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6. "I will send my honest old Minister to the weavers," thought the Emperor. "He can judge best how the stuff looks, for he has sense, and no one understands his office better than he."

7. Now the good old Minister went out into the hall where the two rogues sat working at the empty looms.

8. "Mercy on us!" thought the old Minister, and he opened his eyes wide. "I cannot see anything at all!" But he did not say this.

9. Both the rogues begged him to be so good as to come nearer, and asked if he did not approve of the colors and the pattern. Then they pointed to the empty loom, and the poor old Minister went on opening his eyes; but he could see nothing, for there was nothing to see.

10. "Mercy!" thought he, "can I indeed be so stupid? I never thought that, and not, a soul must know it. Am I not fit for my office? No, it will never do for me to tell that I could not see the stuff."

11. "Don't you say anything to it?" asked one, as he went on weaving.

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12. "O, it is charming,-quite enchanting!" answered the old Minister, as he peered through his spectacles. What a fine pattern, and what colors! Yes, I shall tell the Emperor that I am very much pleased with it."

13. "Well, we are glad of that," said both the weavers; and then they named the colors, and explained the strange pattern. The old Minister listened attentively, that he might be able to repeat it when the Emperor came. And he did so.

14. Now the rogues asked for more money and silk and gold, which they declared they wanted for weaving. They put all into their own pockets, and not a thread was put upon the loom; they continued to work at the empty frames as before.

15. The Emperor soon sent again, despatching another honest officer of the court, to see how the weaving was going on, and if the stuff would soon be ready. He fared

just like the first: he looked and looked, but, as there was nothing to be seen, he could see nothing.

16. "Is not that a pretty piece of stuff?" asked the two rogues; and they displayed and explained the handsome pattern, which was not there at all.

17. "I am not stupid!" thought the man; "it must be my good office, for which I am not fit. It is funny enough, but I must not let it be noticed." And so he praised the stuff which he did not see, and expressed his pleasure at the beautiful colors and charming pattern. "Yes, it is enchanting," he told the Emperor.

18. All the people in the town were talking of the gorgeous stuff. The Emperor wished to see it himself while it was still upon the loom. With a crowd of chosen men, among whom were also the two honest statesmen who had already been there, he went to the two cunning rogues, who were now weaving with might and main without fibre or thread.

19. "Is not that splendid?" said the two statesmen, who had already been there once. "Does not your Majesty remark the pattern and the colors?" And they pointed to the empty loom, for they thought that the others could see the stuff.

"I can see

20. "What's this?" thought the Emperor. nothing at all! That is terrible! Am I stupid? Am I not fit to be Emperor? That would be the most dreadful thing that could happen to me. O, it is very pretty!" he said aloud. It has our highest approbation." And he nodded in a contented way, for he would not say that he saw nothing.

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21. The whole suite whom he had with him looked and looked, and saw nothing, any more than the rest; but, like the Emperor, they said, "That is pretty!" and counselled him to wear the splendid new clothes for the first time at the great procession that was presently to take place.

22. "It is splendid, -- - excellent!" went from mouth to

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mouth. On all sides there seemed to be general rejoicing, and the Emperor gave the rogues the title of Imperial Court Weavers.

23. The whole night before the morning on which the procession was to take place the rogues were up, and kept more than sixteen candles burning. The people could see that they were hard at work, completing the Emperor's new clothes. They pretended to take the stuff down from the loom; they made cuts in the air with great scissors; they sewed with needles without thread; and at last they said, "Now the clothes are ready!"

24. The Emperor came himself with his noblest cavaliers ; and the two rogues lifted up one arm as if they were holding something, and said, " See! here are the trousers! here is the coat! here is the cloak!" and so on. "It is as light as a spider's web. One would think he had nothing on; but that is just the beauty of it."

25. "Yes," said all the cavaliers, admiringly.

26. "Will your Imperial Majesty please to condescend to take off your clothes?" said the rogues; "then we will put on you the new clothes here in front of the great mirror."

27. The Emperor took off his clothes, and the rogues pretended to put on him each new garment as it was ready; and the Emperor turned round and round before the mirror.

28. "O, how well you look! how capitally they fit!" said all. "What a pattern! what colors! That is a splendid dress!"

29. "They are standing outside with the canopy which is to be borne above your Majesty in the procession!" announced the head-master of the ceremonies.

30. "Well, I am ready," replied the Emperor. "Does it not suit me well?" And then he turned again to the mirror, for he wanted it to appear as if he contemplated his adornment with great interest.

31. The two chamberlains, who were to carry the train,

stooped down with their hands toward the floor, just as if they were picking up the mantle; then they pretended to be holding something in the air. They did not dare to let it be noticed that they saw nothing.

32. So the Emperor went in procession under the rich canopy, and every one in the streets said, "How incomparable are the Emperor's new clothes! what a train he has to his mantle! how it fits him!" No clothes of the Emperor's had ever had such a success as these.

33. "But he has nothing on!" a little child cried out at last.

34. Just hear what that innocent says!" said the father; and one whispered to another what the child had said.

35. "But he has nothing on!" said the whole people at length. That touched the Emperor, for it seemed to him that they were right; but he thought within himself, “I must go through with the procession." And so he held. himself a little higher, and the chamberlains held on tighter than ever, and carried the train which did not exist at all.

Hans Christian Andersen.

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LOVE to see the little goldfinch pluck

I twit;

The groundsel's feathered seed, and twit, and twit ;

And, soon in bower of apple-blossoms perched,

Trim his gay suit, and pay us with a song.

I would not hold him prisoner for the world.

II.

The chimney-haunting swallow, too, my eye
And ear well pleases. I delight to see
How suddenly he skims the glassy pool,
How quaintly dips, and with a bullet's speed
Whisks by. I love to be awake, and hear
His morning song twittered to dawning day.

III.

But most of all, it wins my admiration
To view the structure of this little work,
A bird's-nest. Mark it well, within, without.
No tool had he that wrought, no knife to cut,
No nail to fix, no bodkin to insert,

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No glue to join; his little beak was all,
And yet how neatly finished! What nice hand,
With every implement and means of art,
And twenty years' apprenticeship to boot,
Could make me such another?

IV.

Mark the bee;

She, too, an artist is,

a cunning artist,

Who at the roof begins her golden work,

And builds without foundation. How she toils,
And still from bed to bed, from flower to flower,
Travels the livelong day! Ye idle drones,
Who rather pilfer than your bread obtain
By honest means like these, behold and learn
How grand, how fair, how honorable it is
To live by industry! The busy tribes

Of bees, so emulous, are daily fed,

Because they daily toil. And bounteous Heaven,
Still to the diligent and active good,

Their very labor makes the cause of health.

Hurdis.

XCVIII. RETURN OF BRITISH FUGITIVES,

I

1782.

VENTURE to prophesy there are those now living who will see this favored land amongst the most powerful on earth,able, sir, to take care of herself, without resorting to that policy which is always so dangerous, though sometimes unavoidable, of calling in foreign aid.

2. Yes, sir, they will see her great in arts and in arms, – her golden harvests waving over fields of immeasurable

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