BIG BOY AND LITTLE MAMMA.
Mamma, my dear, if a robber should come,
A terrible robber, one might, you see,
I'd frighten him off with my sword and drum,
And you would be perfectly safe with me.
And if you and I in a gloomy wood
Should meet a bear as we walked some day,
With my bow and arrows, like Robin Hood,
I would drive the fierce old bear away.
But now I am tired, and sleepy too,
And I wish my mamma would lift me down.
There's a laughing look in her eyes of blue,
As they answer her boy's so big and brown.
She feels on her lips his coaxing touch,
She clasps him fast in her loving hold,
And she murmurs, I'll never fear robber much,
Unless he should steal this heart of gold.
[KINGS AND QUEENS OF ENGLAND.]
BY CLARA SAVILLE.
| 1066.— | William the First, "The Conqueror," came over the sea from Normandy; |
| Matilda of Flanders, his Queen, worked the far-famed Bayeux Tapestry. | |
| 1087.— | William Rufus built Westminster Hall, London Bridge, and added to the Tower; |
| But had no gracious Queen to share his throne and power. | |
| 1100.— | Henry I., "Beauclerc," his Saxon subjects' favor strove to gain; |
| Matilda of Scotland, his first wife, then Adelicia of Louvain. | |
| 1135.— | Stephen, his crown to gain, cost England many precious lives; |
| Matilda of Boulogne—her abbey at Feversham no longer survives. | |
| 1154.— | Henry II., Fitz Empress, first of the Plantagenet line of Kings; |
| Eleanor of Aquitaine, of whose beauty "the troubadour" sings. | |
| 1189.— | Richard I., the first King who fought in Palestine; |
| Berengaria with him went, Princess of Navarre's royal line. | |
| 1199.— | John signed the Magna Charta—o'er his crown the great sea rages; |
| Isabella of Angoulême his Queen, "the Helen of the Middle Ages." | |
| 1216.— | Henry III. had civil wars, where many of his people fell; |
| Eleanor of Provence his Queen, surnamed "La Belle." | |
| 1272.— | Edward I., the last King to hold the Crusader's lance; |
| Eleanora of Castile first wife; then Marguerite of France. | |
| 1307.— | Edward II., murdered monarch of a kingly race; |
| Isabella, "the Fair," from France, most beauteous of face. | |
| 1327.— | Edward III., to claim his rights in France, lost many brave men slain; |
| Philippa of Hainault, his loving wife, from Belgium's fertile plain. | |
| 1377.— | Richard II., feeble King, to Bolingbroke his crown he did resign; |
| Anne of Bohemia, then Isabella of France, Queen at the age of nine. | |
| 1399.— | Henry IV. obtained a usurper's crown through many cruel deeds; |
| Joanna of Navarre, a lovely lady, long imprisoned in the Castle of Leeds. | |
| 1413.— | Henry V. carried war again to the sunny land of France; |
| Katherine of Valois, not long a Queen, whose beauty did entrance. | |
| 1422.— | Henry VI.'s reign was troubled by the wars of York and Lancaster; |
| Margaret of Anjou's varied life was one of sorrow and disaster. | |
| 1461.— | Edward IV.'s stormy reign first learned the art of printing; |
| Elizabeth Wydville, an English widow, won the heart of this King. | |
| 1483.— | Edward V., whose reign was the shortest in English history; |
| The death of this King and his brother was for some time a mystery. | |
| 1483.— | Richard III., last of the Plantagenets, cruel King and dreaded hater; |
| Anne Neville, hopeless Queen, daughter of Warwick the King-maker. | |
| 1485.— | Henry VII.'s coronation united the red and white roses, |
| With Elizabeth of York wedded, the flowers were blended in posies. | |
| 1509.— | Henry VIII., six Queens had he: Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, |
| Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard, Katherine Parr, who outlived him. | |
| 1547.— | Edward VI., gentle, scholarly Prince, who wept to sign an execution; |
| His short reign gave future fears to those of the rising Reformation. | |
| 1553.— | Mary I. lost many faithful subjects by her fires and her bigotry; |
| Philip II. of Spain exceeded her in deep designs and cruelty. | |
| 1558.— | Elizabeth, wise, despotic Queen, last of the line of Tudor; |
| To crush her sovereign power, Spain sent her great "Armada." | |
| 1603.— | James I., a Scottish King, of the old Stuart race; |
| Anne of Denmark, who in dramatic shows displayed much art and grace. | |
| 1625.— | Charles I. trouble had with Church and State that led to civil warfare; |
| Henrietta Maria of France, whose queenly life was one of toil and care. | |
| 1649.— | An interregnum followed, and Oliver Cromwell ruled with power and strength |
| O'er England, the "Lord Protector of the Commonwealth." | |
| 1660.— | Charles II., restored to his forefathers' throne of wealth and glory; |
| Catherine of Braganza, with Goa, in Hindostan, in addition to her dowry. | |
| 1685.— | James II., whose bigotry and cruelties exiled him from his native land; |
| Mary Beatrice of Modena, a beauteous lady, born to command. | |
| 1689.— | William III., the Prince of Orange, wise statesman and great general; |
| Mary II., of the house of Stuart, foundress of Greenwich Hospital. | |
| 1702.— | Anne, last of the house of Stuart, celebrated for her victories; |
| Prince George of Denmark her husband, and admiral of her navies. | |
| 1714.— | George I., a German Prince, first monarch of the house of Hanover is seen; |
| Sophia of Zell his wife, but never crowned in England Queen. | |
| 1727.— | George II. had fought on German soil, and troubles had with the "Pretender"; |
| Caroline of Anspach, a Queen of superior talents, grace, and character. | |
| 1760.— | George III. lost the American colonies during the longest reign in English annals; |
| Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, a lady of the strictest code of morals. | |
| 1820.— | George IV., in his reign were numerous inventions; |
| Caroline of Brunswick, whose woes caused great dissensions. | |
| 1830.— | William IV., "the Sailor King," had served in England's navy; |
| Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, a benevolent, kind, and gentle lady. | |
| 1837.— | Victoria now reigns, and her people love her dearly; |
| Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg, for whom she mourns sincerely. |
[UNCLE HARRY'S FIRST PANTHER.]
BY ALLAN FORMAN.
"Say, Uncle Harry, you've shot 'most everything; did you ever shoot a panther?" inquired Charlie, as he looked up from the book he was reading.
"Of course he has," interrupted Tom. "Don't you remember the skin he has in his room?"
"That panther was nothing to my first," said Uncle Harry, with a laugh.
"Tell us about it," pleaded Charlie, as he drew his chair closer to his uncle's.
Uncle Harry laughed again good-naturedly, and commenced as follows:
It was the summer your father got married that I took my first trip into the Adirondacks. I went up to Martin's, hired a guide, and we started off for Little Tupper Lake, where we were to camp. We selected a camping-place at the head of the lake, where there was a good spring of water, and soon had our tent up, and the camp fixed. Certain bear and panther tracks around the spring did not add to our sense of security; but the guide assured me that they would not come into camp in the daytime, and that at night the dog would give warning. For the first three or four days all went well; we shot a deer, caught plenty of trout, and had a good time generally. But one afternoon, about four o'clock, Hank Sweeny, my guide, came to me with the announcement that the dog was gone.
"Chawed up his rope, and skedaddled," as Hank expressed it. "I reckon he must 'a smelled that thar panther that was to the spring last night. He's death on panthers."
"What are you going to do?" I inquired, anxiously.
"Well, I reckon I'll fetch some more wood into camp, so as you can keep up a fire, then I'll take and row around the lake and up the creek, and yell for him; he won't go fur," answered Hank.
"Then why not let him come home himself?" I suggested, for I had no fancy for being left in camp alone; for we had been in camp all the morning, and Hank had filled my head so full of panther stories that I trembled at every sound.
"Why, you see, he'd start out for home over on Long Lake ef he got lost," explained Hank. "And then ef he should tree a panther, he'd set at the foot of the tree till 1976 ef I didn't call him off. You ain't afraid to keep camp for an hour or two?" he added.
"O-h-h n-o-o!" I murmured.
For the next few minutes Hank busied himself in collecting a large pile of pine boughs and dry sticks for the fire. Then he shouldered my light rifle, and handing me his heavy one, he remarked: "I guess I'll start. Keep up a good fire, and don't go fur away from it, as the panthers come close to camp sometimes along the edge of the evening, and climb into a tree; then when a feller goes under, they drop on him. I'll leave my heavy rifle for you, for it would give you a better chance if anything should turn up."
"Hadn't I better go with you?" I ventured.
"And leave the camp alone?" answered Hank, in fine scorn. "Why, that deer would draw all the cats in the neighborhood. Keep the fire a-going, and you're all right."
I thought to myself that I would much prefer to be out of the way when all the cats in the neighborhood came to investigate the deer; but Hank was in the boat, and I could hear the splash of the oars as he pulled up the lake. I sat by the fire, with Hank's rifle on my knees, listening as the sound of his voice calling the dog died away in the distance. I examined the rifle, and saw that it was loaded; it was one of the old pattern repeating rifles, and kicked like a mule. I tried to whistle, but it was a failure. I endeavored to turn my thoughts to something else, but it was no use. The story of the man who fell asleep beside the camp fire and was eaten up by a panther, of the other man who had a panther jump on him from a tree and who lost both eyes in the struggle, and of various other men who had been killed or wounded by the fierce animals, were uppermost in my mind. I sat and watched the sunlight fade, the gold and crimson melt off the fleecy clouds, and the shadows as they gathered thicker and deeper in the valleys. Except for the occasional weird and demon-like laugh of the loon far down the lake, everything was perfectly still, and every sound seemed magnified; the cracking of a twig seemed the tread of a bear, the buzz of a night beetle, the growl of a panther. I sat, I don't know how long, till suddenly my heart almost stopped beating as I heard the steady but stealthy sound of footsteps on my left. I did not dare to move. At last, with a desperate exertion, I turned, and there in the crotch of a low tree, about twenty feet from me, sat an immense panther just ready to spring. It was so dark that I could just distinguish the outlines of his form, and his two eyes gleaming like coals of fire. I raised the rifle carefully to my shoulder. I took aim right between the eyes, fired, and missed, I supposed, for the beast was in the same position, and I could see his eyes wink and glare at me vindictively. I shot again, but as before with no effect. I grew desperate, and fired the whole five shots as rapidly as I could, and was just reaching for my revolver, when Hank came rushing up the bank followed by his dog.
"What on earth is the matter?" he shouted. I pointed to the motionless form in the tree, and gasped, "A panther! See his eyes! Shoot him, Hank!" I was nearly beside myself with fear by this time, and my hair stood on end, like wire.
Hank looked at the tree for a moment, then turning to me, fairly shouted, "A panther! Why, you—" and here he burst into a roar of laughter. "A panther! Why, it's—" and again he laughed so heartily that he had to hold on to a tree for support. At last, when he had recovered himself somewhat, he went to the tree, and reaching up into the crotch he took down a—blue army coat with brass buttons. As he unrolled it and gazed at the holes made by my bullets he burst into a fresh fit of laughter. Every bullet had taken effect, and as Hank remarked, "It was of no use except for the top to a pepper box." Here Uncle Harry stopped and laughed at the recollection of the scene, then he added, in explanation, "You see, children, the coat was rolled so that two of the brass buttons showed and glittered in the fire-light like the eyes of some wild animal. I promised Hank a new coat and unlimited tobacco if he would say nothing about it; but the story was too good to keep, and all the way home I was teased with sly hints about my panther hunt. Hello, it's ten o'clock. Come, off to bed every one of you," added Uncle Harry, looking at his watch.
"You didn't save the skin of that panther, did you, Uncle Harry?" said Charlie, as he left the room.