, a day,
Gone with the years that have vanished away;
Little by little the race is run,
Trouble and waiting and toil are done!

Little by little the skies grow clear;
Little by little the sun comes near;
Little by little the days smile out
Gladder and brighter on pain and doubt;
Little by little the seed we sow
Into a beautiful yield will grow.

Little by little the world grows strong,
Fighting the battle of Right and Wrong:
Little by little the Wrong gives way,
Little by little the Right has sway;
Little by little all longing souls
Struggle up nearer the shining goals!

Little by little the good in men
Blossoms to beauty for human ken;
Little by little the angels see
Prophecies better of good to be;
Little by little the God of all
Lifts the world nearer the pleading call.

_Cincinnati Humane Appeal_.

* * * * *

LOYALTY.

Life may be given in many ways
And loyalty to truth be sealed
As bravely in the closet as the field,
So generous is fate;
But then to stand beside her,
When craven churls deride her,
To front a lie in arms, and not to yield,
This shows, methinks, God's plan
And measure of a stalwart man,
Limbed like the old heroic breeds,
Who stands self-poised on manhood's solid earth,
Not forced to frame excuses for his birth,
Fed from within with all the strength he needs.

J. R. LOWELL.

* * * * *

ANIMALS AND HUMAN SPEECH.

Animals have much more capacity to understand human speech than is
generally supposed. The Hindoos invariably talk to their elephants, and it
is amazing how much the latter comprehend. The Arabs govern their camels
with a few cries, and my associates in the African desert were always
amused whenever I addressed a remark to the big dromedary who was my
property for two months; yet at the end of that time the beast evidently
knew the meaning of a number of simple sentences. Some years ago, seeing
the hippopotamus in Barnum's museum looking very stolid and dejected, I
spoke to him in English, but he did not even open his eyes. Then I went to
the opposite corner of the cage, and said in Arabic, "I know you; come here
to me." He instantly turned his head toward me; I repeated the words, and
thereupon he came to the corner where I was standing, pressed his huge,
ungainly h