r
tripped against a stump, and down they came, bear and man, to the
ground; and being near the steep hill-side, in about ten seconds they
began rolling down, over and over, and faster and faster, bumping over
rocks and hummocks, but never letting go, and never stopping until the
bottom of the hill was reached.

And then--

Up got Mr. Bear, and made off down the valley at a slow trot, never
stopping to say "good-night" or anything. And up got the farmer, and
scrambled up the hill as fast as his bruised legs could carry him, and
feeling of his ribs as he went, expecting to find half a dozen of them
at least punching out through his night-gown. But they were not.

At the door he was met by his wife keeping guard with the birch broom
over her sleeping boy.

"Oh, Stephen! what _was_ it?" she said, in a shivering whisper.

"Oh! nothing but a bear, nothing but a bear," said the farmer.

But the little pigs slept in the hen-house for the rest of the night,
and the next day they had a stout log roof built over their heads.

PROFESSIONAL DIVERS.

One of the diver's earliest experiences is a disagreeable "roaring"
sensation in the ears for some time after his first descent; but this is
little felt after he becomes accustomed to his work. It is caused by the
air pressure, which increases with depth. From the same cause the diver
often experiences a sensation amounting to earache, which any one may
test for himself by descending in a diving-bell. With regard to the mode
of working, it is noteworthy that, instead of moving gradually outward
after reaching the bottom, the diver usually gropes at once to the full
length of his tether in the required direction, and then works slowly
back to the starting-point. He considers this the safer method, partly
because it leaves him at the finish directly at the place whence he has
to rise.

The length of time during which a diver can remain under water depends
very much upon his own strength and experience, the steady care with
which the air-pump is managed, and other circumstances. M. Frendenberg
states that in the repair of the well in the Scharley zinc mines, in
Silesia, two divers descended to a depth of eighty-five feet, remaining
down for periods varying from fifteen minutes to two hours. Siebe,
another authority on the subject, relates that in removing the cargo of
the ship _Cape Horn_, wrecked off the coast of South America, a diver
named Hooper made seven descents to