classics are taught, and which is patronized principally by the wealthy and titled classes, because the fees are so high that they are beyond the reach of ordinary people.

Reports are coming in from various sections of the country of the disastrous forest fires that are raging.

In Michigan and Indiana, the smoke from these fires is so dense that it lies over the surface of Lake Michigan like a thick fog, and the sailors have difficulty in finding their way through it.

In the southern part of Canada the losses have been terrible from these fires. Thousands of dollars' worth of timber has been destroyed, and many persons have lost their homes and their crops.

In Manitoba the flames are said to be spreading, and there is great fear that the fire will reach the more thickly populated districts. Every effort is being made to prevent the fire from getting a start on the Minnesota side of the boundary, but it is feared that it will be impossible to do so.

Settlers have been fighting the flames day and night for over a week, but have made little progress.

Some two thousand Canadians have been rendered homeless and ten persons have been burned to death. In their advance the terrible flames have destroyed the towns and villages that lay in their path, and the report from Ontario alone states that farms, dwellings, stores, churches, and schools have been swept away by this dreadful scourge.

The fall of the year is always the time when forest fires are to be dreaded. In dry seasons like the present, there is always a danger that some chance spark may light on the fallen leaves and the grass dried out by the heat of summer, and thus set the forests on fire.

The latter part of this year has been particularly dry. In the Western and Middle States they say that rain has not been so badly needed in years. In many sections of the country there has been no rain for months. Water-courses and wells are reported as dried up, and many of the live stock are dying, for want of water.

The grass has become so parched and dry that the farmers are having to feed their stock two months ahead of the usual time, and drive them miles to water. It is feared that later in the year there will be a fodder famine.

As a regular thing, the cattle graze in the fields and feed themselves until the frost comes, when the farmers begin to feed them. Enough fodder is raised during the season to carry the stock comfortably through until the grass is up again; but as the corn and roots are liable to rot or mould, little more is grown than is necessary. You can see that it is a serious business for the farmers to have had to touch their winter supplies two months ahead of time.

It is this drought which has caused the forest fires.

In those sections of the country that have as yet escaped the fire, the prairies are as dry as tinder, and the owners of the fields are in constant fear that a spark from a passing locomotive may set fire to them. Men are kept on the watch night and day to prevent such a calamity.

The Tonawanda Swamp is also on fire.

Tonawanda is in the northern part of New York State, in the neighborhood of Buffalo, and is a great lumber town.

The swamp covers twenty-five thousand acres, and adjoining it are many rich farm lands and valuable buildings.

The underbrush grows so thickly in this swamp that it has always been necessary to clear it out every little while, and so the people have been in the habit of setting it on fire every year a few days before the equinoctial storms were due. They had found from experience that by the time the storms came the fires had burnt out enough of the undergrowth for their purpose, and the heavy rains which usually accompany the storms put the fires out for them.

This year, however, the equinox brought no storm with it, and the lighted fires have continued to burn with such fierceness that not only the swamp, but the surrounding country, is in danger