nfluenced by his theme, is raised somewhat from his usual slangy
expression.

The Gift of the Magi

11, 1. The Magi. Wise men who brought gifts to the infant Christ as he
lay in the manger at Bethlehem.

13, 1. Queen of Sheba. A queen of Old Testament history, who is
reported to have sought an alliance with Solomon, King of Israel, in
the tenth century B.C., bringing to him fabulous gifts of gold and
jewels.

* * * * *

BOOTH TARKINGTON (Page 19)

Booth Tarkington was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1869. The
author's love for and knowledge of his native state is revealed to us
in several of his best novels. He was educated at Exeter Academy, at
Purdue University, and at Princeton.

Mr. Tarkington may truly be said to be a literary man. Unlike most of
our other authors, he has had no other formal occupation except that of
writing. To this work, since he left Princeton, he has given all of his
time and energy. For eight years he wrote stories that were always
rejected. His courage and perseverance, however, were finally richly
rewarded. With his first accepted work, _The Gentleman from Indiana_,
he attained a secure position as a writer of distinction.

Mr. Tarkington is said to be exceedingly companionable and entirely
without self-consciousness and egotism. He is a ready and entertaining
talker and tells a story as well as he writes one. He has, too, a keen
sense of the humorous. This naturalness and this sense of humor may be
noticed readily in the story, "A Reward of Merit" selected from _Penrod
and Sam_.

The books, _Penrod_, _Penrod and Sam_, and _Seventeen_ are studies of
the human boy, presented in a series of chapters that read like so many
short stories.

A Reward of Merit

21, 1. Obedient to inherited impulse. The boys followed an unreasoning
impulse in their nature, inherited from their savage ancestors, who got
their living by pursuing and killing running animals.

2. Automatons of instinct. Creatures guided, not by reason or will, but
by tendencies inherited from savage ancestors.

22, 1. Practioner of an art, etc. A humorous way of saying that
gambling by the method of throwing dice dates back probably further
than the time of the Romans.

30, 1. Sang-froid. A French word meaning coolness under trying
circumstances.

36, 1. Gothic. A term applied to certain types of architecture of the
Middle Ages. Whitey, with bones and ribs showing, suggested