Carrie, next day, couldn't raise her head; Frank and Lulu were sick in bed; The dog and cat were a used-up pair, And all of them needed the doctor's care. The children themselves can hardly fail To tack a moral upon this trail; And I guess on rather more level grounds They'll play their next game of "Hare and Hounds." [Illustration] JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT. So, here's October come again. Another pleasant year gone by, another lot of sermons done, and nobody the worse! Dear, dear, how time does fly in cheerful company, to be sure! Well, my dears, keep a bright lookout for the new volume, and, meantime, don't open your eyes too wide while I bring to your notice THE LARGEST MAN. Albany, N.Y. DEAR JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT: Perhaps some of your other boys, who, like myself, wish to grow big and strong, would like to hear about the largest human being ever known,--Goliath of Gath,--a person almost large enough to need introduction by installments, but he is so well known that the ceremony is needless. As nearly as I can make out, he was between ten and eleven feet high. When he went to battle he wore a coat-of-mail weighing one hundred and fifty-six pounds,--as heavy as a good-sized man; and the rest of his armor amounted to at least one hundred and fifteen pounds more. The head of his spear weighed eighteen pounds,--as heavy as six three-pound cans of preserved fruit,--and this he carried at the end of a long and heavy shaft! Think what might happen if a man equally big and strong should live among us now, and insist on taking part in our games and sports? If he joined a boat-club, a curious six-oared crew could be made up, with him at one side and five other men opposite. And just imagine him "booming along" on a velocipede! If he joined the champion Nine, and hit a ball, where would that ball go to? If he called for a "shoulder-high" ball, wouldn't the catcher have to climb a step-ladder to catch behind the giant? And if he threw a ball to a base-man, wouldn't he be apt to throw it clean through him? Probably no one can answer these questions, but they are interesting all the same, to yours sincerely, R.V.D. CATCHING BIRDS ON THE WING. As if a man could ever hope to do that, or even to do so much as fly! And yet, word has already come to me of a man who has made a machine with which he actually has flown, up, down, with the wind, against the wind, and, in fact, any way he wished! The particular machine he used looked, I'm told, rather like a big bolster-case blown full of air, and with a light frame-work of hollow brass tubes strapped to it underneath. In this frame-work was a seat for the man, and near him were two circular fans, which he turned round very fast indeed; one of the fans made the machine fly backward or forward, and the other made it go up or down, as he liked.