they went to the inn, and drank a new barrel that had just been opened.

The next morning the public bell was rung, advising the citizens of Schilda that a public duty called them together, and that no one should on that day perform any private work. So they all assembled at the new town hall, to cover which was the problem of the day. As the heap of shingles with which the roof was to be laid was at a considerable distance from the new building, the problem arose, how the workmen on the top of the walls could make use of them. The Schildburghers were not slow in solving this momentous problem. They formed a chain which extended from the heap of shingles to the new building, up its walls by means of ladders, and then to the framework of the roof, from beam to beam. Thus every individual shingle passed through the hand of each citizen, and no one was idle. This method had a further pleasant consequence. Those farthest from the building, who had come to work last and done least, were therefore those nearest to the inn, and quickest there at the hour of dinner, and sitting at the head of the table. All this was, of course, appropriate to the new manners and ideas of the Schildburghers. . .

At last the building was finished. In solemn conclave, and with joy in their hearts, the citizens of Schilda proceeded to enter it. First went the mayor, then the beadle, then the gravedigger, who was held to be very grave indeed, then the other citizens in proper order of estates and dignities. And behold, it was pitch-dark in their new town hall, dark to such a degree that one could not hear, much less see. Astonishment and chagrin reigned supreme. They tried to find their way out again, and at last succeeded. From all sides they examined their new hall; regarded its

distinguished shape, its handsome walls; were inconsolable that it had so serious a fault. But it occurred to no one that each of the three walls was a solid mass, and that the builders had forgotten to put in any windows.

-Tieck's Modern Version.

Ulrich Megerle-" Abraham a Sancta Clara"

The Donkey's Voice

A CERTAIN singer was most vain of his voice, thinking it so enchanting it might allure the very dolphins, or if not them, the pike, from out of the deep. But it is an old custom of the Lord to punish the vain ones of the earth, who like nothing better than praise. So the Lord made this man sing false at Holy Mass, and the whole congregation was utterly displeased. Close by the altar there was kneeling an old woman, who wept bitterly during the Mass. The conceited songster, thinking that the old woman had been moved to those tears by the sweetness of his voice, after Mass approached the dame, asking her, in the presence of the congregation, why she had wept so sadly. His mouth watered for the expected praise, when, "Sir," said the woman, "while you were singing I remembered my donkey; I lost him, poor soul, three days ago, and his voice was very natural, like yours. Oh, heavenly Father, if I could only find that good and useful beast!"-"Judas, the Arch-Rogue."

A Burdensome Wife

A MAN set sail from Venice for Ancona, with his wife, both being minded to offer their devotions at the shrine of Santa Maria di Loreto. But during the voyage there arose such a great storm that all thought the ship in extreme peril

of sinking. The owner of the ship therefore gave his command that each traveler should forthwith throw his most burdensome possessions into the sea, so that the vessel might be made lighter. Some rolled casks of wine overboard, and others bales of cloth; the man from Venice, who did not desire to be found tarrying behind the rest, seized his wife, exclaiming, "Forgive me, Ursula mine, but this day you must drink to my health in salt water!" and would throw her into the sea. The frightened wife making a commotion with her screams, others ran up, and scolded the husband, asking him the cause of his action. "The owner of the ship," said he, " urgently commanded that we all should throw overboard our heaviest burdens. Now, throughout my whole life nothing has ever been so burdensome to me as this woman; hence I was gladly willing to make her over to Father Neptune."-" Hie! Fie!"

Christoph von Grimmelshausen

Origin and Rearing of Simplicius

In the present days, which many people believe to be the last, there is to be observed among common people a disease which manifests itself in the following manner: When the patients who suffer from it have scraped together or stolen enough for a dress in the newest fashion, tricked out with ribbons and spangles, straightway they would be thought noble and knightly persons of most ancient race; whereas, on the contrary, their forebears were usually day-laborers, hewers of wood and drawers of water, their present kinsmen are drivers of asses, their brothers executioners, their sisters and mothers witches of ill repute, and all their twoand-thirty ancestors equally filthy and degraded, even as the pots of the sugar-makers at Prague. Thus are these new noblemen ofttimes as black as though they had been born and bred in Guinea.

I would not be thought to be the like of such fools, although, truth to say, I have often enough imagined that I must be descended from some great lord, or, at least, some nobleman of meaner order, for I have ever felt a great liking, from my very nature, for the employments of noble youth, had I but had the wherewithal to get me the necessary accouterments. Yet, jest aside, my origin and breeding may not unfitly be compared to that of some lordly person, if one be but willing to pass over the difference. How? My father had a palace of his own, and a palace of such a kind as no king with his own hands could build, or would,