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into his hands, so he sent me to bring it to you." With these words the messenger produced a small jar, adding, "In a few days he will let you know the price."

When he had delivered his message, the master of the house was greatly pleased, and said: "Indeed, I am deeply grateful for this kindness, for now my son's life will be saved."

Then the good wife came out and received the jar with every mark of politeness.

"We must make a present to you," said the father. "Indeed, sir, I've already been paid for my trouble." “Well, at any rate you must stay with us for the night.” "Thank you, sir; I've a relative in the next village whom I have not seen for a long while, and I will pass the night with him," and so he took his leave, and went his

way.

The parents lost no time in sending to let the physicians know that they had procured the fox's liver. The next day the doctor came and prepared the medicine for the patient, which at once produced a good effect, and there was great joy in the household.

In three days the man whom they had asked to buy the fox's liver came to the house. The good wife hastened out to welcome him.

"How quickly you fulfilled our wishes and how kind of you to send the liver at once! The doctor prepared the medicine, and now our boy can get up and walk about the room; and it is all owing to your kindness."

"Wait a bit!" cried the guest, who did not know what

to make of the joy of the two parents. "The commission with which you entrusted me about the fox's liver turned out to be a matter of impossibility, so I came to-day to make my excuses. I really cannot understand why you are

so grateful to me."

"We are thanking you, sir," replied the father of the boy, bowing, with his hands on the ground, "for the fox's liver which we asked you to procure for us."

"Really, I am perfectly unaware of having sent you a fox's liver; there must be some mistake. Pray inquire carefully into the matter."

"Well, this is indeed very strange! Four nights ago, a man of some five or six and thirty years of age came with a verbal message from you, to the effect that you sent him with a fox's liver, which you had just procured, and said that you would come to tell us the price another day. When we asked him to spend the night here, he answered that he would lodge with a relative in the next village, and then went away.'

The visitor was lost in amazement, and leaning his head on one side in deep thought, confessed he could make nothing of it, and so he took his leave and went home.

That night there appeared at the pillow of the master of the house a woman of about one or two and twenty years of age, who said, "I am the fox that lives at suchand-such a mountain. Last spring when I was taking out my cub to play, it was carried off by some boys, and saved only by your kindness. The desire to return this kindness. pierced me to the quick. At last, when calamity came to

your house, I thought I might be of use to you. Your son's illness could not be cured without a liver taken from a live fox, so to repay your kindness I killed my cub and took out its liver; then its sire, disguising himself as a messenger, brought it to you."

As she spoke, the fox shed tears, and the master of the house, wishing to comfort her, moved in bed, upon which his wife awoke and asked him what the matter was; but he, too, to her great astonishment, was weeping bitterly.

"Why are you weeping thus?" she asked.

At last he sat up in bed and said: "Last spring when I was out on a pleasure excursion, I was the means of saving the life of a fox's cub, as I told you at the time. The other day I told Mr. So-and-So that although my son were to die before my eyes I would not be the means of killing a fox on purpose, but I asked him, in case he heard of any hunter killing a fox to buy it for me. How the foxes came to hear of this I do not know, but the foxes to whom I had shown kindness killed their own cub and took out the liver; and the old father fox, disguising himself as a messenger from the man to whom we had confided the commission, came here with it. His mate has just been at my pillow and told me all about it, and in spite of myself I was moved

to tears.

When she heard this, the good wife likewise was blinded by her tears, and for a while they lay lost in thought; but soon they lighted the lamp on the shelf on which stood the family idol, and spent the rest of the night in reciting

prayers and praises. The next day they told all about the affair to their relatives and friends.

The boy who had recovered through the efficacy of the medicine, selected the prettiest spot on the premises and erected a shrine to Inari Sama, the Fox God, and offered sacrifice to the two old foxes, for whom he purchased the highest rank at the court of the Mikado.

- Adapted from "Tales of Old Japan."

Bu is a coin worth about thirty cents.

2 Inari Sama is the title under which was deified a certain mythical personage, to whom tradition attributes the honor of having first discovered and cultivated the rice plant. He is represented carrying a few ears of rice, and is symbolized by a snake guarding a bale of rice grain. The foxes wait upon him and do his bidding. As rice is the principal food product of Japan, the honors which Inari Sama receives are extraordinary; almost every house in the country contains somewhere about the grounds a shrine in his honor.

Be grudge (be grůj'): to grudge, or to envy one the possession of something. Ca lăm'í tỹ: a great misfortune or cause of trouble. Ec centric (ěk sén' trík): an odd or peculiar acting person. Myth'i cal: pertaining to a myth, or a story like a myth or old legend. Sub side': to become quiet. Trà di tion (dish'un): that which has been told from one generation to another and usually relating to belief and good conduct.

Lost! yesterday! somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered, for they are gone forever.

- Horace Mann.

OCTOBER.

ANDREW MCLACHLAN.

ANDREW MCLACHLAN, a Canadian poet, was born in 1820. His writings and noble life were appreciated by the citizens of Toronto, who presented him with a farm in Amaranth, Ontario.

Compare this poem on "October" with other poems on the same month.

See how the great old forest vies
With all the glory of the skies,

In streaks without a name;

And leagues on leagues of scarlet spires,
And temples lit with crimson fires,

And palaces of flame!

And domes on domes that gleam afar,
Through many a gold and crimson bar,
With azure overhead;

While forts, with towers on towers arise
As if they meant to scale the skies,
With banner bloody red!

Here, orange groves that seem asleep;
There, stately avenues that sweep
To where the land declines;
There, starting up in proud array,
With helmets flashing to the day,
Troop upon troop of pines!
Here, evergreens that have withdrawn,
And hang around the open lawn

With shadows creeping back;
While yonder, girdled hemlocks run

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