a big lamp filled with oil, which burns all the time.

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My mother cooks upon this lamp, and we have fine dinners of whale or bear meat, or fish, or eggs of sea-birds. My bed is made of skins, and is always soft and warm. We have summer and daylight half the year, and winter and darkness the other half.

"It is very cold in winter, and I stay indoors almost all the long dark time. When I go out to play, I like to ride upon my pretty sled, which my two white dogs draw for me."

Then a little boy with feathers in his hair and a red blanket over his back, said, "My name is Black Cloud. My father is an Indian chief. Our home is made of the branches of trees. fire is inside this wig

Our

wam upon the ground,

and there is a hole

above for the smoke to go out. My father hunts and fishes, and my mother

plants the corn, and when it is ripe she grinds it into meal, between two stones, for food.

"I have a little bow and arrow to play with, and my father teaches me to hunt, and fish, and swim, and run."

Spell: oil, earth, chief, women, different, language, wigwam, country.

Review Vowel Drill, page 8.

Read, if accessible, "The Indian Home," in "Stories of American Indians."-Elbridge S. Brooks.

A little boy with a green and yellow

handkerchief on his head, and a long cotton gown falling to his feet, spoke next. "My name is Ali, and my father is an Arab chief," he said. "Our home is

in a sandy, desert

country, one of the hottest in the world.

"We do not stay very long anywhere. We live in a tent, which we can take down and carry away when we move. There are two rooms in our tent. One is where my father sits and smokes, and one is for me and for my mother.

"It is so hot in the desert that we have to sleep nearly all day, and play, or work, or travel when the sun is down. We drink camel's milk or coffee, and eat fruit and bread. My father always eats first, and then we children and my mother take what is left. I have a pet camel, which I like to ride."

A little fellow with a red turban, a gay velvet jacket, and loose pantaloons was the next to tell his story. "My name is Hassan," he said. "My father's house is by the side of the river Nile, and we can see the pyramids not far away. I never

saw any rain till I came

here, and I have never seen any snow.

"Once every year the Nile overflows its banks and covers all the low land.

When the water goes down we plant our

crops.

"Our house is made of mud which is baked in the sun until it is quite dry. We have only one room, and we sleep on rugs on the floor. The roof of our house is flat, and we like to go up there and sit in the evening, and see the boats on the river and the camel trains on the desert. I have a donkey at home. I like to put bells around his neck, and ride along the river on his back."

The next speaker was a little boy dressed in a gay green blouse coming down over his violetcolored pantaloons nearly to his woodensoled shoes. His hair hung in one long braid, and he wore a tight little black cap on his head.

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'My name is Sing," he said. "We live on a boat which floats upon a beautiful river running through a great city in China. We do not go upon the land very often. We eat rice and fish with our chop-sticks,

and drink tea from pretty cups. My father is a fisherman. He has He has many tame water- birds that he has taught to fish for him. I have pretty kites of many different shapes that I like to fly."

Spell: yellow, handkerchief, coffee, pyramid, evening, wooden, tight, buffalo, gown, turban, jacket, desert, braid, pantaloons. Read "Seven Little Sisters." - Jane Andrews. "Our Asiatic Cousins."-A. H. Leonowens. "When I was a Boy in China." - Lee Phon You.

In the old, old times of the world, people used to tell strange stories about the night, and the day, and the sky, and the woods, and the streams, and the flowers.

By and by, from having heard these so often, they began to believe them themselves. We smile at these make-believe stories now, and read them only because they are often so pretty, and because we wish to know what people used to think true.

This is the story they used to tell about