"'Tis green, 'tis green, sir, I assure ye."
"Green!" cries the other in a fury;
"Why, sir, d'ye think I've lost my eyes?"
"'Twere no great loss," the friend replies,
"For if they always serve you thus, 5
You'll find them of but little use."

So high at last the contest rose,
From words they almost came to blows;
When luckily came by a third--
To him the question they referred, 10
And begged he'd tell them, if he knew,
Whether the thing was green, or blue.

"Sirs," cries the umpire, "cease your pother!
The creature's neither one nor t'other.
I caught the animal last night, 15
And viewed it o'er by candle light;
I marked it well--'twas black as jet;
You stare--but, sirs, I've got it yet,
And can produce it." "Pray, sir, do;
I'll lay my life the thing is blue." 20
"And I'll engage that when you've seen
The reptile, you'll pronounce him green."

"Well, then, at once to ease the doubt,"
Replies the man, "I'll turn him out;
And when before your eyes I've set him, 25
If you don't find him black, I'll eat him."
He said: then full before their sight
Produced the beast, and lo--'twas white!

Both stared; the man looked wondrous wise!--
"My children," the chameleon cries
(Then first the creature found a tongue),
"You all are right, and all are wrong,
When next you talk of what you view, 5
Think others see as well as you;
Nor wonder if you find that none
Prefers your eyesight to his own."

1. You should read with this poem Saxe's "The Blind
Men and the Elephant." Is it like any other
selection you have read?

2. Does the chameleon actually change color?
Wherein does the humor of the poem lie?

THE PICKWICK CLUB ON ICE

BY CHARLES DICKENS

"Now," said Wardle, after a substantial lunch had
been done ample justice to, "what say you to an
hour on the ice? We shall have plenty of time."

"Capital," said Mr. Benjamin Allen.

"Prime," ejaculated Mr. Bob Sawyer. 5

"You skate, of course, Winkle?" said Wardle.

"Ye--yes; oh, yes!" replied