OUR YOUNG PEOPLE.

New Zealand Mail, 22 January 1902, Page 11

OUR YOUNG PEOPLE.

(By Uncle Toby.)

(Little folks are invited to send lotters to ‘‘Uncle Toby" on any subject; and notes about their gardens and household pets will ha very acceptable.)

SHAKESPEARIAN STORIES. CORIOLANLS. The play opens in the streets of Rome, crowded with mutinous citizens declaim- : lug against the tyranny of the. Patricians, and m particular of Caius Marcius. the amval of the good-natured Meuenius j Agrippa causes a lull, during which he | addresses the people, aptly comparing the j members of the State with the various i organs of the human body, and thus J showing how mutually dependent the Patrjcians and Plebeians are on each other. I , hilst he is talking Marcius appears j bringing tidings that the Senate has ; agreed to allow the people to elect j "Rive tribunes to defend their vulgar ' wisdoms.” In the niidst of his angry denunciations on the imprudence of such a concession ; ae " s 1S brought that the Volscians have : taken up arms. Virgilia, wife of Marcius is grief-stricken at the idea of a war j which may bring death to her husband, but Y olunuiia, his high-spirited mother, I rejoices at the prospect of a crown of i ? a ~r. • ?! ei ’ so,l ’s brow. Marcius is sent jto Corioli. There is a desperate tight j outside the city. He pursues the enemy i within th e gates, and is shut in alone in the midst of liis foes. Single-handed lie keeps them at hay, and the ltoman armv | succeeds in entering and ransacking the ! town.- In reward for liis bravery lie is | invested with the title of Coriolaiius, and : elected Consul by the Senate. The- Ple- ! beian.s dazzled by liis triumph, also give | him their votes, but their tribunes easily | persuade them “To revoke their ignorant election” by reminding them “YY ith what contempt lie wore the humble weed ” in which it was the rule of the candidates for the Consulship should buy the people’s votes in the market-place, and which Coriolauus had with great difficulty been induced to wear. The tumult reaches such a pitch that the “ commonalty” wish to throw Coriolauus headlong from the Tarpeian Rock, but Sicinius instead banishes him from Rome. Coriolauus leaves homo amid the tears of his wife and mother, and repairs to Antium, tho dwelling-place of his former enemy, Aufidius, whom he now offers to assist ! in fighting against his ungrateful coun- ; trymen. The offer is .readily accepted, and when the news reaches Rome the tribunes are bitterly reproached with , having brought \ j“A trembling on Rome, such as was | never so uncapable of help.” Some of the first Patricians venture forth to intercede with Coriolauus, but in vain, and Menenius, too, meets with no \ better success. It is only when Virgilia and Volumnia, leading his little son by j tho hand, make their way to him that, : softened by their pleadings, lie yields, j though he exclaims—

“Oh ! mother, mother ! YY'hat have you done?” Aufidius angry at what lie considers the treachery of Coriolauus, leads him before the Volscian lords. A tumult ensues, and Aufidius stabs Coriolauus, who falls dead.

HERMAN’S ADVENTURE. (By Eldon Simmons.) On the bank of a pretty river in tho heart of Switzerland lived a woodcutter and his family, consisting of his wife and hia throe ohildren. The latter were

bis daughter Nita, aged 16, eldest son. Max, aged 12, and little Herman, aged ave a very bold and venturesome young man. On the bill behind the bouse there was a very dense, dark forest, which Herman had been forbidden to enter by bis parents, because it was infested with wolves, bears, and other wild animals. u v ’ • H . erman had a pretty little chamois fawn, which he kept as a pet, a _i "puld follow him about anywhere. Daisy, as Herman called the pet, ivas rapidly growing bigger, and one day "’hen the child, accompanied by his pet, was picking flowers on tlie border of the forest, the latter, hearing the shrill call ■ A er relations far away, answered iu r 6 same tone, and bounded off into the forest. All her gentle instincts were shattered, and lier wild ones .were uppermost once more. Herman shouted and called her name, but in vain; so at last, despite the -warning of his parents, he rushed into the wood in search of his pet. On getting further into the forest he began to be frightened, and determined to retrace bis steps. On turning to do this he discovered he was hopelessly lost. Not knowing which way to turn, he sat on a log and commenced to cry. Presently he Heard a growl, and starting up, saw a large shaggy bear coming towards him. He was paralysed with fear, not knowing what to do, when a shot rang out from behind him, and he saw the hear roll over on its side, dead. The shot was fired by his father, who, working in a distant paddock, had seen Herman enter the wood in search of the fawn, and after going to the house for his gun had set out in search of his son, arriving just in the nick of time. Herman was soon in liis father arms, and was carried safely home, where you may be sure they were very glad to see him. After relating his adventure he promised never to go into the wood again—no. not even in search of his pet fawn, which, of course, was never discovered. The bear was skinned, and its hide now serves as a rug in the woodcutter’s house—a lasting memento of Herman’s dangerous adventure.

DOG AND SNAKE. In August, 1844, I was a boy of fifteen working with my father on the farm in northern Illinois. One afternoon he had just climbed on a load of straw he had been pitching up to me, when I heard a rattlesnake on the ground near by. After looking about a few minutes, we discerned him in the stubble, about twentv feet away,-just coiling, ready for defence or attack. In those early days it was considered almost a religious duty to despatch every venomous creature'of that kind, so plentiful were they on the prairies. I was about to get down from the load for that purpose, when I thought of tlie little dog Penny. He was a slender little fellow of. the proverbial “yaller dog” species, but had a great reputation as a snake killer. So I whistled for Penny, who came running in cheerful response from the house. Being directed and hissed on, he soon discovered the snake, still darting out his tongue and giving forth warning with his tail. We had a fine view from the load.

Penny approached cautiously, first on this side, then on that, till he had gone round tlie snake several times, always finding him ready for a fatal blow in any direction. Suddenly he stopped still, and turned liis head to one side in serious contemplation. I think if he had had a finger lie would have scratched his head jii.st back of his right ear in search of an idea. After a few moments’ reflection Ins plan seemed formed. He stepoed back a step or two, made a bound forward towards the snake, and snapped at it with his teeth, coming very close to it, but not touching it; then bounded back as quick as a flash. The snake struck out Ins full length, and very fiercely, but he was not quick enough Penny had dodged him. The snake, of course, was now straightened out, l and the clog, springing so quick you could hardly see linn, caught it in the middle ot Uie body, and giving it one quick, violent shake, dropped it on the ground completely stunned, so that it ivas only a moment s work to seize it again and shake it into many pieces.—Correspondence “ Los Angelos Times.”