loss how to excuse
himself and, putting his hand into his pocket by chance, to his utter
astonishment he there found a purse of ducats. He took it out, turned
pale, and looking at the bag, burst into tears without being able to
utter a single word. "What is that?" said the King; "what is the
matter?" "Ah, sire!" said the young man, throwing himself on his knees,
"somebody seeks my ruin! I know nothing of this money which I have just
found in my pocket!" "My young friend," replied Frederick, "God often
does great things for us even in our sleep. Send that to your mother,
salute her on my part, and assure her that I will take care of both her
and you."

_Beauties of History_.

* * * * *

THE SPANIELS OF THE MONKS OF ST. BERNARD.

The convent of the Great St. Bernard is situated near the top of the
mountain known by that name, near one of the most dangerous passes of
the Alps, between Switzerland and Savoy. In these regions the traveller
is often overtaken by the most severe weather, even after days of
cloudless beauty, when the glaciers glitter in the sunshine, and the
pink flowers of the rhododendron appear as if they were never to be
sullied by the tempest. But a storm suddenly comes on; the roads are
rendered impassable by drifts of snow; the avalanches, which are huge
loosened masses of snow or ice, are swept into the valleys, carrying
trees and crags of rock before them.

[Illustration: CONVENT OF MONT ST. BERNARD.]

The hospitable monks, though their revenue is scanty, open their doors
to every stranger that presents himself. To be cold, to be weary, to be
benighted, constitutes the title to their comfortable shelter, their
cheering meal, and their agreeable converse. But their attention to the
distressed does not end here. They devote themselves to the dangerous
task of searching for those unhappy persons who may have been overtaken
by the sudden storm, and would perish but for their charitable succour.
Most remarkably are they assisted in these truly Christian offices. They
have a breed of noble dogs in their establishment, whose extraordinary
sagacity often enables them to rescue the traveller from destruction.
Benumbed with cold, weary in the search of a lost track, his senses
yielding to the stupefying influence of frost, the unhappy man sinks
upon the ground, and the snow-drift covers him from human sight. It is
then that the keen scent and the exquisite docility of