copy.

Then the plates were refused to him, and, as Lorenzo de' Medici soon gave permission to both Michael Angelo and Francesco Granacci to study in the gardens of San Marco, Ghirlandajo was glad to be free from a pupil who already knew so much.

Soon the Duke sent for the father of Michael Angelo, and obtained his full consent that the boy should be an artist. The young sculptor was then taken into the palace; he was treated with great kindness by Lorenzo, and sat at his table, where

MONA LISA DEL GIOCONDO. PAINTED BY LEONARDO DA VINCI.

In the gardens of San Marco, Duke Lorenzo had placed many splendid works of art, and pictures and cartoons were hung in buildings there, so that young men could study them. Many young sculptors worked there, and one Bertoldo, an old man, was their teacher. Now Michael Angelo began to model, and his first work was the mask of a faun, which he copied so well as to attract the attention of Lorenzo. He praised Michael Angelo, but said: "You have made your faun so old, and yet you have left him all his teeth; you should have known that, at such an advanced age, there are generally some wanting." When he came again to the gardens, he found a gap in the teeth of the faun, so well done that he was delighted with it.

he met all the remarkable men of the day, and listened to such conversation as is most profitable to a boy. It was the rule that whoever came first to the table should sit next the Duke, and Michael Angelo often had that place.

But all this happy life was sadly ended by the death of Lorenzo de' Medici, and Michael Angelo left the palace and had a room in his father's house for his work-shop. After a time, Piero de' Medici invited him again to the palace, but the young man was ill at ease, and soon went to Venice. There he met a sculptor of Bologna, who induced him to visit that city; but the commissions he received so excited the jealousy of other artists that he returned again to Florence. He was now twenty years old, and the next work of his which attracted attention was a "Sleeping Cupid," which so resembled an antique statue that it was sold in Rome for a very old work; two hundred ducats were paid for it, though Michael Angelo received but thirty ducats. By some means the knowledge of this fraud came to Michael Angelo, and he explained that he had known nothing of it, but had also been deceived himself; the result of all this was, that he went to Rome, and was received into the house of the nobleman who had bought the "Cupid."

He remained in Rome about three years, and executed the "Drunken Bacchus," now in the Uffizi Gallery at Florence, and "La Piéta" (or the Virgin Mary seated, holding the dead body of Jesus across her lap), a fine piece of sculpture, now in the Basilica of St. Peter's at Rome.

When he returned to Florence, he executed some paintings and sculptures, but was soon employed on his "David," one of his greatest works. It was completed and put in its place in 1504, and there it remained more than two centuries-next the gate of the Palazzo Vecchio. A few years ago, it was feared that the beautiful statue would crumble in pieces if longer exposed to the weather, and it was removed to a place where it now stands, safe from sun and rain.

When the "David" was completed, Michael

(To be continued.)

MY AUNT'S SQUIRRELS.

BY ELIZABETH STODDARD.

ERHAPS it was because kept their distance, and were always the same
she hated cats.
bright, cheerful, happy little beings!

My aunt's house is a large one, -very like those you often see when traveling in the country, square, with windows all shut, silent doors and empty porches. The beauty of my aunt's house was its back yard, and back door, with a great, flat stone step. A gate at the back of the yard opened on a lane, where trees grew on each side, and thickets, which, in summer, are full of birds, butterflies, and blossoms. The deep ruts are overgrown with grass; only the breezes pass to and fro, which flutter the leaves into little rustling songs. The back door led into a great kitchen, built ever so many years ago; the rafters were coffee-colored, for my aunt would never have them whitewashed. Lots of things were stowed away among those rafters,-pumpkin-seeds, ears of corn, bunches of herbs, an old saddle; and, in the winter, hams and links of sausage swung from the beams. Piles of paper bulged over their edges, and the rubbish of years was there, precious to my aunt, but useless to everybody else.

One day in autumn, Josh, my aunt's man-of-allwork, while hoisting a bag of dried beans into the rafters, discovered a pair of gray striped squirrels. He rattled the beans and "shooed," but they only skipped beyond his reach, chattering, and stood on their hind paws, making motions with their fore paws as if "shooing" Josh in return.

"I do believe, mem," he called to my aunt, "that these little thieves have come to eat up all my garden-seeds; but I can't make out why ground-squirrels should roost up here."

"Let them be, Josh," said my aunt; "I'd rather have squirrels overhead than cats under feet; the creatures wont trouble me."

Nor did they; but, when people talked in the kitchen, the squirrels chattered louder and faster than ever. Although they dropped seeds and straws on my aunt's muslin cap, and although Josh muttered about holes in bags, and muss, and noise, she would not listen. She declared they were company for her, and she was certain they would not forget her friendliness toward them; they

For all this, Josh pondered a plan, and carried it out. "Ground-squirrels," he argued, "had no business up in the air." So he prepared a bag, tackled the old horse to the wagon, caught the squirrels when my aunt went out, put them in the bag, and rode away up the lane and into the woods. When he got to a thick spot, dark with trees, he shook out the squirrels, turned about, and jogged home, with the satisfaction of having finished a good job, just a little dashed with dread of my aunt's scolding, which, any way, was not so bad as their chatter. Josh opened the kitchen door and went in. The silence pleased him, and he began to rub his hands, as his way was when pleased. He cast his eyes upward and was instantly greeted with a merry chatter. The squirrels had got home before him, and were all the more lively for their voyage in the bag, the ride in the wagon, and the picnic in the woods!

"Marcy on me!" he cried, his hands falling apart. Just then the squirrels let drop a hickorynut on the bald spot of Josh's head.

"I missed their noise," said my aunt; "they have been cunning enough to go out nutting." "Yes," said poor Josh. "They are very cunning, mem; I know so much about them."

Either the indignity of the raid upon them, or the find of the hickory-nuts, was too much for the squirrels; shortly after, they disappeared. My aunt was reminded more than once of their ingratitude, but all she said was-"Wait."

"No

A cat was proposed for a pet once more. cats!" my aunt said, looking severely at Josh, who went out to the barn immediately.

When the spring came, and the lilac-bushes bloomed, I went to my aunt's-the old kitchen was my delight. We sat on the door-step in the afternoon when the sun-rays left the lane, and we could rest our eyes on the deep cool green of tree and shrub. My aunt watched the way of the wind, where the birds flew, and the coming blossoms, and I watched her. Once, when I happened to be inside, I heard a suppressed wondering cry from her, which made me hurry back; I saw her attention was fixed on the path below the step, and looked also, to see the most cunning procession that ever was. My aunt's gray squirrel was trotting toward us, with tail curled up, and accompanied by four little ones exactly like her, with their