7. THE RAPIDITY OF STELLAR MOTIONS

Year after year and generation after generation the stars appear in their places, and the casual observer sees no movement. Yet to the astronomer they change continually with incredible speed. The swiftest cannon shot, contrasted with them, would appear to be standing still. The earth wheels about the sun at the rate of nineteen miles a second, but if one of the stars could come from behind, it would go scudding by the earth like a hurricane. One insignificant star is diagonally nearing the earth sixty miles every second. But it is so far away that if it came straight with its full speed of one hundred and fifty miles a second, or nearly fourteen million miles a day, it could not arrive before twenty-seven thousand years.

8. HOW GRANT OVERCAME HIS FEAR

As we approached the brow of the hill from which it was expected we could see Harris's camp, and possibly find his men ready formed to meet us, my heart kept getting higher and higher until it felt to me as though it was in my throat. I would have given anything then to be back in Illinois, but I had not the moral courage to halt and consider what to do. I kept right on. When we reached a point from which the valley below was in full view, I halted. The place where Harris had been encamped a few days before was still there, and the marks of a recent encampment were plainly visible, but the troops were gone. My heart resumed its place. It occurred to me at once that Harris had been as much afraid of me as I had been of him. This was a view of the question I had never taken before, but it was one I never forgot afterwards. From that event to the close of the war, I never experienced trepidation upon confronting an enemy, though I always felt more or less anxiety. I never forgot that he had as much reason to fear my forces as I his. GRANT: Personal Memoirs.

9. WHY ANIMALS ARE WHITE BENEATH

Mr. Abbott H. Thayer, an American artist, has made the discovery that wild animals are protected by the gradation of

COMPOSITION IN GENERAL

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colors on their bodies. He finds that this shading is just the opposite of that found on other objects illuminated from the sky. Most objects are light above and dark below, whereas wild animals are dark above and light below. The result is that an animal has its bright side towards the bright side of the object it is on, and merges indistinctly with that object. This indistinctness is increased by the fact that the animal has colors harmonizing with its natural surroundings. Thus it blends with the background so closely as often to escape the eye altogether. This is true not only of quadrupeds, but of birds, fishes, and insects.

10. HOW A BISHOP GOT MONEY

At one time Bishop Whipple received word that his son in New Mexico was seriously ill. He immediately hurried to him, and on his arrival there found the boy lying on a wretched bed in an adobe hut, and rapidly getting worse from inattention. Seeing no chance of recovery in such surroundings, the Bishop decided to take him North at once. But here a new difficulty arose; he had neglected to bring funds. In his dilemma he went to the bank, told the young Mexican cashier his story, and asked if he would honor a draft. "Anyone can tell by looking at your face," said the cashier, "that you are a bishop of God, and that you speak the truth. I shall be glad to accommodate you. How much do you want?" The Bishop drew five hundred dollars, and was soon on his way.

11. HOW A PRINCE WAS DISCIPLINED

The present king of Italy was not at all pampered in his boyhood, if we may believe the professor who had chief control of his schooling. From the beginning he was shown no undue respect, and allowed no indulgence. If anything was necessary for the lesson, the prince was compelled to get it. If anything fell from the table, the prince had to pick it up. If the prince slighted his studies, he was immediately and sharply reprimanded. He was told on one occasion that if a king's son was a blockhead he would remain a blockhead, that he was not

different from a shoemaker's son in that respect. On another occasion, when, because of a headache, he begged to be relieved from exercise on horseback, he was asked whether in the event of a battle that day a headache ought to prevent his appearance at the head of his troops.

12. A WORD IN SEASON

A boy of eight, who had a quick and retentive memory, was boasting of it to his Quaker grandmother.

"Tisn't only in school that I can remember things. It's everywhere," he said loftily. "I remember dates and places and people's faces and their names, and signs and placards, and all sorts of things. And in Sunday-school I always know the whole lesson by heart."

"That's an excellent thing, dear child," said the grandmother, placidly. "Did thee ever happen to learn the second verse of the twenty-seventh chapter of Proverbs?"

No, grandma," said the little boy. "I haven't learned any proverbs yet, but I'll learn it to-night. It won't be anything to do, because I remember so easily."

But that night his cheeks were redder than usual as he said over and over, "Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips."

13. THE FLY-ROD

A fly-rod is about the shape and thickness of a carriage whip, is from eight to twelve feet long, and weighs from four to ten ounces. It is made in three sections the butt, or hand-piece, the joint, or second-piece, and the tip, or end-piece-joined together by metal bands called ferrules. Fly-rods are sometimes made of steel, but generally of tough, springy wood, like lancewood or bamboo. The wood may be a round, solid stick, or it may be of small strips carefully fitted and glued together. The split rods are six-sided or eight-sided in shape, and are wrapped at short intervals with silk thread to strengthen them.

All fly-rods are coated with heavy, waterproof varnish. They all have on the butt a grip of cork for the hand, like a bicycle grip. Close to this grip is a metal clamp for holding a reel, while rings are fastened to the rod every twelve inches. The line slips through these rings very easily.

14. AN INCREDIBLE BOAST

In his young manhood Abraham Lincoln was noted for his vast strength and his skill in wrestling. Few men could boast of having conquered him. At one time there arose a trial in one of the courts, in which an effort was made to impeach the testimony of one of the witnesses. The evidence conflicted. Some would believe the man on oath. Some would not. Finally a man with a dogged countenance was called to testify. "Would you believe him under oath?" he was asked. "No, I wouldn't," he answered. "I heard him bragging once that he threw Abe Lincoln in a fair and square wrestle." That settled the question, and the impeachment was successful.

15. A GIFT TO THE WORLD

Too much honor cannot be given to those who better the world by living in it. No one can afford to neglect the memory of a man like Henry Cort, whose machines made the iron industry of Great Britain, or like Bessemer, whose inventions made possible the general use of steel. The race owes an inestimable debt to Doctor Morton for his discovery of ether, and to Pasteur for his discovery of a cure for hydrophobia. The world can never repay Professor Morse for his invention of the telegraph. It lies in the power of everyone to make some gift. A man died recently in the South who had devoted years of his life to the cultivation of a new and rare grape, and who, when he had brought it to perfection, gave cuttings of it to all the poor gardeners he knew. "A man," he said, "should try to leave the world richer by something. Some men leave a great picture or a book or noble thoughts to it. I have only a grape to give."

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16. THE NEW ENGLAND SUNDAY

I did not want it to be Sabbath-day always. I was conscious of a pleasure in the thought of games and frolics and coming week-day delights that would flit across my mind even when I was studying my hymns, or trying to listen to the minister. And I did want the congregation to break up sometime. Indeed, in those bright spring days, the last hymn in the afternoon always sounded best, because with it came the opening of doors into the outside air, and the pouring in of a mingled scent of sea winds and apple blossoms, like an invitation out into the freedom of the beach, the hillsides, the fields and gardens and orchards. In all this I felt as if I were very wicked. I was afraid that I loved earth better than I did heaven. LUCY LARCOM: A New England Girlhood.

17. THE MYSTERY OF THE SEA

From our garret window- and the garret was my usual retreat when I wanted to get away by myself with my books or my dreams — we had the distant horizon line of the bay, across a quarter of a mile of trees and mowing fields. We could see the white breakers dashing against the long, narrow island just outside the harbor. Could it really be that we had that endless "Atlantic Ocean" to look at from our window, to dance along the edge of, to wade into or bathe in, if we chose? The map of the world became more interesting to me than any of the story-books. LUCY LARCOM: A New England Girlhood.

18. "A MISERABLE CHEAT"

The girl who sat next to me saw my distress, and offered to do my sums for me. I accepted her proposal, feeling, however, that I was a miserable cheat. But I was afraid of the master, who was tall and gaunt, and used to stalk across the schoolroom, right over the desk-tops, to find out if there was any mischief going on. He had a fearful leather strap, which was sometimes used even upon the shrinking palm of a little girl.