So, faintly calling and crying
Till the sun is under the sea;
Crying and moaning till the stars
Come out for company;

He thinks of his brother and sister,
Asleep in their safe warm bed;
He thinks of his father and mother,
Of himself as dying-and dead;
And of how, when the night is over,

They must come and find him at last: But he never thinks he can leave the place Where duty holds him fast.

The good dame in the cottage
Is up and astir with the light,
For the thought of her little Peter
Has been with her all the night.
And now she watches the pathway,
As yestereve she had done;

But what does she see so strange and black
Against the rising sun?

Her neighbors are bearing between them.
Something straight to her door;

Her child is coming home, but not
As he ever came before!

"He is dead!" she cries; "my darling!"
And the startled father hears,

And comes and looks the way she looks,
And fears the thing she fears:

Till a glad shout from the bearers

Thrills the strickened man and wife-
"Give thanks, for your son has saved our land,
And God has saved his life!"
So, there in the morning sunshine

They knelt about the boy;
And every head was bared and bent
In tearful, reverent joy.

"Tis

many a year since then; but still,
When the sea roars like a flood,

Their boys are taught what a boy can do
Who is brave and true and good.
For every man in that country
Takes his son by the hand,

And tells him of little Peter,

Whose courage saved the land.

They have many a valiant hero,
Remembered through the years;

But never one whose name so oft

Is named with loving tears.

And his deed shall be sung by the cradle,
And told to the child on the knee,
So long as the dikes of Holland

Divide the land from the sea!

THE TWO HORSES

BY LEO TOLSTOY

Two horses were carrying two loads. The front horse went well, but the rear horse was lazy. The men began to pile the rear horse's load on the front horse; when they had transferred it all, the rear horse found it easy going, and he said to the front horse:

"Toil and sweat! you have to suffer."

The more you try, the more

When they reached the tavern, the owner said:

carry

"Why should I fodder two horses when I all on one? I had better give the one all the food it wants, and cut the throat of the other; at least I shall have the hide."

And so he did.

THE DARNING-NEEDLE

BY HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN

There was once a Darning-needle, who thought herself so fine, she imagined she was an embroidering-needle.

"Take care, and mind you hold me tight!" she said to the Fingers that took her out. "Don't let me fall! If I fall on the ground I shall certainly never be found again, for I am so fine!"

The Fingers pointed the needle just at the cook's slipper, in which the upper leather had burst, and was to be sewn together.

"That's vulgar work," said the Darning-needle. "I shall never get through. I'm breaking! I'm breaking!" And she really broke.

"Now, it's quite useless," said the Fingers; but they were obliged to hold her fast, all the same; for the cook dropped some sealing-wax upon the needle, and pinned her handkerchief together with it in front.

"So, now, I'm a breastpin!" said the Darningneedle.