there in the sunshine he whistles a strain.
'She's coming! She's here!'
Are his messages clear,
As squadrons of swallows sweep by in the lane.

Now the woodlands rejoice with the green-tinted hedges;
The young wheat peeps up and the blue sky looks down.
Then out and away!
Our respects we must pay,
When the Princess of Springtime is wearing her crown.

THE MISUNDERSTOOD POETS.

The village wiseacres of Cumberland, to whom the habits of the poet
Wordsworth and his eccentric friend Coleridge were a mystery, had
decided that they must be terrible scoundrels. One sage had seen
Wordsworth looking fixedly at the moon; another had overheard him
muttering in some strange language. Some thought him a conjuror; some a
smuggler, from his perpetually haunting the sea-beach; while others were
sure that he was a desperate French conspirator.

One day, while on a walking excursion, Coleridge met a woman, who, not
knowing who he was, abused him to himself in unmeasured terms for some
time. 'I listened,' wrote the poet to a friend, 'very particularly,
appearing to approve all she said, exclaiming "Dear me!" two or three
times; and, in fine, so completely won her heart by my civilities, that
I had not courage enough to undeceive her.'

This hostility seems very ludicrous now; but at the time its effect was
such, that the person who had the letting of Allfoxenden House refused
point-blank to re-let it to Wordsworth.

PUZZLERS FOR WISE HEADS.

II.--AGRICULTURAL ACROSTIC.

My first is very quiet,
My second was very noisy,
My third is very watery,
My fourth is often very fierce,
My fifth is very musical,
My sixth is done to newspapers.

Every week my finals and initials are held in many large towns.

W. S.

[_Answers on page_ 323.]

* * * * *

ANSWERS TO PUZZLES ON PAGE 254.

9.--1. Board.
2. Death.
3. March.

10.--_Lilac_.

1. H e _L_ e n.
2. C r _I_ m e.
3. G a _L_ e n.
4. T r _A_ i n.
5. B a _C_ o n.

THE GIANT OF THE TREASURE CAVES.

(_Continued from page 275._)

Thomas advanced towards Estelle cautiously, an artful smile on his face.
Before the little girl was aware of his presence, he was close to her.

'Hush!' he muttered, fearing she would cry out; 'you come along with me,
and I will take you home, my lady. It is not true friends that keep you
here. I know my