ARTHUR AS KING

Thus Arthur was made King, but he had to fight for his own; for eleven great kings drew together and refused to acknowledge him as their lord, and chief amongst the rebels was King Lot of Orkney who had married Arthur's sister, Bellicent.

By Merlin's advice, Arthur sent for help over-seas, to Ban and Bors, the two great Kings who ruled in Gaul. With their aid, he overthrew his foes in a fierce battle near the river Trent; and then he passed with them into their own lands and helped them drive out their enemies. So there was ever great friendship between Arthur and the Kings Ban and Bors, and all their kindred; and afterwards some of the most famous Knights of the Round Table were of that family.

Then King Arthur set himself to restore order throughout his kingdom. To all who would submit and better their evil ways, he showed kindness; but those who persisted in wrong he removed, putting in their places others who would deal justly with the people.

And because the land had become overrun with forest during the days of misrule, he cut roads through the thickets, that no longer wild beasts and men, fiercer than the beasts, should hide in their gloom, to the harm of the weak and defenceless. Thus it came to pass that soon the peasant ploughed his fields in safety,

and where had been wastes, men dwelt again in peace and prosperity.

Amongst the lesser kings whom Arthur helped to rebuild their towns and restore order, was King Leodegrance of Cameliard. Now Leodegrance had one fair child, his daughter Guenevere; and from the time that first he saw her, Arthur gave her all his love. So he sought counsel with Merlin, his chief adviser. Merlin heard the King sorrowfully, and he said:

"Sir King, when a man's heart is set, he may not change. Yet had it been well for ye if ye had loved another."

So the King sent his knights to Leodegrance, to ask of him his daughter; and Leodegrance consented, rejoicing to wed her to so good and knightly a King. With great pomp, the princess was conducted to Canterbury, and there the King met her, and they two were wed by the Archbishop in the great cathedral, amid the rejoicings of the people.

On that same day did Arthur found his noble Order of the Round Table, the fame of which was to spread throughout Christendom and endure through all time.

Now the Round Table had been made for King Uther Pendragon by Merlin, who had meant thereby to set forth plainly to all men the roundness of the earth. After Uther died, King Leodegrance had possessed it; but when Arthur was wed, he sent it to him

as a wedding gift, and great was the King's joy at receiving it.

One hundred and fifty knights might take their places about it, and for them Merlin made seats. One hundred and twenty-eight did Arthur knight at that great feast; thereafter, if any seats were empty, at the high festival of Pentecost new knights were appointed to fill them, and by magic was the name of each knight found inscribed, in letters of gold, in his proper seat.

With pomp and ceremony did each knight take upon him the vows of true knighthood: to obey the King; to show mercy to all who asked it; to defend the weak; and for no worldly gain to fight in a wrongful cause: and all the knights rejoiced together, doing honor to Arthur and to his Queen. Then they rode forth to right the wrong and help the oppressed, and by their aid the King held his realm in peace, doing justice to all.

-BEATRICE CLAY.

Gaul: an old name for France.-kin'dred: relations.-Leodegrance: lē-ō' de-grans. — Cameliard: kă-mē' lĭ-ärd. — Guenevere: gwen' ẻ-vēr. Chris'tendom: that portion of the world in which Christianity prevails.— Pen'tecost: a church festival day which commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles.

THE BUILDERS

All are architects of Fate,

Working in these walls of Time; Some with massive deeds and great, Some with ornaments of rhyme.

Nothing useless is, or low;

Each thing in its place is best;
And what seems but idle show
Strengthens and supports the rest.

For the structure that we raise,
Time is with materials filled;

Our to-days and yesterdays

Are the blocks with which we build.

Truly shape and fashion these;
Leave no yawning gaps between;

Think not because no man sees,

Such things will remain unseen.

In the elder days of art,

Builders wrought with greatest care

Each minute and unseen part;

For the gods see everywhere.

Let us do our work as well,

Both the unseen and the seen;

Make the house, where gods may dwell, Beautiful, entire, and clean.

Else our lives are incomplete,
Standing in these walls of Time,
Broken stairways, where the feet
Stumble as they seek to climb.

Build to-day, then, strong and sure,
With a firm and ample base;
And ascending and secure

Shall to-morrow find its place.

Thus alone can we attain

To those turrets where the eye
Sees the world as one vast plain,

And one boundless reach of sky.

-HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW.

architects (är' ki-těkts): persons skilled in the art of building.

VOLCANOES

Volcanoes are the most simply and beautifully shaped of all mountains, and they are all alike. Almost every volcano in the world, I believe, is, or has been once, of the shape shown in the picture opposite.

All those sloping sides are made of cinders and ashes, braced together, I suppose, by bars of solid lava-stone inside, which prevent the whole from crumbling down. The upper part, you see, is white with snow, as far down as a line which is 15,000 feet above the sea. For this mountain is in the tropics, close to