eter's. The great dome is supported by four pillars, each of
which is seventy feet thick!

But let us step inside of this great edifice. I think you will be
there even more impressed with its height and extent than you were
when you stood on the outside.

Is not here a vast and lofty expanse? But even from this favorable
point you cannot get a complete view of the interior. In front of you,
you see in the distance the light striking down from above. There is
the great dome, and when you walk beneath it you will be amazed at its
enormous height. There are four great halls like this one directly
before us, for the church is built in the form of a cross, with the
dome at the intersection of the arms. There are also openings in
various directions, which lead into what are called chapels, but which
are in reality as large as ordinary sized churches.

The pavement of the whole edifice is made of colored marble, and, as
you see, the interior is heavily decorated with carving and statuary.
Much of this is bronze and gold.

But if you should mount (and there are stairs by which you may make
the ascent) into the cupola at the top of the dome, and look down into
the vast church, and see the people crawling about like little insects
so far below you, you would perhaps understand better than at any
other time that it is not at all surprising that this church should be
one of the wonders of the world.

If we ever go to Europe, we must not fail to see St. Peter's Church at
Rome.

THE SOFT PLACE.

There was once a young Jaguar (he was very intimately related to the
Panther family, as you may remember), and he sat upon a bit of hard
rock, and cogitated. The subject of his reflections was very simple
indeed, for it was nothing more nor less than this--where should he
get his supper?

He would not have cared so much for his supper, if it had been that he
had had no dinner, and even this would not have made so much
difference if he had had his breakfast. But in truth he had eaten
nothing all day.

During the summer of that year the meat-markets in that section of the
country were remarkably bad. It was sometimes difficult for a panther
or a wildcat to find enough food to keep her family at all decently,
and there were cases of great destitution. In years before there had
been plenty of deer, wild turkey, raccoons, and all sorts of good
things, but they were very scarce now. This was not the first time
that our young Ja