My second on the ear doth fall;

My whole before my third doth stand; Goes forth the gray old sentinel

And draws him in with eager hand. The best is given of meat and wine, The warmest corner by the fire, Welcome my whole to young and old, To highborn dame and lowly squire. He tells of knights and ladies fair,

Of ghost and goblin, spells and charmsOf gallant knight who was my first; Then comes a tale of war's alarms. My whole has on his listeners reckoned To smile or weep, to hope or fear; They long to crown him with my second, And sound his praises far and near.

CHARLOTTE OSGOOD CARTER.

ILLUSTRATED PRIMAL ACROSTIC.

I'd repair; air;

;

If I were overheated to · But to renew my ardor, I'd seek To don a garb of cheerfulness, I'd land on If regretfully demented in I would mope; In I'd find an outlet to all my pent-up grief; And on the shores of 9. to my anger give relief; If very fond of music, in I would stay; And if my wheel were creaky, to For a simple dwelling I 'd make But for more regal quarters to

I'd haste away; my home;

I would roam.

A FLIGHT OF STAIRS.

J. A. H.

I. THE diagonal from the upper left-hand letter to the lower right-hand letter, a beautiful shrub.

CROSS-WORDS: 1. An inn. 2. Uneven. 3. A young mare. 4. Weak or light-minded conduct. 5. To gather together.

II. Diagonal, something often on the breakfast-table. CROSSWORDS: I. Not plain. 2. Wandering tribes. 3. To disparage. 4. A measure of length, being the distance from the elbow to the extremity of the middle finger. 5. Melodious.

NOVEL HOUR-GLASS.

FLOYD.

"How did we get him? well, I don't remember exactly. Let me see. It was about three years ago or more may be more and -oh, yes, Billy has it right. He was chased in here one night by a lot of boys. Now I do remember, and mighty well too. Bob was on watch that night. You see Bob 's my partner, or relief, as we call it. He drives the engine when I am on my day off or out at my meals. We always have at least two drivers, sometimes more, both for the engine and tender, in case one is off, or out of the house, when we get a 'run,' as we call an alarm of fire.

"Yes, Bob was on watch, and he and I and Billy were standing over there beside the 'trip' talking. Billy was telling us one of his yarns.

timer from the days of the old volunteers. Born and raised up the State somewhere, he belonged to the fire brigade in his native town before he came to New York. In those days all the apparatus they had to fight a fire with was a few buckets and a sponge. The sponge was used to cool the boys off when they got too excited in having arguments as to who was to put out the fire at least that 's what Billy says. Then Billy came to the city, and joined the old volunteers; and when this Department was organized in 1864, he drifted in with the rest of the old-timers, and has been a fixture ever since. But he is pretty well worn out now, he's been overcome with smoke so many times, had his arms and legs broken in several places, falling down hatchways and off ladders, and