Ariel paused before the impressive front of Judge Pike's large mansion. Joe's face expressed surprise. "Don't you know?" she said. "I'm staying here. Judge Pike has charge of all my property. Come to see me this afternoon." With a last charming smile, Ariel turned and left the dazed young man on the sidewalk. That walk was but the beginning of her triumph. Judge Pike's of a summer afternoon was the swirling social center of Canaan, but on that particular Sunday afternoon every unattached male in the town who possessed the privilege of calling at the big house appeared. They filled the chairs in the wide old-fashioned hall where Ariel received them, and overpoured on the broad steps of the old-fashioned spiral staircase, where Mr. Flitcroft, on account of his size, occupied two steps and a portion of a third. And Ariel was the center of it all! BOOTH TARKINGTON. HELPS TO STUDY I. Describe Ariel's pitiful attempts at beautifying herself when dressing for the dance. When did she realize her failure? How were her anticipations of the dance realized? What kind of girl was Mamie Pike? Give reasons for your answer. At what point were you most sorry for Ariel? With what startling news did the evening end? II. Give an account of the meeting between the old playmates. Describe the scene as they walked along the street. What do you think was the greatest part of Ariel's "triumph?" Was she spoiled by her wealth? How do you know? SUPPLEMENTARY READING Little Women-Louisa M. Alcott. THE CLOUD I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers, I bear light shade for the leaves when laid From my wings are shaken the dews that waken When rocked to rest on their mother's breast, I wield the flail of the lashing hail, And whiten the green plains under; And then again I dissolve it in rain; And laugh as I pass in. thunder. I sift the snow on the mountains below, While I sleep in the arms of the blast. In a cavern under is fettered the thunder; Over earth and ocean, with gentle motion, Lured by the love of the 'genii that move In the depths of the purple sea; Over the rills and the crags and the hills, Over the lakes and the plains, Wherever he dream, under mountain or stream. And I all the while bask in heaven's blue smile, I am the daughter of the earth and water, I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores; I change, but I cannot die. For after the rain, when, with never a stain, The pavilion of heaven is bare, And the winds and sunbeams, with their convex gleams, Build up the blue dome of air, I silently laugh at my own cenotaph, I rise and unbuild it again. PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY. HELPS TO STUDY Make a list of the things the cloud does. Read aloud the lines in which the poet tells of each of these. Why is lightning spoken of as the pilot of the cloud? Where does it sit? Where is the thunder? How is the cloud "the daughter of the earth and water"? How "a nursling of the sky"? Explain "I change, but I cannot die." A cenotaph is a memorial built to one who is buried elsewhere. Why should the clear sky be the cloud's cenotaph? How does the reappearing of the cloud unbuild it? . NEW ENGLAND WEATHER There is a 'sumptuous variety about the New England weather that compels the stranger's admiration— and regret. The weather is always doing something there; always attending strictly to business; always getting up new designs and trying them on the people to see how they will go. But it gets through more business in spring than in any other season. In the spring I have counted one hundred and thirty-six different kinds of weather within four and twenty hours. It was I who made the fame and fortune of the man who had that marvelcus collection of weather on exhibition at the Centennial, which so astounded the foreigners. He was going to travel around the world and get specimens from all climes. I said, "Don't do it; just come to New England on a favorable spring day." I told him what we could do in the way of style, variety, and quantity. Well, he came, and he made his collection in four days. As to variety, he confessed that he got hundreds of kinds of weather that he had never heard of before. And as to quantity, after he had picked out and discarded all that was blemished in any way, he not only had weather enough, but weather to spare, weather to hire out, weather to sell, weather to deposit, weather to invest, and weather to give to the poor. Old Probabilities has a mighty reputation for accurate prophecy and thoroughly deserves it. You take up the paper and observe how crisply and confidently he checks off what to-day's weather is going to be on the Pacific, down South, in the Middle States, in the Wisconsin region. See him sail along in the joy and pride of his power till he gets to New England, and then see his tail drop. He doesn't know what the weather is going to be in New England. Well, he mulls over it, and by and by he gets out something like this: "Probable northeast to southwest winds, varying to the southward and westward and eastward and points between; high and low barometer, swapping around from place to place; probable areas of rain, snow, hail, and drought, succeeded or preceded by earthquakes with thunder and lightning." Then he jots down this postscript from his wandering mind, to cover accidents: "But it is possible that the program may be wholly changed in the meantime." Yes, one of the brightest gems in the New England weather is the dazzling uncertainty of it. There is certain to be plenty of weather, but you never can tell which end of the processsion is going to move first. But, after all, there are at least two or three things about that weather (or, if you please, the effects produced by it) which we residents would not like to part with. If we hadn't our bewitching autumn foliage, we should still have to credit the weather with one feature which compensates for all its bullying vagaries-the |