up either its head or tail--the boys could not tell
which--and started toward them. Harry forgot all about shooting at the
shoulder, but in his excitement fired at the animal generally, without
picking out any particular spot in which to plant his shot.

The effect of the shot was surprising. The bear set up a tremendous
bellow, and by the flash of the gun the boys saw their dreaded enemy
galloping away, with its horns and tail in the air. Tom burst into a
loud laugh. "Come out, Joe," he cried. "Your bear's gone home to be
milked--that is, if Harry hasn't mortally wounded her."

Fortunately Harry had made a miss; and he found his whole charge of shot
the next morning in the trunk of a big white birch-tree. The innocent
cow that Joe had mistaken for a bear was, however, so thoroughly
frightened that she did not come near the camp again.

"I stick to it that it was a bear," said Joe, as the boys were wrapping
themselves in their blankets. "Cows go to roost at sunset. Suppose it
did bellow: how do you know that bears don't bellow when they are shot?"

"How about the horns, Joe?" asked Tom.

"There's horned owls--why shouldn't there be horned bears? Anyway, I
believe it was a bear, and I shall stick to it." And to this day Joe
believes--or thinks he does--that he had a very narrow escape from a
ferocious bear on the banks of the Schroon.

[TO BE CONTINUED.]

[Illustration]

THE IDLE HOUR

The robin sings on the topmost bough of the spreading maple-tree,
Where the cool green leaves to the whispering breeze are nodding
merrily;
The sunbeams bright from the azure sky go frolicking here and there,
And the breath of the clover blossom lies sweet on the summer air,

And under the trees so restfully, where the shadows softest lie,
Like a woodland nymph in her netted couch between fair earth and sky,
Behold our dainty darling, safe hidden from friends away,
Content with the merry sunshine, the robin, and breeze to stay.

LITTLE MADGE.

BY MARY D. BRINE.

"Oh dear! such fun! Don't I wish just for once _I_ could be a rich
lady's little girl, and wear a white dress and slippers, and a blue sash
ever so wide, and curls in my hair! I do wish a fairy could fly right
out of the sky this minute, and give me things I want! Oh, dear me!"

Little Madge sat perched on the iron fence surrounding a handsome house,
within which a birthday party was going on merrily. It was dark outside,
and th