A lady sits down and a gentleman blindfolded kneels at her feet.  She takes up each article separately, and asks for judgment.  The gentleman then tells what the owner of the forfeit must do, in order to redeem it.  The sentence once passed is never revoked, and so the sooner the punishment is performed the better.  The game waits until the culprit performs his sentence.

In the party you see, they have been playing a game of forfeits and sentence is being passed upon all those, who have been unfortunate enough to have had them to pay.  Kate, without not knowing it, has just sentenced herself to kiss all the gentlemen in the room, but as there are only two, it will be an easy task.

[Illustration:  The Dispensary.]

The dispensary.

The Dispensary.  What is a dispensary?  The Dispensary is a room or house in which medicines and drugs are compounded and dispensed.  In all large cities there are dispensaries where the poor people go and have their ailments attended to for nothing.  When any poor man or woman meets with an accident he or she, is taken to the hospital where they receive the best of care.  In all boarding schools there is a room near the Infirmary, where they keep the medicines.  In the picture is a little girl who has just entered the boarding school, and she is looking around the buildings.  She has come down to the Infirmary to see all the sick girls, and to amuse them.  She has stopped at the Dispensary, and as she never was in one before, the good lady is explaining all the medicines.  She answers all her questions, and translates the name of the drugs for her.  She is a kind old lady, and Mary has promised to go down and see her often, as she wishes to learn all she can about drugs.

Mary pointed to a large black bottle and asked if there was wine in it.  “Oh no, but vitriol, it burns awful and is very dangerous,” said the old lady.  Mary did not wish to hear more, but rushed out of the room, fearing the bottle would explode.  She told the old lady that she never would touch anything unless she knew what it was—­and then she would not “burn her fingers.”

[Illustration:  The May Queen.]

The may Queen.

It is May morning.  May is the most beautiful of all months.  Then it is, that all nature seems to awaken from its winter slumbers.  The grass springs up, the little birds sing and chirp, and display their beautiful plumage.  The trees shoot forth their buds, the fruitful covering of future foliage.  We no longer greet each other in the warmed room, but, “Good morning,” is sweetly spoken from the open window, or among the bushes of the garden.  We hunt flowers and climb hills, and thus exercise both the body and the mind.  In many parts of Europe, on the first of May, all the juveniles of both sexes, walk to a neighboring wood, and breaking limbs off trees, adorn them with ribbons and crowns of flowers.  They are accompanied by a band of music and the blowing of horns.  They then return to their homes and make their houses triumphant in the flowery spoils.  In the afternoon, a May pole is erected in the centre of the village.  The pole is consecrated to the goddess of flowers, and is profusely adorned with them.  It remains standing all the year.