und it hard to guide his sled. Suddenly he made a swerve to the
left, and, with a fearful jerk, over they went. It was a dreadful blow,
and had it not been for the kindness of the people in charge, both might
have been badly injured; but they were picked up and carried to the
pavilion, rubbed with snow on their noses and ears, and finally packed
in a sledge and driven home. How differently they looked at the
glittering crowd, and watched the animated scene! They had gone out full
of excitement and daring; resolved as Ivan was to resist authority, he
now was full of shame that he had gotten himself into a scrape. His
fingers ached, and Olga was crying and complaining of her ears. As they
neared their home a troiska drove up with ladies wrapped in sables, and
their mother and Miss Stanley alighted.

"Ivan! Olga! where have you been? what have you been doing?"

They told their story when they got in-doors, and Ivan had begged some
kopeks with which to pay the waiting isvochtchik--for his money had been
exhausted; and it was settled that they had been sufficiently punished
when it was discovered that Ivan's fingers and Olga's ears were
frost-bitten.

Both were sent to bed for fear of further harm from the cold, which is
considered by Russians the root of all evil in the way of disease; and
as they sipped their hot tea again, and nibbled the slice of lemon which
floated on the surface, Ivan said to Olga: "It is great fun to go twenty
miles an hour, but it don't pay to be bad. I'm going to work to-morrow
at those old English verbs, and I'll conquer or die."

* * * * *

=The Trap-door Spider.=--One of the most singular specimens of insect
life is the trap-door spider of Jamaica. His burrow is lined with silk,
and closed by a trap-door with a hinge. The door exactly fits the
entrance to the burrow, and when closed, so precisely corresponds with
the surrounding earth that it can hardly be distinguished, even when
its position is known. It is a strange sight to see the earth open, a
little lid raised, some hairy legs protrude, and gradually, the whole
form of the spider show itself. These spiders generally hunt for food by
night, and in the daytime they are very chary of opening the door of
their domicile, and if the trap be raised from the outside, they run to
the spot, hitch the claws of their fore-feet in the lining of the
burrow, and so resist with all their might. The strength of the spider