which no degree of dexterity or practice would have insured, that unfortunate gentleman bore swiftly down into the center of the reel, at the very moment when Mr. Bob Sawyer was performing a flourish of unparalleled beauty.

5

Mr. Winkle struck wildly against him, and with a loud crash they both fell heavily down. Mr. Pickwick ran to the spot. Bob Sawyer had risen to his feet, but Mr. Winkle was far too wise to do anything of the kind in skates. He was seated on the ice, 10 making spasmodic efforts to smile; but anguish was depicted on every lineament of his countenance.

"Are you hurt?" inquired Mr. Benjamin Allen, with great anxiety.

"Not much," said Mr. Winkle, rubbing his back. 15 "I wish you'd let me bleed you," said Mr. Benjamin with great eagerness.

No, thank you," replied Mr. Winkle, hurriedly. "I really think you had better," said Allen. "Thank you," replied Mr. Winkle; "I'd rather 20

not."

"What do you think, Mr. Pickwick?" inquired Bob Sawyer.

Mr. Pickwick was excited and indignant. He beckoned to Mr. Weller, and said in a stern voice, 25 "Take his skates off!"

"No; but really I had scarcely begun," remonstrated Mr. Winkle.

"Take his skates off," repeated Mr. Pickwick, firmly.

The command was not to be resisted. Mr. Winkle allowed Sam to obey it in silence.

"Lift him up," said Mr. Pickwick. Sam assisted him to rise.

Mr. Pickwick retired a few paces apart from the bystanders, and, beckoning his friend to approach, fixed a searching look upon him, and uttered in a low 10 but distinct and emphatic tone, these remarkable words, "You're a humbug, sir."

15

"A what, sir?" said Mr. Winkle, starting.

"A humbug, sir. I will speak plainer if you wish it an impostor, sir."

:

With these words Mr. Pickwick turned slowly on his heel and rejoined his friends.

jǎc'ü lāt ĕd: exclaimed. Im'pê tus: the force with which a body is driven or impelled. Spăș mod'ic: as in a spasm; shaking violently. De pict'ěd: marked; painted.

Lin'è à

ment: feature.

The Chambered Nautilus

By O. W. HOLMES

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894): An American physician and author. He wrote two novels, "Elsie Venner" and "The Guardian Angel," some medical treatises, and several volumes of poems. His most popular works are, however,

three series of papers contributed to the Atlantic Monthly"The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table," "The Professor at the Breakfast-Table," and "The Poet at the Breakfast-Table." These papers abound in wit and humor and shrewd insight into human character. Among the poems interspersed throughout the "Autocrat" papers is Holmes's most admired poem, "The Chambered Nautilus." "I wrote that poem," Holmes said, "at white heat. When it was finished I took it to my wife who was sewing in an adjoining room and said, 'I think I have the best poem that I have ever written,' and I have never changed my mind about it."

This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign,
Sails the unshadowed main,

The venturous bark that flings

On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings
In gulfs enchanted, where the siren sings,

And coral reefs lie bare,

Where the cold sea-måids rise to sun their streaming hair.

Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl;

Wrecked is the ship of pearl!

And every chambered cell

Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell,
As the frail tenant shaped his growing shell,

Before thee lies revealed,

Its iris ceiling rent, its sunless crypt unsealed!

Year after year beheld the silent toil

That spread his lustrous coil;

10

15

Still, as the spiral grew,

He left the past year's dwelling for the new,
Stole with soft step his shining archway through,
Built up his idle door,

5 Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old

no more.

Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee, Child of the wandering sea,

Cast from her lap, forlorn!

From thy dead lips a clearer note is born 10 Than ever Triton blew from wreathèd horn! While on mine ear it rings,

15

Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that sings:

Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,
As the swift seasons roll!

Leave thy low-vaulted past!

Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,

Till thou at length art free,

Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!

The chambered or pearly nau'ti lus: a small sea animal inhabiting a shell having many chambers or cavities, each of which is occupied in succession. As the animal increases in size, it advances, forming a larger chamber and partitioning off the one last occupied. Crypt: secret place; vault. Triton: according to Greek mythology, a sea god who raised or calmed the billows by playing on a conch shell.

About the Stars

BY CAMILLE FLAMMARION

Camille Flammarion (1842): A popular French writer and lecturer on astronomy and other subjects.

This selection is from "The Wonders of the Heavens."

The stars appear to be scattered at random in the heavens. On a fine starry night, when our sight rises to these heights, a great difference in their brightness is noticed, and at the same time a seeming disorder in their general arrangement. This irregu- 5 lar arrangement and the number of stars prevent us from giving each of them a particular name, but to recognize them and facilitate study, the heavenly sphere is divided into sections.

The astronomical knowledge or science of the 10 ancients was very limited. They were at first contented to name the planets and a few of the most beautiful stars, and we have preserved some of the old names. They grouped together certain stars, each group being imagined to form the outlines of 15 some animal or of some mythical hero, whose name was given to the group. Unless the imagination is vivid enough to create images of the figures represented, just as it sees pictures in the ever-changing