ut the permission of the Pope) until it was the turn of some more
ambitious neighbour. The Pope, once more sorely beset by his enemies,
sent north for help. He did not appeal to the ruler of the west-Frankish
kingdom, this time. His messengers crossed the Alps and addressed
themselves to Otto, a Saxon Prince who was recognised as the greatest
chieftain of the different Germanic tribes.

Otto, who shared his people's affection for the blue skies and the gay
and beautiful people of the Italian peninsula, hastened to the rescue.
In return for his services, the Pope, Leo VIII, made Otto "Emperor,"
and the eastern half of Charles' old kingdom was henceforth known as the
"Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation."

This strange political creation managed to live to the ripe old age
of eight hundred and thirty-nine years. In the year 1801, (during the
presidency of Thomas Jefferson,) it was most unceremoniously relegated
to the historical scrapheap. The brutal fellow who destroyed the old
Germanic Empire was the son of a Corsican notary-public who had made a
brilliant career in the service of the French Republic. He was ruler of
Europe by the grace of his famous Guard Regiments, but he desired to be
something more. He sent to Rome for the Pope and the Pope came and stood
by while General Napoleon placed the imperial crown upon his own head
and proclaimed himself heir to the tradition of Charlemagne. For history
is like life. The more things change, the more they remain the same.

THE NORSEMEN

WHY THE PEOPLE OF THE TENTH CENTURY PRAYED THE LORD TO PROTECT THEM FROM
THE FURY OF THE NORSEMEN

IN the third and fourth centuries, the Germanic tribes of central Europe
had broken through the defences of the Empire that they might plunder
Rome and live on the fat of the land. In the eighth century it became
the turn of the Germans to be the "plundered-ones." They did not
like this at all, even if their enemies were their first cousins, the
Norsemen, who lived in Denmark and Sweden and Norway.

What forced these hardy sailors to turn pirate we do not know, but
once they had discovered the advantages and pleasures of a buccaneering
career there was no one who could stop them. They would suddenly descend
upon a peaceful Frankish or Frisian village, situated on the mouth of
a river. They would kill all the men and steal all the women. Then they
would sail away in their fast-sailing ships and when the soldiers of
the king or em