Doors bang; and mother-voices call
From alien homes; and rusty gates
Are slammed; and high above it all
The thunder grim reverberates.

And then, abrupt,-the rain! the rain!
The earth lies gasping; and the eyes
Behind the streaming window-pane

Smile at the trouble of the skies.

The swallow dips beneath the eaves,
And flirts his plumes and folds his wings;

And under the catawba leaves

The caterpillar curls and clings.

The bumble-bee is pelted down
The wet stem of the hollyhock;

And sullenly, in spattered brown,
The cricket leaps the garden walk.

Within, the baby claps his hands

And crows with rapture strange and vague; Without, beneath the rosebush stands

A drooping rooster on one leg.

THE BREMEN TOWN MUSICIANS

BY JACOB And Wilhelm GRIMM

There was once a donkey whose master had made him carry sacks to the mill for many a long year, but whose strength began at last to fail, so that each day as it came found him less able to work.

Then his master began to think of turning him out, but the donkey, guessing that something was wrong, ran away, taking the road to Bremen. There he thought he might get an engagement as town musician. When he had gone a little way he found a dog lying by the side of the road, panting, as if he had run a long way.

"Now, Holdfast, what are you so out of breath about?" said the donkey.

"Oh dear!" said the dog, "now I am old, I get weaker every day, and can do no good in the hunt, so, as my master was going to have me killed, I have made my escape; but now, how am I to gain a living?"

"I will tell you what," said the donkey. "I

am going to Bremen to become town musician. You may as well go with me, and take up music, too. I can play the lute, and you can beat the drum."

The dog consented, and so they walked on together. It was not long before they came to a cat sitting in the road, looking as dismal as three wet days.

"Now then, what is the matter with you?" said the donkey.

"I should like to know who would be cheerful when his neck is in danger," answered the cat. "Now that I am old my teeth are getting blunt, and I would rather sit by the oven and purr than run about after mice. My mistress wanted to drown me, so I took myself off. But good advice is scarce, and I do not know what is to become of me."

"Come with us to Bremen," said the donkey, "and be town musician. You understand serenading."

The cat thought well of the idea, and went with them accordingly. After that the three travelers passed by a yard, where a cock was

perched on the gate, crowing with all his might. "Your cries are enough to pierce bone and marrow," said the donkey; "what is the mat

ter?"

"I have foretold good weather so that all the shirts may be washed and dried. Now on Sunday morning company is coming, and the mistress has told the cook that I must be made into soup. This evening my neck is to be wrung, so that I am crowing with all my might while I can."

"You had much better go with us, Chanticleer," said the donkey. "We are going to Bremen. At any rate that will be better than dying. You have a powerful voice, and when we are all performing together it will have a very good effect."

So the cock consented, and they all four went on together.

But Bremen was too far off to be reached in one day. Towards evening they came to a wood, where they determined to pass the night. The donkey and the dog lay down under a large tree; the cat got up among the branches, and the cock

flew up to the top, as that was the safest place for him. Before he went to sleep he looked all round him to the four points of the compass, and saw in the distance a little light shining, and he called to his companions that there must be a house not far off, as he could see a light. So the donkey said,

"We had better get up and go there, for these are uncomfortable quarters." The dog began to fancy that a few bones, not quite bare, would do him good. So they all set off in the direction of the light. It grew larger and brighter, until at last it led them to a robber's house, all lighted up. The donkey being the biggest, went up to the window, and looked in.

66

Well, what do you see?" asked the dog. "What do I see?" answered the donkey;

"I

see a table set out with fine food, and robbers sitting at it and making themselves very comfortable.'

"That would just suit us," said the cock.

"Yes, indeed, I wish we were there," said the donkey. Then they consulted together how they should manage so as to get the robbers out of