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grand * mausoleum for Julius II., the central figure of which is Moses, at which he worked over forty years; and the reclining figures of Day and Night, Morning and Evening, are so much admired that they are to be reproduced on a monument soon to be erected to Michael Angelo at the scene of his labours.

There are but few paintings of his on canvas, for he is said to have had a contempt for easel pictures.

The Pope sent for him to come and decorate the walls of his Chapel at the Vatican. The architects did not know how to construct a scaffolding which would enable him to reach the ceiling, and he invented one; and also a curious paper cap, which would hold a candle in the front, and thus leave his hands free to work at night. He covered the ceilings with beautiful paintings of scenes taken from the Old Testament. Thirty years afterwards, he painted on the end wall of the chapel the wonderful picture of "The Last Judgment." Thousands of people visit it every year, and gaze on it with reverence, and wonder, and delight, for it is one of the greatest pictures in the world.

St. Peter's was the closing work of his life. Begun long before, many artists had worked upon it-many architects had made plans for it; but it was left to Michael Angelo to raise the dome, and to leave such a perfect ' model for its completion, that it now stands as the crowning glory of his fame.

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And it was the work of an old man. At seventy, other men generally lay down their life's labour,

V.-Moffatt's Ex. Reader.

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but he commenced the painting of "The Last Judgment;" and the building of St. Peter's was in progress at the time of his death, when he was ninety.

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With all his great powers, he was not unmindful of little things. Nothing was too trivial for care. The designing of a crucifix for a lady's wear; the candelabra for the chapel; the costume of the Papal guard, still worn, show his minute attention to details. In all his works we see the same intelligent thought that was manifested in the moulding of the faun's mouth, his boyhood's triumph.

Nobly was the 10 prediction of Lorenzo de Medici fulfilled, that "it was the work of one entering upon the career of a master." In Michael Angelo, the Great Master of Art, who at ninety stood among the honoured of the world, ripened all the promise of the boy who, more than seventy years before, modelled the snow face, for an hour's pastime. in the gardens of the Medici Palace.

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1austere, stern; harsh; severe. 2 colossal, of enormous size; gigantic. 3 Florence, on the Arno, Tuscany, Italy. (See App.) mausoleum, a magnificent tomb. 5 Julius II., Pope from 1503 to 1513. The Pope is the bishop of Rome and head of the Roman Catholic Church. Vatican, a magnificent assemblage of buildings in Rome, including the Pope's palace, a museum, a library, etc. model, a representation of a structure on a reduced (smaller) scale; a pattern from which some work is to be executed. crucifix, a cross with the figure of Christ crucified upon it. 9 candelabra (plural), candelabrum (singular), a branched highly ornamented candlestick; a stand by which lamps are supported. 10 prediction, a foretelling; a previous declaration of a future event.

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THE FLOWER GIRL.

A STORY OF THE ST. GOTHARD PASS.

PART I.

neigh'-bour-hood

in-ter-rupt'-ed Swit'-zer-land

ac-com'-mo-date dis-ap-peared' com-pan'-ion

An'-der-matt cas-cade'

BLANCHE PAGET was the friend and constant companion of Nellie White. She had been on the 1 continent, and it was Nellie's delight to listen to her accounts of the wonderful things she had seen.

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One morning, while seated on an old log overlooking a part of the lovely valley of the Wye, Blanche told the following story :

"Last year my father, mother, and I visited Switzerland. Father's brother was curate of a little church in Andermatt, a village at the foot of the St. Gothard Mountain. My uncle lived in a tiny cottage, too small to accommodate visitors, and so papa took lodgings at the hotel. The mountain behind the house rose higher than the highest church-tower I ever saw, so that some of the rooms were all the time darkened with its shadow. It was a two-storey wooden house, the roof covered with great stones, as all the roofs in that neighbourhood were."

"That's strange," interrupted Nellie. "What for?"

"To keep it from being blown off," replied Blanche. "The people have to protect their houses so in a great many parts of Switzerland, because

of the violent winds which sweep down the mountains, and through the valleys. By the side of the hotel a little stream tumbled over a wild bed

of rocks, making cascades as it hurried along. A short distance from the house a stone bridge crossed this stream, and from it we could look up the

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narrow ravine to where the water seemed just like a silver thread running down the mountainside, and then, turning round, see it tumbling and boiling along, until it disappeared in the channel it had worn round the next hill.

"The valley in which this little village is built is so shut in by hills, that the days are very short at all seasons of the year. It takes the sun an hour or two in the morning to climb over the high mountain towards the east, and it disappears behind the western hills very early in the afternoon."

1 continent, the countries on the mainland of Europe. 2 Wye, a river in the west of England. St. Gothard, a mountain group in the Helvetian Alps, reaching in its highest peaks the height of 12,000 feet. ravine, a deep and narrow hollow, usually worn by a stream or torrent of water; a gorge.

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"ON the evening of our arrival, after we had taken supper, we sat down by the window to enjoy the strange, wild scenery, when a group of children appeared before the house. The eldest was a girl about twelve years of age. She was very pretty, although her dress was mean, and her light hair, braided in two long, straight 'queues, hung down below her waist. She had a basket in each hand-one filled with violets and roses, and the other with carvings and little crystals. Our