WHY THE ICEBERGS COME SO

FAR SOUTH.

ONCE upon a

time, so many,

many years ago

that we must not

stop to count them, a little lad lay dying on the ice. Nothing earthly could save him; not all the little longeared fur caps, not all the thickly fur-lined coats and leggings, not all the

warm seal - skin waistcoats and

gloves and stout boots in the world would have been

K

enough to keep out the intense cold that was around him. For the ice on which the little lad was lying was the ice of the wide, wide Arctic Ocean.

Not that he suffered in any way. The drowsiness that had so suddenly overcome him, as he ran wildly, deliriously to and fro, on the boundless dreary expanse of frozen sea, had given way to profound sleep; and as he lay there quietly sleeping his life away, he dreamt, yet without pain or distress, of the brave little vessel, where, though the work was so much harder than he had thought it would be, yet the men were after all so much kinder to him than from their rough manners he had at first thought they might be, seeing that he was but a naughty little fellow who had run away from home to go to sea, and, being rather confused about things, was apt to be getting continually in somebody's way. Of the long, dreary voyage he dreamt, and of his own quick repentance, and of the good resolutions he formed. And of the storm that had come upon them so suddenly, and of the wrong course that the captain had taken. Of the first view of the glittering white and blue wall of ice, and of the gradual surrounding of their disabled, struggling little vessel by that same ice. Of the long, dreary months of anxiety and dire forebodings, and of the terrible few days of lingering starvation from the cruel

cold and gnawing hunger. Of the gradual dying away of the little crew; and of the final crash, when the courageous little vessel cracked together in every part of her like a mere empty walnut-shell, and the few survivors, roused from their apathy, rushed out madly on to the ice away from her, foodless and hopeless, to meet a certain death farther on. Of the great white shroud that awaited them all!

And after these, came the sweet recollections of the happy hut-like home, in the fir forests of dear Norway, that he had been so eager to leave! Once again he felt the tender kisses of his mammy warm on his cheek, and heard the pleasant, grave words of his father. Once again he saw the dimpled rosy face of his little sister Frölich, and the mischievous smile and eyes of his little brother Christian. Once again he fell into their arms one by one, and sobbed out his promise—never, never to leave them again.

Yes; God was being very good to the white-faced little human being that lay there alone and dying, with not one fellow-creature within countless hundreds of miles of him. His last thoughts were sweet ones!

'Good night, foolish little boy-good night!' said the blue water, slap-slapping against the knife-like edges of the cold, cruel bed on which he lay.

'Good night!' shrilly cried the wild white snow-bird,

as she swooped down to look at the curious sight, and, making nothing of it, rose into the air again, skurling and whirling.

'Good night, little forlorn boy!' sighed the wind as it swept, sadly whistling and moaning, over the jagged surface of ice and water; for the wind visits the whole of the globe, and knows everything. 'I shall tell the firtrees in Norway that I saw you, and they will whisperwhisper it to each other, until it reaches your mother's She will think it sounds sad, and will think of you directly. But she won't quite understand them. That's all I can do for you, little Erik!'

ears.

And Erik was silent. So the wind went on its lonely

way.

Hallo!' said a pert young seal, popping its head out of the water, and resting its two flippers on the edge of the ice. 'What's this?'

The mamma seal popped her head out of the

water too.

'Gracious, child! come away!' cried she.

man!'

'It's a

It was only a boy, but the old seal knew no better. 'I don't think it looks dangerous,' said the young seal kindly.

But all that could be seen of the old seal now was the tip of her nose.