4. He was of a beautiful fawn color, with a white spot on his breast, and my father used to say he wore white stockings. He had a most affectionate, loving nature, and was devoted to my father, following him wherever he went.

5. It seemed strange that he should care so much more for his master than for any one else, for my mother took almost the entire care of him, and was the one who always fed him. But, notwithstanding, neither she nor any one else could ever call him away from my father.

6. He would play with my mother in the garden, and run after her from room to room if his master was away; but as soon as he appeared, the fawn seemed to consider it his duty to remain near him, and he would only leave my father long enough to get his supper and at once return.

7. Sunday mornings the fawn was always shut up at church-time, for fear he might follow his master. Generally he appeared quite satisfied with the society of the family; but once in a while he would seem to remember that his own family lived in the wood, and would evidently feel a desire to visit them.

8. So he would spend sometimes the whole day in the wood, but always came home before my father did. Almost always some two or three of the wild deer would escort him, on his way home, as far as the edge of the wood, quite within sight of the house. But they never ventured fairly out of the forest.

9. Sometimes it seemed almost as if the fawn was urging his friends to visit him. He would play with them, just inside the wood, every now and then springing out into the road, and then standing and waiting for them. But the others evidently did not dare to follow, though often they seemed quite undecided whether they should or not.

10. Father felt sure some day he would bring one of the little creatures home with him, but I never heard of one's coming.

11. Father bought him a pretty collar, with a small silver

bell attached to it, so you could hear the little fellow long before you could see him.

12. One Sunday morning, before going to church, my father, as usual, called the fawn, to shut him up. But the little fellow was nowhere to be found, and though my father went some distance down the road and listened, he could not hear the bell. So he decided the fawn must be visiting his fawn friends, though this was the first Sunday he had left his master to go off anywhere.

13. The family went to church, however, without giving the fawn another thought. It being a very warm day, the church-doors were all fastened wide open. In the middle of a long and rather dull sermon, my father was aroused by the sound, in the dim distance, of the little silver bell.

14. Nearer and nearer it came, and soon the congregation heard it, and still nearer it came. To the church-steps-to the door-and finally the tinkling of the little bell sounded up the broad aisle.

15. The pews in those days were made so high that it was impossible to see over them. So no one but my dismayed father could imagine what the disturbance was; he, poor man, knew but too well. However, he could do nothing but sit still and wait for the result.

16. On the little fellow came, till he found his master's pew, and as the door happened to be open, he walked in, and lay down quietly at my father's feet, feeling perfectly satisfied.

17. And after that he would disappear every Sunday morning, so that it was, of course, impossible to confine him. But he always went to church. Sometimes my father would find the fawn in quiet possession of his pew when he himself arrived.

18. The sexton, one Sunday, not approving of the performance, tried to put the little creature out. But the fawn made such a fuss, and jumped about so much, and the bell tinkled so loudly, that he was obliged to give up the attempt.

19. From that time forward he became a most devoted church-goer, and it was an understood thing that the fawn belonged to that church. Although I am afraid he took many naps during the service and sermon, in all other respects he behaved as well as any gentleman in the congregation.

20. The fawn lived with my father about two years. His visits to the forest became more and more frequent, however, until at last he never returned to the house. Whether his friends there persuaded him to remain with them, or whether he was shot for a wild deer, my father could never find out. But he was much missed by all the family, and even the minister asked what had become of him.

E. JOHNSON.

XXXVII. THE WIND AND THE MOON.

SAID

I.

(AID the Wind to the Moon, "I will blow you out. You stare in the air

Like a ghost in a chair,

Always looking what I am about.

I hate to be watched; I will blow you out."

II.

The Wind blew hard, and out went the Moon.
So, deep on a heap

Of clouds, to sleep

Down lay the Wind, and slumbered soon-
Muttering low, "I've done for that Moon."

III.

He turned in his bed: she was there again.
On high in the sky,

With her one ghost eye,

The Moon shone white and alive and plain.
Said the Wind, "I will blow you out again."

THE WIND AND THE MOON.

IV.

The Wind blew hard, and the Moon grew dim. "With my sledge and my wedge

I have knocked off her edge.

If only I blow right fierce and grim,

The creature will soon be dimmer than dim."

V.

He blew and he blew, and she thinned to a thread. 'One puff more's enough

To blow her to snuff!

One good puff more where the last was bred,
And glimmer, glimmer glum will go the thread."

VI.

He blew a great blast, and the thread was gone;
In the air nowhere

Was a moonbeam bare;

Far off and harmless the shy stars shone;
Sure and certain the Moon was gone!

95

VII.

The Wind he took to his revels once more;
On down, in town,

Like a merry-mad clown,

He leaped and holloed with whistle and roar,

66

What's that?" The glimmering thread once more.

VIII.

He flew in a rage-he danced and blew;

But in vain was the pain

Of his bursting brain;

For still the broader the moon-scrap grew,
The broader he swelled his big cheeks and blew.

IX.

Slowly she grew-till she filled the night,
And shone on her throne

In the sky alone,

A matchless, wonderful, silvery light,

Radiant and lovely, the queen of the night.

X.

Said the Wind: "What a marvel of power am I!
With my breath, good faith,

I blew her to death

First blew her away right out of the sky--
Then blew her in; what a strength am I!"

XI.

But the Moon she knew nothing about the affair,
For, high in the sky,

With her one white eye,

Motionless miles above the air,

She had never heard the great Wind blare.

GEO. MACDONALD.

A

XXXVIII.-THE NAIL-MAKER.

LABORIOUS nail-maker worked all day at his

forge, and under his strong, quick blows, thousands of sparks arose around him and filled his workshop. The son of his rich neighbor, Mr. Von Berg, came to see him almost every day, and would watch him with delight for hours.

2. One day the busy nail-maker said to him in joke, "Would you not like to make some nails? Just try, my young master, if it be only to pass time away. It may be useful to you some day."

3. The young gentleman, having nothing else to do, consented. He placed himself before the anvil, and, laughing as he sat down, began to hammer. Before very long he was able to finish off a good shoe-nail.

4. Some years after, the misfortunes of war deprived this young man of all his wealth, and forced him to emigrate to a foreign country. Far from his native land, stripped of all resources, he halted at a large village, where the majority of the people were shoemakers.

5. He ascertained that they expended yearly a large sum of money in the purchase of shoe-nails from a neighboring