The night was now almost calm, and fast returning to its former beauty, when the party saw the first twinkle of the fire through the low window of the Cottage of the Moor.

peat: a kind of turf used for fuel. habitation: house.. amicably friendly. sough (suf): a murmuring sound as of the wind.-interminably: endlessly.-discern: see.- -insurmountable: not to be overcome. - pastoral: rural.- imminent: near at hand. - intermission: pause. torpor stupor.

JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER

The gray day darkened into night,
A night made hoary with the swarm
And whirl-dance of the blinding storm,
As zigzag, wavering to and fro,

Crossed and recrossed the wingèd snow:

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And ere the early bedtime came

The white drift piled the window-frame,

And through the glass the clothes-line posts
Looked in like tall and sheeted ghosts.

So all night long the storm roared on:
The morning broke without a sun;
And, when the second morning shone,
We looked upon a world unknown,
On nothing we could call our own.
Around the glistening wonder bent
The blue walls of the firmament,
No cloud above, no earth below,
A universe of sky and snow!

The old familiar sights of ours

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Took marvellous shapes; strange domes and towers 15 Rose up where sty or corn-crib stood,

Or garden-wall, or belt of wood;

A smooth white mound the brush-pile showed,

A fenceless drift what once was road;

The bridle-post an old man sat

With loose-flung coat and high cocked hat;
The well-curb had a Chinese roof;
And even the long sweep, high aloof,

In its slant splendor, seemed to tell
Of Pisa's leaning miracle.

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OUR FRIEND THE DOG

MAURICE MAETERLINCK

MAURICE MAETERLINCK (1864- ), a Belgian poet, dramatist, and essayist, has won popularity in many lands. He has always been especially fond of nature.

He is thus described by an admirer: "A man of abiding and 5 abundant cheerfulness, who finds happiness in the simplest of things, the scent of a flower; a cornfield in sunshine; a deed of bravery, nobility, or of simple devotion; the unconscious sacrifice of the peasant who toils all day to feed and clothe his children.”

This animal, our good familiar dog, has performed 10 one of the most unusual and improbable acts that we can find in the general history of life. When was this recognition of man by beast, this extraordinary passage from darkness to light, effected? Did we seek out the poodle, the collie, or the mastiff from 15 among the wolves and the jackals, or did he come to us of his own accord? We cannot tell. So far as our human annals stretch he is at our side, as at present. Only the fact remains that he is there in our houses, as ancient, as rightly placed, as perfectly 20 adapted to our habits as though he had appeared upon this earth, such as he now is, at the same time as ourselves.

We have not to gain his confidence or his friendship. He is born our friend; while his eyes are still

closed, already he believes in us; even before his birth he has given himself to man. But the word "friend" does not exactly depict his affectionate worship. He loves us and reveres us as though we had drawn him out of nothing. He is, before all, 5 our creature, full of gratitude and more devoted than the apple of our eye. He is our intimate and impassioned slave, whom nothing discourages, whom nothing repels, whose ardent trust and love nothing can impair.

depict: describe.

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MERCY

The quality of Mercy is not strained,

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,

It is an attribute to God himself;

And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice.

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WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE