gard people; "there is an old woman that will wrestle you." Thor,
heartily ashamed, seized this haggard old woman, but could not throw
her.

[Illustration: THE GIANT SKRYMIR.]

And now, on their quitting Utgard--the chief Jotun, escorting them
politely a little way, said to Thor--"You are beaten, then; yet, be not
so much ashamed: there was deception of appearance in it. That horn you
tried to drink was the sea; you did make it ebb: but who could drink
that, the bottomless? The cat you would have lifted--why, that is the
Midgard Snake, the Great World Serpent--which, tail in mouth, girds and
keeps up the whole created world. Had you torn that up, the world must
have rushed to ruin. As for the old woman, she was Time, Old Age,
Duration: with her what can wrestle? No man, nor no god, with her. Gods
or men, she prevails over all! And then, those three strokes you
struck--look at these valleys--your three strokes made these." Thor
looked at his attendant Jotun--it was Skrymir. It was, say old critics,
the old chaotic rocky earth in person, and that glove house was some
earth cavern! But Skrymir had vanished. Utgard, with its sky-high gates,
when Thor raised his hammer to smite them, had gone to air--only the
giant's voice was heard mocking; "Better come no more to Jotunheim!"

CARLYLE.

* * * * *

VALUE OF THE BIBLE.

What an invaluable blessing it is to have the Bible in our own tongue.
It is not only the oldest, but the best book in the world. Our
forefathers rejoiced when they were first favoured with the opportunity
of reading it for themselves. Infidels may reject, and the licentious
may sneer; but no one who ever wished to take away this
foundation-stone, could produce any other equal to it, on which the
structure of a pious mind, a solid hope, a comfortable state, or wise
conduct, could be raised. We are told, that when Archbishop Crammer's
edition of the Bible was printed in 1538, and fixed to a desk in all
parochial churches, the ardour with which men flocked to read it was
incredible. They who could, procured it; and they who could not, crowded
to read it, or to hear it read in churches. It was common to see little
assemblies of mechanics meeting together for that purpose after the
labour of the day. Many even learned to read in their old age, that they
might have the pleasure of instructing themselves from the Scriptures.

It is recorded of Edward VI., that upon a ce