TRAVEL.

I should like to rise and go
Where the golden apples grow;
Where below another sky

Parrot islands anchored lie,

And, watched by cockatoos and goats,
Lonely Crusoes building boats;
Where in sunshine reaching out

Eastern cities miles about,

Are with mosque and minaret

Among sandy gardens set,

And the rich goods from near and far

Hang for sale in the bazaar;

Where the Great Wall round China goes,

And on one side the desert blows,

And with bell and voice and drum,

Cities on the other hum;

Where are forests hot as fire,

Wide as England, tall as a spire,
Full of apes and cocoa-nuts
And the negro hunter's huts;
Where the knotty crocodile
Lies and blinks in the Nile,
And the red flamingo flies

Hunting fish before his eyes;-
Where in jungles, near and far,
Man-devouring tigers are,

Lying close and giving ear
Lest the hunt be drawing near,
Or a comer-by be seen

Swinging in a palanquin;
Where among the desert sands
Some deserted city stands,

All its children, sweep and prince,
Grown to manhood ages since,
Not a foot in street or house,
Not a stir of child or mouse,
And when kindly falls the night,
In all the town no spark of light.
There I'll come when I'm a man
With a camel caravan;

Light a fire in the gloom
Of some dusty dining-room;
See the pictures on the walls,
Heroes, fights and festivals;
And in a corner find the toys
Of the old Egyptian boys.

-Robert Louis Stevenson.

THE SIRENS.”

The sirens were beautiful water-nymphs, but not so good as beautiful. Still they were quite harmless when people did not stop to listen to them.

They lived on an island in the midst of the sea. The winds and the waves taught them to sing strange, sweet, wild songs of their own making.

These songs, so it is said, were sweeter than any ever before heard on land or on sea; and they had a power such as no other music had.

To listen to these siren-songs, sailors would throw themselves from their ships into the sea. Many foolish men were drowned while trying to swim to the island; but the next passing ship lost as many more!

There was, also, a siren named the Lorelei, the charmer. Her home was upon a rock in the most dangerous part of the Rhine river. The rocks and waves of the Rhine were dangerous to the sailors of that day; but the strange, sweet music of the Lorelei was even more dangerous.

Her sweet voice tempted many foolish men to their death. At last, things became so bad that,

* See preface.

when ships were starting out, the friends on shore shouted loud and long: "Beware of the Lorelei! Beware of the siren song! He only is safe who listens not to the tempter! Beware, beware!"

Christ.

CLEOBULINE'S RIDDLE.*

Cleobulus lived in the sixth century before He was King of Lindus in Rhodes, and is known as one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece. His daughter was named Cleobuline, and, once, to amuse a certain company, she gave out this riddle to be guessed:

"A father has twelve children. Each of these children has thirty daughters, on one side white, and on the other side black; and though these daughters are immortal, they all die."

People have long since forgotten King Cleobulus and his daughter. But Cleobuline's riddle became famous and has come down to us through all these many centuries.

What is the answer?

* See preface.