There was one who came up to Hal and looked him over. He was interested in his clothes. After a while he went away and brought two large feathers for Hal to put in his hat. Hal stuck them in and laughed. The little Indian laughed too; but they could not talk to each other, for neither could understand what the other said. The Indians stayed near the fort until after dinner; then they moved off toward their new home.

1. There was once brought me from London a collection of pictures of the most remarkable animals of the world.

I was young enough to think of them all as real living creatures, and soon had my favorites among them.

2. The camel would never have known by the way I treated him that he had the first place, but I think I always valued him more highly than any of the others.

"You are so clumsy and awkward," I used to say to my camel; "I would much rather not be so wonderful and be a little more beautiful.

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3. Your back is too high, and, though your neck is so long, you do not carry your head well. If only you had ears like my horse, and thin graceful legs and feet, it would be better, even if you could not have a smooth, bright coat of hair."

4. Then I would fancy my favorite felt illused, for camels do have a sad, patient look, and I would take his part against myself.

I made my proud horse admit that he would be good for nothing in a desert. I talked for the camel, and asked the horse if he could cover his eyes without shutting out the light, and close his nostrils, also, from the fine hot sand the air would be full of. And if he would find his small hard hoofs and iron shoes useful in the deep loose sand.

It

5. The horse did not mind my talk, and neither seemed to wish to grow more like the other. is only human beings that can think about improving, and we cannot change the form God has given us.

8. He makes them kneel every day for several hours. A piece of carpet covers them so that only the head and neck are seen. To prevent them from getting up, he puts heavy weights on the edges of the covering. This training goes on for four months.

9. Then the Arab children become their teachers and keepers. It is a pretty sight to see them, twice a day, feeding the little camels. In one hand they carry a bowl of camel's milk, and in the other a tiny switch.

10. After the bowls are empty, the children give the camels a touch on the legs with the switch. Down they all Down they all drop on their knees.

The education goes on week after week and month after month, till the children and their pupils become very fond of each other.

11. The camel is full grown at the age of eight years. Its food is chiefly grass, or if that is not to be had, it seems equally well pleased with the nettles, thistles, or other coarse, prickly plants found in its long journeys.

LANGUAGE.

Write ways in which the camel is made useful like the horse, the ox, the cow, the sheep, the elephant.

ma'hout awk'ward

XCV. THE ELEPHANT.

pa'tient ly
e'ven ly

o be'di ent
del'i cate

mov'ing o bliged'

1. Not so wonderful, perhaps, but wiser, larger, and stronger than the camel is the elephant. If we knew him well we should think him the noblest of animals.

In India, elephants are too common to be in shows, but sailors like to watch the trained animals at work in the ship-yards, moving timbers.

2. Besides drawing great logs by a chain, they will lift them with their trunks, and carry them on their tusks; and will pile them evenly, pushing them into place with the right foot.

3. When an elephant has dragged a log to the right spot he will unhook and free the chain with the finger of his trunk. His driver, called a mahout, sits sideways on a wooden saddle on the elephant's back, and makes signs by touching his side with his foot. The intelligent beast understands what is wanted of him. Sometimes one is obliged to hold his head so high that he cannot see where he is going; but he moves on blindly and patiently.

4. One day some people were landing, when the