by this door he entered into the
land of the dwarfs. No sooner had he set his foot in it, than the dwarfs
swarmed about him, attracted by the smell of the ham. They offered him
queer, old-fashioned money and gold and silver ore for it; but he refused
all their tempting offers, and said that he would sell it only for the old
hand mill behind the door.

7. At this, the dwarfs held up their little old hands, and looked quite
perplexed. "We can not make a bargain, it seems," said the poor man, "so
I'll bid you all a good day."

8. The fragrance of the ham had by this time reached the remote parts of
dwarf land. The dwarfs came flocking around in little troops, leaving
their work of digging out precious ores, eager for the ham.

9. "Let him have the old mill," said some of the newcomers; "it is quite
out of order, and he don't know how to use it. Let him have it, and we
will have the ham."

10. So the bargain was made. The poor man took the old hand mill, which
was a little thing not half so large as the ham, and went back to the
woods. Here the old man showed him how to use it. All this had taken up a
great deal of time, and it was midnight before he reached home.

11. "Where in the world have you been?" said his wife. "Here I have been
waiting and waiting, and we have no wood to make a fire, nor anything to
put into the porridge pot for our Christmas supper."

12. The house was dark and cold; but the poor man bade his wife wait and
see what would happen. He placed the little hand mill on the table, and
began to turn the crank. First, out there came some grand, lighted wax
candles, and a fire on the hearth, and a porridge pot boiling over it,
because in his mind he said they should come first. Then he ground out a
tablecloth, and dishes, and spoons, and knives and forks.

13. He was himself astonished at his good luck, as you may believe; and
his wife was almost beside herself with joy and astonishment. Well, they
had a capital supper; and after it was eaten, they ground out of the mill
every possible thing to make their house and themselves warm and
comfortable. So they had a merry Christmas eve and morning.

DEFINITIONS.--l. Tri'-fling, of small value. 5. Hand 'mill, a mill turned
by hand. 6. At-tract'ed, drawn to, allured. 7. Perplexed', puzzled. 8.
Fra'grance, sweetness of smell.

IV. WHY THE SEA IS SALT. (32)
(Concluded.)

1. When the people went by the house to church, the next day, they could
hardly b