lowering his horns, ran at him. Tige
turned tail, and the young men that owned him were frantic. They'd been
praising him, and thought they were going to have it proven false. Their
father called out: 'Don't shoot Tige, till you see where he's running
to.' The dog ran right to the cattle pen. The steer was so enraged
that he never noticed where he was going, and dashed in after him. Tige
leaped the wall, and came back to the gate, barking and yelping for the
men to come and shut the steer in. They shut the gate and petted Tige,
and bought him a collar with a silver plate."

The boy was loudly cheered, and went to his seat. The president said he
would like to have remarks made about these two stories.

Several children put up their hands, and he asked each one to speak
in turn. One said that if that man's horse had had a docked tail, his
master wouldn't have been able to reach it, and would have perished.
Another said that if the man hadn't treated his horse kindly, he never
would have come at his whistle, and stood over him to see what he could
do to help him. A third child said that the people on the river weren't
as quick at hearing the voice of the man in trouble as the horse was.

When this talk was over, the president called for some stories of
foreign animals.

Another boy came forward, made his bow, and said, in a short, abrupt
voice, "My uncle's name is Henry Worthington. He is an Englishman,
and once he was a soldier in India. One day when he was hunting in the
Punjab, he saw a mother monkey carrying a little dead baby monkey. Six
months after, he was in the same jungle. Saw same monkey still carrying
dead baby monkey, all shriveled up. Mother monkey loved her baby monkey,
and wouldn't give it up."

The boy went to his seat, and the president, with a queer look in his
face, said, "That's a very good story, Ronald if it is true."

None of the children laughed, but Mrs. Wood's face got like a red poppy,
and Miss Laura bit her lip, and Mr. Maxwell buried his head in his arms,
his whole frame shaking.

The boy who told the story looked very angry. He jumped up again. "My
uncle's a true man, Phil Dodge, and never told a lie in his life."

The president remained standing, his face a deep scarlet, and a tall boy
at the back of the room got up and said, "Mr. President, what would
be impossible in this climate, might be possible in a hot country like
India. Doesn't heat sometimes draw up and preserve things?"