it with the skins, which he tucked in very firmly on the side toward the wind. Then lifting them on the other side, he said:

"Now take off your fur coat, quick, lay it over the hay, and then creep under it."

I obeyed as rapidly as possible. For an instant I shuddered in the icy air; but the next moment I lay stretched in the bottom of the sled, sheltered from the storm. I held up the ends of the reindeer skins while Lars took off his coat and crept in beside me. Then we drew the skins down and pressed the hay against them. When the wind seemed to be entirely excluded, Lars said that we must pull off our boots, untie our scarfs, and loosen our clothes. When this was done, and we lay close together, I found that the chill gradually passed out of my blood. My hands and feet were no longer numb; a delightful feeling of comfort crept over me, and I lay as snugly as in the best bed. I was surprised to find that, although my head was covered, I did not feel stifled. Enough air came in under the skins to prevent us from feeling oppressed.

In five minutes, I think, we were sound asleep, and I dreamed of gathering peaches on a warm August day at home. In fact, I did not wake up thoroughly during the night; neither did Lars, though it seemed to me that we both talked in our sleep. I remem

ber that his warm soft hair pressed against my chin, and that his feet reached no farther than my knees.

Just as I was beginning to feel a little cramped and stiff from lying so still, I was suddenly aroused by the cold wind on my face. Lars had risen up on his elbow, and was peeping out from under the skins.

"I think it must be near six o'clock," he said. "The sky is clear, and I can see the big star. We can start in another hour."

I felt so much refreshed that I was for setting out at once; but Lars remarked, very sensibly, that it was not yet possible to find the road. While we were talking Axel neighed.

"There they are!" cried Lars, and he immediately began to put on his boots, his scarf, and heavy coat. I did the same, and by the time we were ready, we heard shouts and the crack of whips. We harnessed Axel to the sled, and proceeded slowly in the direction of the sounds, which came, as we presently saw, from a company of farmers, out this early to plow the road. They had six pairs of horses geared to a wooden frame, something like the bow of a ship, pointed in front and spreading out to a breadth of ten or twelve feet. The machine not only cut through the drifts, but packed the snow, leaving a good solid

road behind it. After it had passed, we sped along merrily in the cold morning twilight, and in a little. more than an hour reached the posthouse at Umea. There we found Lars's father prepared to return home. He waited until Lars had eaten a good warm breakfast, when I said good-by to both and went on towards Lapland.

Lars was so quiet and cheerful and fearless that although I had been nearly all over the world and he had never been away from home, I felt that I had learned a lesson from him, and might probably learn many more, if I should know him better.

BAYARD TAYLOR: Boys of Other Countries.

AIDS TO STUDY

Few literary men of America have traveled so extensively as Bayard Taylor, the author of Boys of Other Countries, from which this story is taken. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1825. After serving his apprenticeship in a printing office, he devoted his time. to travel, writing, and lecturing, until, in 1862, he was appointed Secretary of the American Legation at the Court of St. Petersburg. Less than a year before his death, in 1878, he was appointed United States minister to Germany.

Bayard Taylor has written a great many interesting books especially on travel and adventure. Here are some of them: Views Afoot, Eldorado, Travels in Greece and Russia, At Home and Abroad, Joseph and His Friend, The Story of Kennet, and The Ballad of Abraham Lincoln.

1. Why was Bayard Taylor such a good story-teller? 2. What is meant by a "postboy"? 3. Has the word any other meaning? 4. Locate Sweden and Lapland on the map of Europe. 5. Where was Bayard Taylor going when he met Lars Petersen? 6. How did he travel? 7. What caused him to do so? 8. Give his opinion of the Swedish people. 9. What do they usually do in winter time? 10. Describe the vehicle in which Taylor traveled. 11. How was he dressed for the journey? 12. What caused the delay? 13. What is the difference between a Swedish mile and an English mile? 14. Tell what you know about Lars. 15. How was he dressed? 16. What mishap took place on the journey? 17. What did Lars propose to do? 18. How did he and Bayard Taylor manage to keep warm? 19. Who came to their assistance? 20. How would you like to live in Sweden or Lapland? 21. Words that have opposite or nearly opposite meanings are called antonyms. Give the antonyms for cold, smooth, strong, tall, day, below, before, large, fast, short, left, opened, younger, thick, soft, narrow.

Expressions for study:

a wonderful aurora

chilled to the bone

cuddled together

geared to a wooden frame

icy northern wind
peered anxiously

sheltered valleys

the sky was overcast

1. Look up in your histories and geographies interesting facts about the people of Sweden and Lapland. 2. Study the plan of this story. 3. Make an outline showing what you think are the principal divisions. 4. If you are telling the story according to your outline, how many paragraphs will you have? 5. Can you find out from the story the outline that the author used in writing it?

THE TOIL OF GOD

Behold the silvered mists that rise

From all-night toiling in the corn.

The mists have duties up the skies,

The skies have duties with the morn;

While all the world is full of earnest care

To make the fair world still more wondrous fair;

More lordly fair; the stately morn

Moves down the walk of golden wheat;

Her guards of honor gild the corn

In golden pathway for her feet;

The purpled hills she crowns in crowns of gold,
And God walks with us as He walked of old.

JOAQUIN MILLER.