land! I saw him in London streets, walking with one Mr. Boswell."

19. Yes, the poor boy-the friendless Sam-with whom we began our story had become the famous Doctor Samuel Johnson! He was universally acknowledged as the wisest man and greatest writer in England.

20. He had given shape and permanence to his native language by his Dictionary. Thousands upon thousands of people had read his Idler, his Rambler, and his Rasselas. Noble and wealthy men and beautiful ladies deemed it their highest privilege to be his companion. Even the king of Great Britain had sought his acquaintance, and told him what an honor he considered it that such a man had been born in his dominions. He was now at the summit of literary renown.

21. But all his fame could not extinguish the bitter remembrance which had tormented him through life. Never, never had he forgotten his father's sorrowful and upbraiding look. Never, though the father's troubles had been over so many years, had the son forgiven himself for inflicting such a pang upon his parent's heart.

22. And now in his old age he had come hither to do penance, by standing at noonday on the very spot where Michael Johnson had once kept his book-stall. We hope that he also sought for forgiveness with God, and thus gained true peace of conscience.

23. My dear children, whenever you have sinned against your parents or have grieved the heart of any human being, think of Samuel Johnson's penance, and remember that the Bible clearly admonishes us to redeem the error at once by saying, "I have erred-forgive me!" and not to endure the pangs of remorse for days and weeks and years, and, perhaps, finally to shed bitter tears over the grave of the wronged one.

Hawthorne.

XL.—THE SIMOOM OF THE DESERT.

si-moom', a hot, poisonous wind; Samum.

sol'-stice, the point at which the sun is furthest from the equator; Sonnenwende.

op-press-ive-ness, heaviness; das Drückende.

mut'-u-al-ly ask, asking the same; gegenseitig fragen. prov-i-den ́-tial-ly, by the foresight and care of God; nach göttlicher Vorsehung.

re-lapse', to slide or fall back; zurückfallen.

sti'-fle, to choke; ersticken.

con'-cen-tra-ted, combined; zusammengezogen; vereinigt.

sol'-i-ta-ry, single; einsam; einzeln.

re-as-sure', to free from fear; wieder beruhigen.

corpse, a dead body of a human being; Leichnam.

1. It was about noon, the noon of a summer solstice in the unclouded Arabian sky over a scorched desert, when abrupt and burning gusts of wind began to blow by fits from the south, while the oppressiveness of the air increased every moment, till my companion and myself mutually asked each other what this could mean, and what was to be its result.

2. We turned to inquire of Salim, but he had already wrapped up his face in his mantle, and, bowed down and crouching on the neck of his camel, replied not a word. His comrades, the two Sherarat Bedouins, had adopted a similar position, and were equally silent.

3. At last, after repeated interrogations, Salim, instead of replying directly to our questioning, pointed to a small black tent, providentially at no great distance in front, and said, "Try to reach that; if we can get there, we are saved." He added, "Take care that your camels do not stop and lie down;" and then, giving his own several vigorous blows, relapsed into muffled silence.

4. We looked anxiously towards the tent; it was yet a hundred yards off, or more. Meanwhile the gusts grew

hotter and more violent, and it was only by repeated efforts that we could urge our beasts forward. The horizon rapidly darkened to a deep violet hue, and seemed to draw in like a curtain on every side; while at the same time a stifling blast, as though from some enormous oven opening right on our path, blew steadily under the gloom; our camels, too, began, in spite of all we could do, to turn round and round and bend their knees preparing to lie down. The simoom was fairly upon us.

5. Of course we had followed our Arab's example by muffling our faces, and now with blows and kicks we forced the staggering animals onwards to the only asylum within reach. So dark was the atmosphere, and so burning the heat, that it seemed that a hell had risen from the earth, or descended from above.

6. But we were yet in time, and, at the moment when the worst of the concentrated poison-blast was coming around, we were already prostrate one and all within the tent, with our heads well wrapped up, almost suffocated indeed, but safe; while our camels lay without like dead, their long necks stretched out on the sand, awaiting the passing of the gale.

7. On our first arrival the tent contained a solitary Bedouin woman, whose husband was away with his camels in the Wadi Sirhan. When she saw five men, like us, rush thus suddenly into her dwelling without a word of leave or salutation, she very properly set up a scream. Salim hastened to reassure her by calling out "friends," and without more words threw himself flat on the ground. All followed his example in silence.

8. We remained thus for about ten minutes, during which a still heat, like that of red-hot iron, slowly passing over us, was alone to be felt. Then the tent walls began again to flap in the returning gusts, and announced that the worst of the simoom had gone by. We got up, half

dead with exhaustion, and unmuffled our faces. My comrades appeared more like corpses than living men, and so, I suppose, did I.

9. However, I could not forbear, in spite of warnings, to step out and look at the camels; they were still lying flat, as though they had been shot. The air was yet darkish, but before long it brightened up to its usual dazzling clearness. During the whole time that the simoom lasted, the atmosphere was entirely free from sand or dust; so that I hardly know how to account for its singular obscurity. W. G. Palgrave.

XLI.—THE THREE BLACK CROWS.

de-tain', to withhold; zurückhalten.

vom'-it, a medicine that causes throwing up; Brechmittel.

vir-tu-o'-so, one skilled in curiosities, or in arts; Neuigkeits

krämer; Kunstfreund.

in-form'-ant, one who simply acquaints us with something; Berichterstatter.

prop'-a-gate, to increase; to multiply; vervielfältigen; vermehren.

1. Two honest tradesmen meeting in the Strand, One took the other briskly by the hand: "Hark ye," said he, "'tis an odd story, this, About the crows!" "I don't know what it is," Replied his friend. "No? I'm surprised at that; Where I come from, it is the common chat.

2. But you shall hear an odd affair, indeed!
And that it happened, they are all agreed.
Not to detain you from a thing so strange:
A gentleman, who lives not far from 'Change,
This week, in short, as all the Alley knows,
Taking a vomit, threw up three black crows!"

3. "Impossible!" "Nay, but 'tis really true; I had it from good hands, and so may you." "From whose, I pray?" So, having named the man, Straight to inquire his curious comrade ran: "Sir, did you tell-" (relating the affair). "Yes, sir, I did; and, if 'tis worth your care, 'Twas Mr. Such-a-one who told it me;

But, by-the-by, 'twas two black crows--not three.'

4. Resolved to trace so wondrous an event, Quick to the third the virtuoso went:

"Sir" (and so forth). "Why, yes-the thing is fact, Though in regard to number not exact:

It was not two black crows --'twas only one.
The truth of that you may depend upon:

The gentleman himself told me the case.'

"Where may I find him?” "Why, in such a place!"

5. Away he went; and, having found him out: Sir, be so good as to resolve a doubt." Then to his last informant he referred,

And begged to know if true what he had heard:

"Did you, sir, throw up a black crow?"

'Bless me, how people propagate a lie!

"Not I!"

Black crows have been thrown up, three, two, and one;

And here, I find, all comes at last to none!

6. Did you say nothing of a crow at all?''
"Crow?-crow? Perhaps I might, now I recall
The matter over." "And pray, sir, what was't?"
"Why, I was horrid sick, and, at last,

I did throw up-and told my neighbor so—
Something that was as black, sir, as a crow!"

John Byrom.