"I have him now," thought the fox; "let him get out if he

can."

"Why, what would you have me do with you?" said the

man.

"My notion is that you should let me go, and give me a lamb, or goose or two, every month, and then I could live without stealing; but perhaps you know better than I, and I am a rogue; my education may have been neglected; you should shut me up, and take care of me, and teach me. Who knows but in the end I may turn into a dog?"

"Very pretty," said the farmer; "we have dogs enough and more, too, than we can take care of, without you. No, no, Master Fox, I have caught you, and you shall swing, whatever is the logic of it. There will be one rogue less in the world, anyhow."

"It is mere hate and unchristian vengeance," said the fox. "No, friend," the farmer answered, "I don't hate you, and I don't want to revenge myself on you; but you and I can't get on together, and I think I am of more importance than you. If nettles and thistles grow in my cabbage garden, I don't try to persuade them to grow into cabbages. I just dig them up. I don't hate them; but I feel somehow that they mustn't hinder me with my cabbages, and that I must put them away. And so, my poor friend, I am sorry for you, but I am afraid you must swing."

-James Anthony Froude

Questions: Can you write a moral for this fable in one short sentence? Do you recall one of Esop's fables dealing with a fox? If you are interested in fox stories, see below.

Dramatization: Two pupils to read this selection responsively.

Pleasure Reading:

Seton's Lobo, Rag and Vixen

Seton's The Silver Fox

Burroughs' Squirrels and Other Fur Bearers

Long's Ways of Wood Folk

A SONG OF AUTUMN

(This musical nature-poem was written by a California teacherHenry Meade Bland of the San Jose State Normal School.)

IS old autumn, the musician,

"TIS

Who, with pipe and tabor, weaves

The sweet music lovers sigh for

In the falling of the leaves.

I have heard his distant anthem
Go a-sighing through the trees
Like the far-off shouts of children,
Or the hum of swarming bees.

When he plays the leaflets flutter
On the boughs that hold them fast;
Or they scurry through the forest
Or they spin before the blast.

And they frolic and they gambol,
And they cling to autumn's gown

As the children to the Piper's

In the famous Hamelin Town.

Then they rustle and they hurry
To a canyon dark and deep;
And the Piper, dear old autumn,

Pipes till all are fast asleep.

-Henry Meade Bland

Questions: What famous story is alluded to in the fourth stanza?

Does not this entire poem strongly suggest that story?

Pleasure Reading:

Lovejoy's Nature in Verse

LORD ULLIN'S DAUGHTER

(This is one of the most famous short poems in the English language. No doubt your grandparents were familiar with it and perhaps recited it when they were children. It was written by Thomas Campbell, a noted poet and critic, who was born in Scotland in 1777. Among other well-known poems, he wrote The Soldier's Dream and The Battle of Hohenlinden.)

A

CHIEFTAIN, to the Highlands bound,

Cries, "Boatman, do not tarry!

And I'll give thee a silver pound,

To row us o'er the ferry."

"Now who be ye, would cross Lochgyle,*
This dark and stormy water?"

"Oh, I'm the chief of Ulva's isle,
And this Lord Ullin's daughter.

By this the storm grew loud apace,°

The water-wraith was shrieking; And in the scowl of heaven each face Grew dark as they were speaking.

But still as wilder blew the wind,
And as the right grew drearer,
Adown the glen rode arméd men,
Their trampling sounded nearer.

"Oh, haste thee, haste!" the lady cries,
"Though tempests round us gather;
I'll meet the raging of the skies,
But not an angry father."

The boat has left a stormy land,
A stormy sea before her,

When oh! too strong for human hand,
The tempest gather'd o'er her.

And still they row'd amidst the roar
Of waters fast prevailing:

Lord Ullin reach'd that fatal shore,

His wrath was changed to wailing;

For sore dismay'd, through storm and shade, His child he did discover:

One lovely hand she stretch'd for aid,

And one was round her lover.

"Come back! come back!" he cried in grief,

"Across the stormy water:

And I'll forgive your Highland chief,

My daughter!-oh my daughter!"