I remember my sacred vow;
And I'd hold it matter of scorn
In death's teeth to break it now.

"Jove! lava is all around--
It nears me with scorching breath;
It hisses along the ground
To my feet, and the hiss means--death.

"I've fought as a soldier should
'Neath many an alien sky,
And at home at my post I've stood
Amidst cowards, and now, to die.

"Great Mars, give me heart of grace
_Triarii_,[C] over the bowl
Say, 'He died with a smile on his face,
And glory in his soul'!"

W. B. B. STEVENS.

[Illustration: THE FAITHFUL SENTRY.]

FOOTNOTES:

[B] Overwhelmed, together with Pompeii, by a lava eruption, A. D. 79.

[C] The Roman _Triarii_ were old soldiers, of approved valor, who
formed the third line in a legion--hence their name.

VACATION.

O, master, no more of your lessons!
For a season we bid them good by,
And turn to the manifold teachings
Of ocean, and forest, and sky.
We must plunge into billow and breaker;
The fields we must ransack anew;
And again must the sombre woods echo
The glee of our merry-voiced crew.

From teacher's and preacher's dictation--
From all the dreaded lore of the books--
Escaped from the thraldom of study,
We turn to the babble of brooks;
We hark to the field-minstrels' music,
The lowing of herds on the lea,
The surge of the winds in the forest,
The roar of the storm-angered sea.

To the tree-tops we'll climb with the squirrels;
We will race with the brooks in the glens;
The rabbits we'll chase to their burrows;
The foxes we'll hunt to their dens;
The woodchucks, askulk in their caverns,
We'll visit again and again;
And we'll peep into every bird's nest
The copses and meadows contain.

For us are the blackberries ripening
By many a moss-covered wall;
There are bluehats enough in the thickets
To furnish a treat for us all;
In the swamps there are ground-nuts in plenty;
The sea-sands their titbits afford;
And, O, most delectable banquet,
We will feast at the honey-bee's board!

O, comrades, the graybeards assure us
That life is a burden of cares;
That the highways and byways of manhood
Are fretted with pitfalls and snares.
Well, school-days have _their_ tribulations;
T