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THE GREAT AND LITTLE BEAR

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For although her body was like a bear's, her thoughts and feelings were still human, and she feared the wild beasts of the woods.

For fifteen long years, poor Callisto lived lonely and sad in the forest. Her joy in nature was all gone. In vain the brooks gurgled as they sped merrily by; in vain the sun looked down with his cheery smile; in vain the birds sang their happy songs. She cared for none of them, and no longer responded to the beauty that surrounded her.

Nuts and wild honey and berries were her food — the running brooks, her drink. At night she slept in the hollow of a tree or in some dark cavern. Often she heard the voices of her former friends, as they went hunting over the hills; and then she trembled and crouched behind the trees, for she did not want them to find her.

Many a time her thoughts went back to that day when she had last seen her little son, and she wondered what had become of the boy.

So thrice five summers and winters passed, and, in the meanwhile, Arcas had grown to be a fine, tall youth, who, like his mother, was very fond of hunting. So good a marksman was he that he hardly ever missed his aim, and with his faithful hound, and his sharp hunting knife, brought many a wild deer to bay.

One day he took his bow and arrows, and started out alone. He had been hunting a long time, when, in following a deer's track, he came suddenly into a little cleared space, and saw, standing within a few feet of him, a great, shaggy bear.

Callisto, for it was she, did not hear the sound of footsteps until it was too late to hide, and then she turned

to see who was coming. In an instant, in spite of the many years since she had last seen him, the mother knew her son; and she gazed with wondering eyes at the child who had grown to be such a tall, fine-looking boy. She longed to speak; but of course her growling would have frightened Arcas, so she merely kept her eyes fixed on him.

At first Arcas was only startled at coming so suddenly within a few feet of a bear; but soon he became frightened at the animal's fixed stare. There was such a strange sadness in the eyes that gazed at him that he felt a terror which he could not explain. Scarcely knowing what he did, he raised his bow and aimed an arrow at his mother.

Just at this moment Jupiter appeared, and snatched both bow and arrow from his hands. For Jupiter had always loved Callisto, and he was sorry for the harm his wife had done to one so good and gentle. To make up as far as he could for Juno's cruelty, he changed both mother and son into bright, glowing stars, and put them in the heavens, to shine there forever, the Great Bear and the Little Bear. There you may see them on any starry night and think of their story.

Juno was very angry when she saw the newly-made stars twinkling in the sky. She had tried to show her hatred toward Callisto by taking away her human form, but now Jupiter had made her and her son far greater than human beings. She went to Neptune, god of the sea, and told him her troubles. She asked him to grant her at least one little favor, never to let the Great Bear or the Little Bear enter his ocean palace.

If some time you watch the stars over the ocean, you will see that as the night passes, they seem to sink lower

THE GLADNESS OF NATURE

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and lower, and at last to vanish into the sea. That is what Juno meant by speaking of the stars entering Neptune's ocean palace. Neptune promised to do as she wished, and he kept his word, for from that day to this, the Great Bear and the Little Bear have never set.

THE GLADNESS OF NATURE

Is this a time to be cloudy and sad,
When our mother Nature laughs around;
When even the deep blue heavens look glad,

And gladness breathes from the blossoming ground?

There are notes of joy from the hang-bird and wren,
And the gossip of swallows through all the sky;
The ground-squirrel gayly chirps by his den,
And the wilding bee hums merrily by.

The clouds are at play in the azure space

And their shadows at play on the bright green vale, And here they stretch to the frolic chase, And there they roll on the easy gale.

There's a dance of leaves in that aspen bower,

There's a titter of winds in that beechen tree,

There's a smile on the fruit, and a smile on the flower, And a laugh from the brook that runs to the sea.

And look at the broad-faced sun, how he smiles
On the dewy earth that smiles in his ray,
On the leaping waters and gay young isles;
Ay, look, and he'll smile thy gloom away.

WILLIAM C. BRYANT.

A STORY OF THE SPRINGTIME

PART I

IN the blue Mediterranean Sea, which washes the southern shore of Europe, lies the beautiful island of Sicily. Long, long ago, there lived on this island a goddess named Ceres. She had power to make the earth yield plentiful crops of grain, or to leave it barren; and on her depended the food, and therefore the life, of all the people on the great, wide earth.

Ceres had one fair young daughter, whom she loved very dearly. And no wonder, for Proserpine was the sunniest, happiest girl you could imagine.

Her face was all white and pink, like apple blossoms in spring, and there was just enough blue in her eyes to give you a glimpse of an April morning sky. Her long, golden curls reminded you of the bright sunlight. In fact, there was something so young and fair and tender about the maiden that if you could imagine anything so strange as the whole springtime, with all its loveliness, changed into a human being, you would have looked but an instant at Proserpine and said, "She is the Spring."

Proserpine spent the long, happy days in the fields, helping her mother, or dancing and singing among the flowers, with her young companions.

Way down under the earth, in the land of the dead, lived dark King Pluto; and the days were very lonely for him with only shadows to talk to. Often and often, he had tried to urge some goddess to come and share his gloomy throne; but not the richest jewels or wealth

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could tempt any one of them to leave the bright sunlight above and dwell in the land of shades.

One day Pluto came up to earth and was driving along in his swift chariot, when, behind some bushes, he heard such merry voices and musical laughter that he drew rein, and stepping down, parted the bushes to see who was on the other side. There he saw Proserpine standing in the center of a ring of laughing young girls who were pelting her with flowers.

The stern old king felt his heart beat quicker at sight of all these lovely maidens, and he singled out Proserpine, and said to himself, "She shall be my queen. That fair face can make even dark Hades light and beautiful." But he knew it would be useless to ask the girl for her consent; so, with a bold stride, he stepped into the midst of the happy circle.

The young girls, frightened at his dark, stern face, fled to right and left. But Pluto grasped Proserpine by the

arm and carried her to his chariot, and then the horses flew along the ground, leaving Proserpine's startled companions far behind.

He

King Pluto knew that he must hasten away with his prize, lest Ceres should discover her loss; and, to keep out of her path, he drove his chariot a roundabout way. came to a river; but as he neared its banks, it suddenly began to bubble and swell and rage, so that Pluto did not dare to drive through its waters. To go back another way would mean great loss of time; so with his scepter he struck the ground thrice. It opened, and, in an instant, horses, chariot, and all, plunged into the darkness below.

But Proserpine knew that the nymph of the stream had

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