,
and reading their laws, which are printed on slips of palm leaf. Every
now and then they give a shout of encouragement. Each side tries to pull
the other over the line, amid shouts and cries of the most vigorous
description. It makes no difference which side wins the day, as victory
to either party is supposed by the superstitious natives to bring the
wished-for rain. Continued drought does not discourage them from
repeating the ceremony time after time; and when the rain comes at last
they firmly believe it is in answer to their incantations.

FOUND IN A FROG.

BY MISS VIRGINIA W. JOHNSON,

AUTHOR OF "THE CATSKILL FAIRIES."

The sun had risen when Gita awoke. She lived at the top of a tall old
house with her grandmother, and both were poor. When she had put on her
thin cotton gown, and smoothed her hair with her small brown hands, Gita
ran down stairs lightly; and these stairs--some crooked stone steps in a
dark passage--would have broken our necks to descend. She came out in a
narrow street with the tall houses almost meeting overhead, and steep
paths or flights of steps leading down to the shore. The town was
Mentone, in the south of France, with the boundary line of Italy not
half a mile distant. At one end of the street was visible the blue sky,
and two churches, yellow and white, on an open square, with towers,
where the bells were ringing.

Gita felt in her pocket for a crust of hard bread, and began to eat.
This was her breakfast, and if she had been richer she would have drunk
a little black coffee with it. As it was, she paused at the fountain,
where the women were gossiping as they drew water in buckets, and placed
her mouth under the spout.

Raphael came along, and greeted her. Raphael, a tall young fellow with
bright eyes, a face the color of bronze, and a little black mustache,
was the son of a merchant who kept goats and donkeys for the visitors
who came here every year. The goats furnished rich milk for the invalids
to drink, while the ladies and children rode the donkeys. Gita found
Raphael very handsome.

He wore a curious straw hat with the brim turned up, a shirt striped
with red, blue pantaloons, and a yellow sash about his waist. One could
see he esteemed himself rather a dandy. In turn Raphael found Gita the
prettiest girl of his acquaintance, with her large black eyes, brown
face, and white teeth. Besides, Gita was amiable, and did not mock at
him when he walked on the Promenad