7. I was perfectly at home on the ice. Many were the days that I had spent on my good skates, never thinking that they would thus prove my only means of safety. Every half minute a furious yelp from my fierce attendants made me but too certain that they were in close pursuit. Nearer and nearer they came. At last I heard their feet pattering on the ice-I even felt their very breath, and heard their snuffling scent! Every nerve and muscle in my frame was stretched to the utmost tension.

8. The trees along the shore seemed to dance in an uncertain light, and my brain turned with my own breathless speed; yet still my pursuers seemed to hiss forth their breath with a sound truly horrible, when an involuntary movement on my part turned me out of my course. The wolves, close behind, unable to stop, and as unable to turn on the smooth ice, slipped and fell, still going on far ahead.

9. Their tongues were lolling out, their white tusks were gleaming from their bloody mouths; their dark, shaggy breasts were flecked with foam; and as they passed me their eyes glared, and they howled with fury. The thought flashed on my mind that by this means I could avoid them-namely, by turning aside whenever they came too near; for, by the formation of their feet, they are unable to run on ice except in a straight line.

10. I immediately acted upon this plan. The wolves, having regained their feet, sprang directly toward me. The race was renewed for twenty yards up the stream; they were already close on my back, when I glided round and dashed directly past them. A fierce yell greeted my evolution, and the wolves, slipping on their haunches, presented

a perfect picture of helplessness and baffled rage. Thus I gained nearly a hundred yards at each turning. This was repeated two or three times, the animals becoming every moment more excited and baffled.

11. At one time, my turning being delayed too long, my pursuers came so near that they threw their white foam over my dress as they sprang to seize me, and their teeth clashed together like the spring of a fox-trap. Had my skates failed for one instant-had I tripped on a stick, or had my foot been caught in a fissure of the ice, the story I am now telling would never have been told.

12. But I soon came opposite the house, and my hounds-I knew their deep voices-roused by the noise, bayed furiously from their kennels. I heard their chains rattle-how I wished they would break them! then I should have protectors to match the fiercest denizens of the forest. The wolves stopped

in their mad career, and after a few moments turned and fled. I watched them till their forms disappeared over a neighboring hill; then, taking off my skates, I wended my way to the house, with feelings which may be better imagined than described.

Whitehead.

EXERCISES IN ARTICULATION.

1. My wild hurra rang through the silent woods.

2. Suddenly a sound arose; it was low and tremulous at first, but it ended in one long, wild yell.

3. There was no time for thought.

4. I did not feel afraid, or sorry, or glad.

5. I even felt their very breath, and heard their snuffling scent. 6. Their white tusks were gleaming from their bloody mouths. 7. Their teeth clashed together like the spring of a fox-trap.

VIII.-SONG OF STEAM.

HARNESS me down with your iron bands;

Be sure of your curb and rein:

For I scorn the power of your puny hands,
As the tempest scorns the chain.

How I laughed as I lay concealed from sight
For many a countless hour,

At the childish boast of human might,
And the pride of human power.

2. When I saw an army upon the land, A navy upon the seas,

Creeping along, a snail-like band,

Or waiting the wayward breeze;

When I marked the peasant faintly reel
With the toil which he daily bore,
As he feebly turned the tardy wheel,
Or tugged at the weary oar;

3. When I measured the panting courser's speed, The flight of the courier dove,

As they bore the law a king decreed,

Or the lines of impatient love;

I could not but think how the world would feel, As these were outstripped afar,

When I should be bound to the rushing keel, Or chained to the flying car.

4. Ha ha! ha! they found me at last; They invited me forth at length;

And I rushed to my throne with a thunder-blast,
And laughed in my iron strength.

Oh! then ye saw a wondrous change
O'er earth and the ocean wide,
Where now my fiery armies range,
Nor wait for wind or tide.

5. Hurra! hurra! the waters o'er
The mountain's steep decline;
Time-space-have yielded to my power;
The world! the world is mine!
The rivers the sun hath earliest blest,
Or those where his beams decline;
The giant streams of the queenly West,
Or the orient floods divine.

6. The ocean pales where'er I sweep, To hear my strength rejoice,

And the monsters of the briny deep
Cower, trembling, at my voice.

I carry the wealth and the lord of earth,
The thoughts of his godlike mind;
The wind lags after my flying forth,

The lightning is left behind.

7. In the darksome depths of the fathomless mine, My tireless arm doth play,

Where the rocks never saw the sun decline,
Or the dawn of the glorious day.

I bring earth's glittering jewels up
From the hidden cave below,
And I make the fountain's granite cup
With a crystal gush o'erflow.

8. I blow the bellows, I forge the steel, In all the shops of trade;

I hammer the ore and turn the wheel

Where my arms of strength are made;
I manage the furnace, the mill, the mint;
I carry, I spin, I weave;

And all my doings I put into print,
On every Saturday eve.

9. I've no muscle to weary, no breast to decay,
No bones to be "laid on the shelf,"

And soon I intend you may "go and play,"
While I manage this world myself.

But harness me down with your iron bands;
Be sure of your curb and rein:

For I scorn the power of your puny hands,
As the tempest scorns a chain.

G. W. Cutter.