, and then the balloon was allowed to float where it
would, with the comparative certainty that it would pass over, or nearly
over, the scene of action.

Here is a chance for photographers who want to take new scenes and
original things with their cameras. The earth at a few hundred feet
distance would look like a big bowl covered with many little roofs,
laced with white roads, along which funny little animals would be seen
crawling along at a snail's pace.

OUR FLAG.

Fling it from mast and steeple,
Symbol o'er land and sea,
Of the life of a happy people,
Gallant and strong and free.
Proudly we view its colors,
Flag of the brave and true,
With the clustered stars and the steadfast bars,
The red, the white, and the blue.

Flag of the fearless-hearted,
Flag of the broken chain,
Flag in a day-dawn started,
Never to pale or wane.
Dearly we prize its colors,
With the heaven light breaking through,
The clustered stars and the steadfast bars,
The red, the white, and the blue.

Flag of the sturdy fathers,
Flag of the loyal sons,
Beneath its folds it gathers
Earth's best and noblest ones.
Boldly we wave its colors,
Our veins are thrilled anew;
By the steadfast bars, the clustered stars,
The red, the white, and the blue.

MARGARET E. SANGSTER.

* * * * *

A wise old doctor, for the benefit of his health, travelled around the
country in a caravan, in which he lived, stopping for short periods at
the larger towns. He had a young lad for an assistant, who was more or
less quick and intelligent, but rather inclined to jump at conclusions.
The doctor taught him a little medicine whenever he could spare the
time, and he learned considerable, but diagnosis were to him still a
mystery, especially in some cases, when the wise old doctor had used his
eyes to detect the source of the illness.

They were staying for a few days in the town of B----, and the doctor
had been in some demand, having at a previous visit secured a reputation
by some apparently marvellous cures. His young assistant accompanied him
on one occasion, when the doctor had pronounced the patient sick from
eating too many oysters. This puzzled the lad, and when they left the
house he asked his master how he knew the patient had been eating
oysters. "Very simple," his master replied, "I saw a lot of oyster
shells in the fireplace, and the a