not even good, without consulting our parents. Oh, I have been very imprudent!"—and she began to shed tears. "Let us pray to God, my dear brother," she again said, "and he will hear us.' They had scarcely finished their prayer when they heard the barking of 5 a dog. "It must be the dog of some hunter," said Paul, "who comes here at night, to lie in wait for the deer." Soon after, the dog began barking again with increased violence.

"Surely," said Virginia, "it is Fidele, our own dog. 10 Yes; now I know his bark." A moment after Fidele was at their feet, barking, howling, moaning, and devouring them with caresses. Before they could recover from their surprise, they saw Domingo running towards them. At the sight of the good old negro 15 who wept for joy, they began to weep too.

When Domingo had recovered himself a little, “Oh, my dear children," said he, "how miserable have you made your mothers! mothers! How astonished they were when they returned, on not finding you at home! I ran back- 20 wards and forwards in the plantation, not knowing where to look for you. At last I took some of your old clothes, and showing them to Fidele, the poor animal, as if he understood me, immediately began to scent your path, and conducted me, wagging his tail all the while, to 25 the Black River.

"I there saw a planter who told me you had brought back a Maroon negro woman, his slave, and that he had pardoned her at your request. After that, Fidele,

still on the scent, led me up the steep bank of the Black River, where he again stopped and barked with all his might. At last he led me to this very spot. We are now at the foot of the mountain and still four 5 good leagues from home. Come, eat and recover your

strength."

Domingo then presented them with a cake, some fruit, and a large gourd full of beverage. But when they prepared to continue their journey a new difficulty 10 occurred; Paul and Virginia could no longer walk, their feet being swollen and inflamed. Domingo knew not what to do; whether to leave them and go in search of help, or remain and pass the night with them on that spot. "There was a time," said he, "when I 15 could carry you both together in my arms! But now you are grown big, and I am old."

While he was in this perplexity, a troop of Maroon negroes appeared at a short distance from them. The chief of the band, approaching Paul and Virginia, said 20 to them: "Good little white people, do not be afraid. We saw you pass this morning with a negro woman of the Black River. You went to ask pardon for her of her wicked master; and we, in return for this, will carry you home upon our shoulders." He then made 25 a sign, and four of the strongest negroes immediately formed a sort of litter with the branches of trees and lianas, and having seated Paul and Virginia on it, carried them upon their shoulders. Domingo marched in front with his lighted torch, and they proceeded amidst

the rejoicings of the whole troop, who overwhelmed them with their benedictions.

It was midnight when they arrived at the foot of their mountain, on the ridges of which several fires were lighted. As soon as they began to ascend, they 5 heard voices exclaiming: "Is it you, my children?" They answered immediately, and the negroes also: "Yes, yes, it is." A moment after they could distinguish their mothers coming towards them with lighted torches in their hands. "Unhappy children!" cried 10 Madame de la Tour, "where have you been? what agonies you have made us suffer!"-"We have been,' said Virginia, "to the Black River, where we went to ask pardon for a poor Maroon slave, to whom I gave our breakfast this morning, because she seemed dying 15 of hunger; and these Maroon negroes have brought us home." Madame de la Tour embraced her daughter, without being able to speak; and Virginia, who felt her face wet with her mother's tears, exclaimed: "Now I am repaid for all the hardships I have suffered." Mar- 20 garet, in a transport of delight, pressed Paul in her arms, exclaiming: "And you also, my dear child, you have done a good action." When they reached the cottages with their children, they entertained all the negroes with a plentiful repast, after which the latter returned to the 25 woods praying Heaven to shower down every description of blessing on those good white people.

From "Paul and Virginia."

OLIVER GOLDSMITH.

OLIVER GOLDSMITH was born in 1728, in a little Irish hamlet called Pallas. His father was a clergyman, who found it hard to provide for his large family of eight children. When Oliver was two years old, his father

Byrne, who used to shoulder a crutch and show the boys "how fields were won." He told the children Irish folkstories and wild legends and sang them many a song.

While at this school, Oliver was taken ill with 25 smallpox, and was sent, on recovering, to the Griffin school at Roscommon. The pale-faced little fellow learned very slowly and was looked upon as a dunce.

The boys laughed at him and imposed upon him, although they all regarded him as kind-hearted and affectionate.

Oliver was no dunce, though he seemed so stupid and awkward. After he became famous, these very 5 playmates remembered bright answers he had given when they had roused him beyond endurance. While attending school at Roscommon, Oliver stayed with his Uncle John. A country dance was once given at the house. The gay music led Oliver to forget his shyness, 10 and he began to dance the hornpipe. The fiddler laughed and called him "Ugly Æsop." Oliver quickly turned to him and said:

"Heralds, proclaim aloud! all saying,

See Æsop dancing and his monkey playing."

In spite of these flashes of wit, his playmates continued to laugh at him and cheat him into buying their worthless toys, and he was thought to be the dullest boy in the village.

15

At the age of eleven he was sent to a school at Athlone, 20 about five miles away, and two years later attended a school at Edgeworthstown. The master, Rev. Patrick Hughes, took an interest in the lad, and was the only teacher who recognized his good qualities.

The story is told that Oliver was returning to school 25 after a holiday, riding a horse and carrying a guinea in his pocket. He loitered along the way, enjoying the scenes, and at nightfall found himself several miles from school.