in all the eyes around him,
Saw in all their looks and gestures,
That the wedding guests assembled,
Longed to hear his pleasant stories,
His immeasurable falsehoods.

Very boastful was Iagoo;
Never heard he an adventure
But himself had met a greater;
Never any deed of daring
But himself had done a bolder;
Never any marvellous story
But himself could tell a stranger.

Would you listen to his boasting,
Would you only give him credence,
No one ever shot an arrow
Half so far and high as he had;
Ever caught so many fishes,
Ever killed so many reindeer,
Ever trapped so many beaver!

None could run so fast as he could,
None could dive so deep as he could,
None could swim so far as he could;
None had made so many journeys,
None had seen so many wonders,
As this wonderful Iagoo,
As this marvellous story-teller!

Thus his name became a by-word
And a jest among the people;
And whene'er a boastful hunter
Praised his own address too highly,
Or a warrior, home returning,
Talked too much of his achievements,
All his hearers cried: "Iagoo!
Here's Iagoo come among us!"

LONGFELLOW: "Hiawatha."

THE STORY OF A FIRE

Thirteen years have passed since, but it is all to me as if it had
happened yesterday,--the clanging of the fire-bells, the hoarse shouts
of the firemen, the wild rush and terror of the streets; then the great
hush that fell upon the crowd; the sea of upturned faces with the fire
glow upon it; and up there, against the background of black smoke that
poured from roof to attic, the boy clinging to the narrow ledge, so far
up that it seemed humanly impossible that help could ever come.

But even then it was coming. Up from the street, while the crew of the
truck company were labouring with the heavy extension ladder that at its
longest stretch was many feet too short, crept four men upon long,
slender poles with cross-bars, iron-hooked at the end. Standing in one
window, they reached up and thrust the hook through the next one above,
then mounted a story higher. Again the crash of glass, and again the
dizzy ascent. Straight up the wall they crept, looking like human flies
on the ceiling, and clinging as close, never resting, reaching one
recess only to set out for the next; nearer and nearer in the race for
life, until but a single span separated the foremost f