ptiles and insects, and Lady Catherine purring her delight at
being relieved from her enemies. No doubt, if she could have given us
the benefit of her thoughts, she would have joined the bipeds in
saying--

"It's an ill wind that blows nobody good."

[Illustration: "A LITTLE ANT-EATER SLOWLY UNCOILING ITSELF."]

OUR SUNDAY AFTERNOONS.

THE DREAM OF PILATE'S WIFE.

[Illustration: FORTRESS OF ANTONIA, JERUSALEM (CALLED PILATE'S HOUSE).]

It was early morning, not yet seven o'clock. Yet Pontius Pilate, the
Roman Governor of Judea, was astir. For the Paschal Feast of the Jews
was fast approaching, and having heard rumours of strange things going
on amongst them, he anticipated some serious disturbance. He was,
therefore, in no pleasant humour, and his dark brow was contracted, his
teeth were firmly set, and in his stern and somewhat fierce eyes was a
look of mingled anger, scorn, and disgust.

How weary he was of these perpetual riots! How he despised the conquered
Jews and their pretensions of religion, while their actions were mean
and vile. They professed a sanctity superior to that of any nation upon
earth. And yet he knew that every day they indulged in flagrant sins,
and were influenced by motives that others would scorn to yield to. Oh!
if he dared but show them what he thought of them and their hollow
professions. But he must restrain his feelings. Several times already,
in his impatience of their ways, he had given vent to his wrath in
actions that, he knew too well, would not bear the examination of his
master, the emperor of Rome.

The Roman emperors, bad as some of them were, liked to know that all
their provinces were well governed, that the people had no just cause of
complaint; and that their customs, religions, and prejudices were
respected. And they would punish severely any governor who, by misrule,
brought dishonour on the name of Rome.

Pilate knew that he had wilfully trampled upon the religious prejudices
of the Jews, and that when they had risen up against him he had
massacred them by the thousand. He remembered how he had once brought
some Roman eagles from Caesarea to Jerusalem, where no heathen ensign
could be suffered; how he had also placed there some gilt votive
shields, dedicated to the Emperor Tiberius; and how, to bring water from
the pools of Solomon into the city, he had taken money from the sacred
treasury. He remembered, too, how, when the Jews had rebelled against
thes