and to that end, she poured into his ears from earliest childhood stories of the daring and heroism of the illustrious sons of Rome. Two of these household favorites are given below, and, strangely enough, they have to do with the age-long strife between the Etruscans and Romans.

I

"Lars Porsena of Clusium

By the nine gods he swore

That the great house of Tarquin
Should suffer wrong no more.'

So Porsena, chief of the Etruscans, summoned his forces and marched to the attack on Rome. From the watch towers, the Roman sentinels saw the enemy approaching, burning the villages and laying waste the fields. The Etruscans numbered sixty thousand footmen and ten thousand horsemen; the Romans, a mere handful of men within the gates of the city.

There was no time to lose. A meeting of the City Fathers was called and the Consul (Mayor) speaking for them declared:

"The bridge must straight go down;

For since Janiculum is lost,

Naught else can save the town."

"Then out spake brave Horatius
The Captain of the Gate:
"Hew down the bridge, Sir Consul,
With all the speed ye may;
I, with two more to help me,
Will hold the foe in play.

In yon straight path a thousand

May well be stopped by three.
Now who will stand on either hand,

And keep the bridge with me?' "

Immediately two volunteers were at his side, and the three warriors took their places at the far end of the bridge. Meanwhile, other soldiers and citizens worked furiously to cut down the bridge.

The foe approached amidst a great shout of laughter. Three chieftains with drawn swords sprang forward. They were immediately cut down. Others took their places, only to suffer a like fate. The mortal combat went on. Horatius was wounded, but returned to the fight. All three were weary and their strength nigh spent, when lo! a cry was heard:

""Come back, come back, Horatius!
Back, ere the ruin fall!'"

Back flew his two companions, and Horatius stood alone. A moment later the bridge fell, and then the brave Horatius, "Plunged headlong in the tide."

"And oft they thought him sinking,

But still again he rose❞

And struggled with the current

As did he with his foes.

"And now, with shouts and clapping,

And noise of weeping loud

He enters through the River Gate,

Borne by the joyous crowd."

Thus Rome was saved, and the name of Horatius rendered immortal.

II

Mothers used to say to their sons: "Let nothing make you afraid in the cause of Rome. Let nothing shake your determination, just as nothing could daunt the noble youth, Caius Mucius. He had tried to kill the king of Etruria, for Etruria was at war with Rome and would have put a king over her once more.

"When Mucius was caught, carrying the very dagger with which he had meant to kill the king, he would tell no Roman secrets. The King thought to frighten him and had fires built all about him, threatening to push them closer if the young man did not tell his secret.

""Behold me,' cried Mucius, 'that you may see of how little account the body is to those who have great glory in view.' Then he thrust his right hand into the fire and held it there until it was burned off. "There are three hundred young men like me, waiting to kill you if I fail,' he said. Such courage and such devotion moved the cruel King to set Mucius free."

Stories like these, learned at the mother's knee, portrayed in bronze figures in the market place, or shown in the rich carving on public buildings, bred in the Roman youth a sense of pride in the history of his country, and a spirit of such courage and confidence as enabled Rome at last to conquer the world. -After Mahaffey.

Cod is one of the world's most important food fishes, common to both shores of the North Atlantic Ocean, as far south as France and Virginia. It is a near relative of the hake and haddock, but is more valuable than either of these. The cod fisheries along the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and the shores of New England are famous. The prosperity of Newfoundland, one of Great Britain's oldest colonies, depended for many years solely on cod fishing, and salted fish was used in trade like money.

The importance of the cod in the early history of the United States is shown in the fact that it had a place on the seal of the Massachusetts Colony, and to-day a gilded codfish hangs in the state house of representatives opposite the speaker's desk between two central columns. The abundance of the fish

along the eastern shores of America was noted by the early voyagers and recorded in the stories of their travels.

Description. The cod has a slightly flattened body, which tapers abruptly to the tail, and is usually greenish or olive on the back and sides, which are dotted with numerous small brown spots. The larger fish weigh from twenty to thirty-five pounds; the smaller, about twelve pounds. However, some extraordinary specimens have been caught; the largest ever captured off the New England coast weighed two hundred eleven and one-half pounds and was over six feet long; and there are records of others that weighed from one hundred to one hundred seventy-five pounds.

Judging from the things found in the stomachs of captured fish, such as scissors, oil cans, rings, rocks, potato parings, corncobs, rubber, and leather, the cod will eat anything. Its more natural diet consists of crustaceans (lobsters, shrimps, crabs, etc.), mollusks, small fishes, and various forms of vegetation.

The fish spawn along the northern coasts of Europe, in February, March, and April; the spawning period on the American coast lasts from November to April. The number of eggs produced by the cod is astonishing; and if all of them from a seventyfive pound fish during its life should hatch and grow to maturity, the ocean would be filled with an almost solid mass of cod. A cod weighing twenty-one pounds will produce 2,700,000 eggs in one spawning