became as dry and fragile as when the doctor had first thrown it into the vase. He shook off the few drops of moisture which clung to its petals.

"I love it as well thus as in its dewy freshness," observed he, pressing it to his withered lips.

While he spoke the butterfly fluttered down from the doctor's snowy head and fell upon the floor. His guests shivered again. A strange chillness-whether of the body or spirit they could not tell - was creeping gradually over them all. They gazed at one another, and fancied that each fleeting moment snatched away a charm and left a deepening furrow where none had been before. Was it an illusion? Had the changes of a lifetime been crowded into so brief a space, and were they now four aged people sitting with their old friend Dr. Heidegger?

"Are we grown old again so soon?" cried they, dolefully.

In truth, they had. The Water of Youth possessed merely a virtue more transient than that of wine. Yes, they were old again.

"Yes, friends, ye are old again," said Dr. Heidegger, "and lo! the Water of Youth is all lavished on the ground. Well, I bemoan it not; for if the fountain gushed at my very doorstep, I would not stoop to bathe my lips in it—no, though its delirium were for years instead of moments. Such is the lesson ye have taught me."

But the doctor's four friends had taught no such

lesson to themselves. They resolved forthwith to make a pilgrimage to Florida and quaff at morning, noon, and night from the Fountain of Youth.

scep'tic, unbeliever.

Hip poc'ra tes, an ancient Greek, | mir'a cle, a very wonderful thing. called the Father of Medicine. pre scrip'tion, a doctor's order for

de crep'i tude, infirm old age.
de lu'sion, false belief.

bux'om prime, gay and pretty youth.
ex hil a ra'tion, joyousness.
vogue, fashion.

troll, to sing loudly.

sym'pho ny, a harmony of sounds pleasing to the ear.

THE VALUE OF WISDOM

HAPPY is the man that findeth wisdom,

And the man that getteth understanding.

For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver,

And the gain thereof than fine gold.

She is more precious than rubies:

And none of the things thou canst desire are to be

compared unto her.

Length of days is in her right hand;

In her left hand are riches and honor.

Her ways are ways of pleasantness,

And all her paths are peace.

She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: And happy is every one that retaineth her.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON

THERE was a time when it seemed as if the American Presidents were not so remarkable and able men as formerly, and sometimes the newspapers said that perhaps they would never be so again. But in 1861 there began a war between the Northern and Southern states, growing out of the institution called slavery; and it was found that the new President who had been elected just at the beginning of this war, was in some ways the most remarkable and certainly the most popular President the nation had ever had. His trials and anxieties were much greater than those of any other President since Washington. But he bore them so bravely and cheerfully that he has been loved and admired ever since all over the Union, and even among those who fought against him in the war.

Abraham Lincoln was born February 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Ky., in a wild and almost uninhabited region. The house in which he was born was a log cabin without doors or windows or even floors. His father had never been to school and could neither read nor write. His mother could read, but as for writing, could only sign her When the boy was old enough to go to school, it happened that a little school was opened

name.

about four miles away; and though the teacher was very ignorant, the boy was sent to it for eight or ten weeks. Then the family moved to Indiana.

Abraham did not go to school any more, because there was no school near, but he used to read by the open fire. He practised writing on the ground or on the snow, or with a burnt stick on the bark of trees. He worked hard in other ways; often he used to shoot deer and wild turkeys for the family dinner.

There were three books in the house, the Bible, the Catechism, and a spelling book. Later, Abraham's father saw a copy of Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" at the house of a friend twenty miles away, and borrowed it for his boy; and some one else gave him "Esop's Fables." When he was ten years old he went to a better school than he had yet attended, and his father bought him a second-hand arithmetic to use. His new teacher lent him Weems's "Life of Washington."

As Abraham grew older, he grew very strong, and was much more than six feet tall. He was the best wrestler in his circle of companions. When he was about eighteen he had an opportunity to go down to New Orleans with another youth on a flatboat with a load of bacon and other commodities ; and so he went from home for the first time.

The young Lincoln got possession of a law book containing the laws of Indiana, which he read with great delight. So anxious was he to see a real trial

in a court room that he walked fifteen miles to attend one. This first experience delighted him so much that he walked to the same court again and again.

When Lincoln was nearly twenty-one years of age, his father removed again, this time to Illinois. Here he built a log-house, with the aid of Abraham and his brother John, who ploughed and fenced fifteen acres of land. A man who worked with Lincoln occasionally, said that Abraham was the roughest looking fellow he ever saw, but that he knew more than anybody else. His dress was "comical." This man also said: "He was always talking history and politics and great men, and I have seen him going to his work with a book in his hand. He could split more rails in a day than any other man. He was strong as an ox and never got tired."

Lincoln was afterwards a country merchant for a time, and later still was pilot on a steamer. He gained his first experience as a soldier in an Indian war. After his return from this little war, he became a lawyer, and was sent to the legislature. Finding a political career to his taste, he went east to take part in political conventions, always making a good impression by his earnestness and enthusiasm.

He was elected President of the United States in 1861, just as the Civil War was breaking out. The war really began on April 12, 1861, when the South Carolina troops fired upon Fort Sumter in