Some of these try to pass themselves off as rattlers, however, and we often wondered how they knew that the faint sound of the rattle is so strangely horrible and frightening, that they should try to imitate it as a means of defence. Another fright which we had, while still in the barn, was very thrilling. It was in the night, and we had been fast asleep, when all at once we became wide awake, straining our ears for the repetition of a horrible sound that we seemed to have heard in our sleep. It is impossible to describe the cold horror and fear which that curious dry rattle gives one. Here was the thing we had so dreaded—a rattlesnake in the room. As we sat up in the dark the sound was repeated, seemingly from the middle of the room. Someone whispered, “Do you hear,” and we answered, “Do not move.” We reached cautiously for matches and candle, and of course these poor, wretched Californian matches—the worst surely in the world—did nothing but break off or go out. For some minutes the sound continued with an angry crescendo, till we began to wonder if the dreadful thing had got itself wedged in somewhere between the piles of furniture. At last a feeble, uncertain light and four pairs of strained eyes searched the dim room. And there, sitting nicely balanced on his hind legs, with his sharp black eyes shining brightly, was a small field mouse with a long rattle between his teeth, shaking it about vigorously every few minutes, then running a few paces and rattling it again. We had cut off a number of rattles from the snakes killed on our ranch to keep them as curiosities, and this was one of them which the mouse had got hold of and seemed to find such a good plaything. (_To be continued._) VARIETIES. HOW HE GREW RICH. A man who had by his own unaided exertions become rich, was asked by a friend the secret of his success. “I accumulated,” said he, “about one-half of my property by attending to my own business and the other half by letting other people’s entirely alone.” TOIL ON.—If you want knowledge you must toil for it; if food you must toil for it; if pleasure you must toil for it. Toil is the law. Pleasure comes through toil, and not by self-indulgence and indolence. When a girl gets to love work her life is a happy one. I DON’T CARE!—When you say “I don’t care!” see that your tone of voice doesn’t indicate that you do. NO, NOT HEAVY. A little girl was wandering in an Edinburgh street, dragging about a great baby boy almost as big as herself. A clergyman who was passing stopped and said, “Why, my little lass, can you carry that boy? He must be heavy.” The child looked up in his face and gasped, “No, sir, he’s no heavy. He’s my brither.” Surely a whole sermon in itself! WITH HIS FRIEND. In a London mission school near a “settlement,” the teacher asked, “Where does Jesus live?” A small boy spoke up: “Some of His friends have come to live in our alley, and I think He lives with them.” A POET’S MARRIAGE.