o injure, and instead of jeering and reviling, there were now
those who remarked that 'perhaps the chap was no worse than the rest of
us,' whilst others were glad they had been stopped in time, for only a
few weeks before a man had been killed, whilst standing in the pillory,
by those who were only 'amusing' themselves in much the same fashion as
folk on that day.

One of the crowd fetched water, and a woman brought a mug of milk, which
was sweet as nectar to the poor man's parched throat, and now, though he
had still many hours before sundown to stand in the pillory, yet it was
shorn of its chief terror, as Ralph undertook to shield him from all
further injury.

So he once more thanked Mrs. Hodge, and she returned to her eggs with a
mind at ease.

* * * * *

It may surprise our readers to know that the punishment of the pillory
remained on the Statute-book of this country until the year 1837, though
it had practically fallen into disuse for many years before it was
repealed.

The pillory came down to us from Anglo-Saxon times, and there was a law
passed in the reign of Henry III., ordering every village to set up a
pillory when required for bakers who used false weights, perjurers, and
so on.

CLARENDON.

[Illustration: "'Shame on you all, to hit a helpless man!'"]

[Illustration: A Countryman's Well-deserved Rebuke.]

NOTHING IS PERFECT.

An Italian artist had painted a little girl holding a basket of
strawberries. One of his friends, who was at the time a great admirer of
his genius, wishing to show the perfection of the picture, said to some
people who were looking at it, 'These strawberries are so very natural
and perfect, that I have seen birds coming down from the trees to peck
them, mistaking them for real strawberries.'

A countryman, on hearing this ridiculous praise, burst out laughing:
'Well, sir,' he cried, 'if the strawberries are so well represented as
you say they are, it must not be the same with the little girl, since
she does not frighten the birds.'

The painter's friend could answer nothing; he had received a
well-deserved rebuke for his flattery.

MORAL.--Excessive praise wrongs rather than benefits the person upon
whom it is bestowed.

W. YARWOOD.

WONDERFUL CAVERNS.

I.--ON CAVERNS IN GENERAL.

Long ago, in the dark ages of the world, when superstitious terrors
ruled the mind of savage man, caverns were looked upon with awe an