THE CLOUD

I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers
From the seas and the streams;

I bear light shade for the leaves when laid
In their noonday dreams.

From my wings are shaken the dews that waken
The sweet buds, every one,

When rocked to rest on their mother's breast,
As she dances about the sun.

I wield the flail of the lashing hail,
And whiten the green plains under;
And then again I dissolve it in rain,
And laugh as I pass in thunder.

I am the daughter of Earth and Water,
And the nursling of the Sky;

I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores;
I change, but I cannot die.

-PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY (Abridged).

wield to handle, use.-flail: an instrument for beating grain from the ear by hand. It consists of a wooden handle to which is fastened a shorter and heavier wooden club so hung as to swing freely.

A JAPANESE SCHOOLBOY

At the age of six I was sent to school. For some time before the fall opening, I was filled with excitement and curiosity and looked forward to the day with great impatience. As our neighbors were few and scattered and I did not have many playmates, I wondered how I should feel on meeting so many strange boys.

Weeks before, I insisted on having a play school at home to prepare myself a little for the great event, and with my mother as teacher I learned the numerals and the forty-eight letters of the Japanese alphabet by heart. I wished to do just as I would at school, and so I used to go outdoors and with measured steps approach the porch. Entering the house, I sat down before a table, and cheerfully began to study.

The few days before the opening of the school were taken for my preparation. I needed copy-books, a slate, an abacus, which is a frame strung with wires on which are wooden beads to be moved in counting and reckoning, and a small writing-box, containing a stone ink-well, a cake of India ink, a china water-vessel, and brushes. I must have also a round lunch set, the three pieces of which can be piled one upon another like a miniature pagoda, and then, when empty, be

put one within another to reduce the size. A pair of chopsticks went with the set, of course. Now all must be purchased new as if everything had a new start.

And then a new school suit was bought, together with a navy cap. These were all ready the day before school opened.

And then came the night before I was to go. I played the part of a watch-dog by sleeping right near my property. In fact, I went to bed early, but I could not sleep till after everybody had retired for the night. And then

I dreamed that my abacus stood up, its beads chattering on how to start the trip in the morning. It was joined by the copy-book, made of soft, Japanese paper, which parted hither and thither in walking, as a Japanese lady's skirt.

The next morning I set out with my father for the school. The faces of every one in the house looked out at me from the door. I made every effort to be dignified in walking, but could not help

looking back just once, when

my face broke into a smile,

and I felt suddenly very shy.

But as I heard my younger brother struggling to get away from my mother to follow me, I hastened on.

The school was a low, dark-looking building, with paper-screened windows all around like a broad white belt, and with a spacious porch with dusty shelves to leave clogs on. When we arrived, we were led into a side room, where we met the master or principal, and soon my father returned home, leaving me to his care.

I felt somewhat lonesome with strangers all around, but kept myself as cool as possible, which effort was very much like stop

ping a leak with the hands. A slight neglect would bring something misty into my

eyes. But now all the boys and girls came into one large room. Some forty of the older ones and fifteen of those who had newly entered took their seats, the older ones glancing curiously at the newcomers. But we were all in back seats and so were not annoyed with looks that would have felt piercing to us from behind.

The desk given to me was a miserable one; not only was it smeared with ink, ages old, but cuts were made here and there as if it were a well-fought battleground. But I did not feel ashamed to sit there, as I thought that this was the place in which a great scholar was to be brought up.

Looking awhile at what was going on, I found that the boys were divided into three classes. The method of teaching was curious; one class had a reading les

son, while the other two were having writing or arithmetic. The teaching was so arranged that what one class was doing might not disturb the others. I was struck, even in my boyish mind, with the happy method, and learned the first lesson in management.

Reading was done partly in unison with the master, in a singsong style, and the effect was pleasing, if it was not very loud. The class in arithmetic, on the other hand, sent out a pattering noise of pencils on the slates. A writing lesson taken in the midst of such a company was never tiresome. Indeed, anything out of tune would start the whole school laughing, and such things were constantly happening.

-SAKAE SHIOYA (Adapted).

min'iature represented on a small scale.-pago'da: tower-like buildings of China, Japan, and India, usually used as temples.-chopsticks: small sticks of wood or ivory used by the Chinese and Japanese to convey food to the mouth.―clogs: shoes or sandals having very thick soles.

KING ROBERT OF SICILY

PART I

In Sicily there was a noble King, named Robert, fair and strong and powerful; in all the world he had no equal. Men called him "Great" and "the Conqueror," and he was the prince of all knighthood in his day. His brothers were Pope Urban and Valemond, Emperor of Germany, a great warrior. This