“But my leige, I have not the money,” replied the miller.

    “Then I must buy your mill,” said the king.

    “You also have not money enough; I will not sell,” was the miller’s
    reply.

    When the king hinted his power to take possession by force, the
    sturdy miller said he could and would sue the king.

    “Well,” said the monarch, “since you have so high an opinion of the
    justice to be found in my courts of law, I will not molest you.”

    So the windmill continued to creak and whirr in the ears of the
    royal family for a long time.

    ADA.

* * * * *

HERBERT J.—­In answer to your request, we give a copy of the poem entitled “The Little Boy who Went Out to Swim,” published first in ST. NICHOLAS for September, 1874.  Several of our readers have asked to see the poem printed, without its pictures, in the “Letter-Box,” as the interweaving of the illustrations with the text, as they first appeared, hindered the meaning and beauty of the verses from being fully understood.

  THE LITTLE BOY WHO WENT OUT TO SWIM.

  BY HENRY HOWLAND.

  A little boy went out to swim,
    One pleasant day in June,
  And the fish all came to talk to him,
    That summer afternoon.

  “Come down, dear little boy,” they said,
    “And let us show to you
  The homes of fish, merman and maid. 
   Under the waters blue.

  “We’ll show you where the naiads sleep,
    And where the tritons dwell;
  The treasures of the unknown deep,
    The coral and the shell.

  “The siren’s song shall charm your ears,
    And lull you into rest;
  No monster shall arouse your fears,
    Or agitate your breast.”

  The little boy was glad to go;
    And all the company
  Of fish escorted him below,—­
    A pageant brave to see!

  The pilot-fish swam on ahead,
    The shark was at his heels;
  The dolphin a procession led
    Of porpoise, whale, and eels.

  The trout, all brave in red and gold,
    Many a caper cut;
  And after them came crowds untold
    Of cod and halibut.

  The blue-fish with the black-fish swam;
    Who knows the joy each felt? 
  The perch was escort to the clam,
    The oyster to the smelt.

  The muscalonge, from northern lake,
    That leaps the harbor bar,
  Swam closely in the sturgeon’s wake,
    Famous for caviar!

  The haddock floated side by side
    With carp from foreign shore,
  And with them, through the seething tide,
    Went scollops by the score.

  The sword-fish, like a soldier brave,
    His saber flashing bare,
  Went o’er the swelling ocean wave,
    With bold and martial air.

  The jelly-fish went trembling down;
    The star-fish mildly beamed;
  And through the waves, like diamonds thrown,
    The sun-fish glanced and gleamed.