Both Phoenician and Aramaic were in all probability spoken and written in Palestine and Aram. It was in Aramaic, too, that the words of Christ and his apostles were spoken; and a few of the actual words are still retained in the New Testament, for example "Talitha cumi," meaning "Maid, arise!" It was probably Aramaic that prevailed also in the great capitals of Mesopotamia, while the rich and haughty kings of Babylonia and Assyria were using on their stone and plaster images and in their queer books of inscribed and baked brick, the writing that is called "cuneiform." It is so called because the letters appear to to be formed of little _cunei_, wedges, or nails. "Arrow-headed writing" is another name for it. Look well at this curious writing made by engraving on brick. Several different languages have been written in it. [Illustration: SPECIMEN OF CUNEIFORM WRITING.] A DIFFERENCE OF OPINION. BY LILIAN DYNEVOR RICE I. Six sturdy lads lay curled up in their beds When the Birthday of Freedom had faded to night, With burns on their fingers and pains in their heads, And scarred like the heroes of many a fight. But, strange to relate, as all sleepless they lay, Though ten from the steeple had chimed loud and clear, They sighed: "What a perfectly glorious day! Too bad it can only come once in the year!" II. The six patient mothers, who loved the six boys, Were resting at last, now the daylight was done; For, with the wild racket and riot and noise, No peace had been theirs since the dawn of the sun. And they sighed, as they said in the weariest way (And full cause had they for their feelings, I fear): "This has been _such_ a terrible, ear-splitting day! How lucky it only comes once in the year!" [Illustration: THE LEOPARD BROUGHT TO BAY BY WILD DOGS.] WILD HUNTERS. BY JOHN R. CORYELL. Everybody knows the old story of the father who taught his sons to be united by showing them a bundle of sticks. Taken together, the sticks could not be broken; but taken singly, they were snapped in two very quickly. The wild dogs of South Africa, like the bundle of sticks, furnish an example of the value of unity. A single wild dog is not very formidable, but a pack of wild dogs is the dread of every living creature in the part of Africa where they dwell; and more persevering, savage, and relentless hunters do not exist. The wild dog has keen scent, quick intelligence, great powers of endurance, and great speed; so that, however swift may be the animal pursued, it has cause to fear this tireless hunter. Indeed, the wild dog never seems to take into consideration the size, strength, or agility of its game. Even the lion, it is said, has learned to dread those small hunters, which seem to have no fear of death, but rush with fierce courage to attack the mighty monarch himself, should he be so unlucky as to become the object of their pursuit.