One day in the autumn, Noel, who was now quite well of his wound, was asked to come to the drill-ground. Jacobus Boonter met him, and led him to where the company of boys were drawn up in line. "Noel Duval," he said, "we ask you if you will please be our captain?"
THE LAZY HOUR.
So bright are the branches,
The shadows so cool,
So dark is the water,
So deep is the pool,
So hard is the lesson,
So hot is the school—
If I were the son of a merman
I never should hear of a rule!
Light as the arrow
Springs from the bow,
Off the big ledges
Down I should go
Into the hollow
Whose secret I know,
Up I should come like a bubble,
Shake off the water and blow!
Now for a breast stroke
Under the tide—
Arm o'er arm sweeping
I float on my side;
Deep in green crystal
Slowly I slide.
There goes the class up in Cæsar!
I wish I'd a corner to hide!
Harriet Prescott Spofford.
ARTIFICIAL ICE.
AN ICE "CAN."
Sign-boards bearing the legend "Boston ice" over the doors of cellars and other places where ice was kept for sale have long been a familiar sight in the South. During the last twelve years, however, nearly every Southern town of importance has established its own factory for making ice, and the process has become so perfect and cheap that the artificial ice competes with the natural article shipped from the New England States.
The cost of transportation, handling, and enormous waste by melting serves to make "Boston ice" a costly luxury to the Southern consumer. This has stimulated the invention of improved methods of making artificial ice.