And the urchins that stand with their thievish

eyes

Forever on watch, ran off with each prize.

Then away to the field it went blustering and humming,

And the cattle all wondered whatever was coming; It plucked by their tails the grave matronly cows, 5 And tossed the colts' manes all about their

brows,

Till, offended at such a familiar salute,

They all turned their backs and stood silently

mute.

So on it went capering and playing its pranks;
Whistling with reeds on the broad river-banks; 10
Puffing the birds as they sat on the spray,
Or the traveler grave on the king's highway.
It was not too nice to bustle the bags
Of the beggar and flutter his dirty rags.

"Twas so bold that it feared not to play its joke 15
With the doctor's wig and the gentleman's cloak.
Through the forest it roared, and cried gayly,
Now,

66

You sturdy old oaks, I'll make you bow!"
And it made them bow without more ado,
Or it cracked their branches through and through.

Then it rushed like a monster o'er cottage and farm,

Striking their inmates with sudden alarm ;

And they ran out like bees in a midsummer

swarm.

There were dames with their kerchiefs tied over

their caps,

To see if their poultry were free from mishaps; The turkeys they gobbled, the geese screamed

aloud,

5

And the hens crept to roost in a terrified crowd; 10 There was rearing of ladders, and logs laying

on,

Where the thatch from the roof threatened soon

to be gone.

But the wind had passed on, and had met in a

lane

With a schoolboy, who panted and struggled in vain,

For it tossed him, and twirled him, then passed,

and he stood

With his hat in a pool, and his shoe in the mud.

Rearing of ladders and logs laying on: putting up ladders and laying logs on the thatched roof to keep the wind from blowing it off

This poem is in the same spirit as "Jack Frost." The wind is out for fun and mischief.

1. What does it do to the signs and the people in the town? 2. What does it do to the animals on the farm? 3. What does it do to the trees in the forest? 4. Does it do, or come near doing, any serious damage? 5. Tell some of the pranks and some of the real harm that you have known the wind to do. 6. Read the poem aloud with life and spirit.

BROWNIE ON THE ICE

You would enjoy reading the whole book from which this story is taken. It begins this way: "There was once a little Brownie who lived where do you think he lived? — in a coal-cellar." He was "only a little old man, about a foot high, all dressed in brown, with a brown face and hands, and a brown. peaked cap, just the color of a brown mouse." He played all sorts of funny tricks, and was always the friend of the six children who lived in the house.

Grass stays green and roses So skating or sliding on ice is a

Devonshire is not very cold. bloom there almost all year. great treat.

I

Winter was a grand time with the six little children, especially when they had frost and snow. This happened seldom enough for it to be the greatest possible treat when it did happen; and it never lasted very long, for the winters are warm 5 in Devonshire.

There was a little lake three fields off, which made the most splendid sliding place that ever was. No skaters went near it, it was not large enough ; and besides, there was nobody to skate, the neigh- 10 borhood being lonely. The lake itself looked the