists, large as it was, was now completely crowded with knights desirous to prove their skill against the challengers, and when viewed from the galleries presented the appearance of a sea of waving plumage intermixed with glistening helmets and tall lances, to the extremities of 20 which were, in many cases, attached small pennons of about a span's breadth, which, fluttering in the air as the breeze caught them, joined with the restless motion of the feathers to add liveliness to the scene.

At length the barriers were opened, and five knights 25 chosen by lot advanced slowly into the area; a single champion riding in front and the other four following in pairs. All were splendidly armed, and my Saxon authority records at great length their devices, their colors, and the embroidery of their horse trappings. It is unnecessary to be 30 particular on these subjects. To borrow lines from a contemporary poet, who has written but too little