of the Russians.

What success do they meet? What is
Who were the "long red line tipped

meant by en echelon?

with steel?" What success had the British cavalry? Describe the attack by the Light Brigade.

XXX. CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE.

I.

Half a league, half a league,

Half a league onward,
All in the valley of death
Rode the six hundred.
"Charge!" was the captain's cry;
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs but to do and die;
Into the valley of death
Rode the six hundred.

II.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,

Cannon in front of them

Volleyed and thundered;

Stormed at with shot and shell,

Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell

Rode the six hundred.

III.

Flashed all their sabers bare,
Flashed all at once in air,
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while

All the world wondered:

league stormed

Plunged in the battery smoke,
Fiercely the line they broke;
Strong was the saber stroke;
Making an army reel
Shaken and sundered;

Then they rode back, but not—

Not the six hundred.

IV.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them

Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
They that had struck so well,
Rode through the jaws of Death,
Up from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,

Left of six hundred.

V.

Honor the brave and bold!
Long shall the tale be told,
Yea, when our babes are old-
How they rode onward.
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made,
Noble six hundred!

ALFRED TENNYSON (1809-1892).

Explain the poem from events in the battle which it

celebrates.

XXXI. THE MIGRATIONS OF ANIMALS.

1. Many animals, under an irresistible impulse, quit their habitual dwelling places and direct their way to distant regions. Nearly all classes of the animal kingdom make such migrations at stated periods; at other times, however, they occur suddenly and astonish the inhabitants of the countries which they invade by bringing devastation, famine and death.

2. Violence sometimes compels legions of animals to quit their native abodes. Dr. Livingstone found various kinds of game in such vast numbers in Central Africa that one kind crowded the other, the stronger ones forcing the weaker ones to emigrate.

vances.

3. Animals disappear as civilization adThe mammoth was known in Virginia by the Indians, and large animals which once found shelter in Gaul have disappeared. Only the crumbling bones of the wild animals which our sturdy forefathers hunted, are now found. The bison is rapidly disappearing from the western prairies.

4. Animals which migrate periodically observe much order and foresight. Instructed by an experience from which all profit, they perform their journeys with an astonishing degree of order.

5. The arrangement observed by wild geese in traversing the air shows that they possess a certain power of mental combination. They are placed one behind the other in two long oblique lines. These lines form an acute angle in front, which is the most suitable form for cleaving the air. As the leader of the phalanx is placed in the apex of the angle, he has to exert himself more than the others, just as it is more difficult to plow the first furrow. As soon as this leader is fatigued, he drops behind and takes the last place in either wing, while another takes his place. How many of you have seen the leader of wild geese do this?

6. When a flock of wild geese, worn out by fatigue, alight to rest, they place outlying sentinels, with watchful ear and keen lookout, who carefully scan the environs and give the alarm to the whole camp. Whenever a hunter approaches, before he comes within gun-shot, these vigilant sentries raise their necks and beat their wings in warning, and then with a low

cry, they take wing and are followed by the whole troop of emigrants.

7. The Processionary Bombyx observes a remarkable degree of order. When the troop issues from the lair or sack in which the whole family have been sheltered in a mass, one caterpillar marches at the head, followed by regular squadrons of two, three, four, five, and so on, marching in regular order, one after the other.

Their files, which sometimes stretch out to a width of thirty or forty feet, make numerous windings over downs and roads, imitating the order of a procession in their movement. The hairs which cover these caterpillars become detached during their evolutions, and it is exceed