I was as wet as any ——­; (3.)
  The wind and thunder made a ——­,
  And neither moon nor star was ——­;
    The night was black as sin. 
  The fall had given me such a ——! (4.)
  And I was miles from any ——­: 
  I floundered on through mud and ——­
    To reach the nearest inn.

  But when I found the wished-for ——­, (5.)
  And saw through windows dim with ——­
  A fellow holding up an ——­,
    I would have cried with fear. 
  Each seat was filled by such a ——­, (6.)
  As might have fled from any ——­
    Of thief or buccaneer.

  I strove to overcome my ——­, (7.)
  And ventured on a traveler’s ——­
    To enter boldly there. 
  The porter waved aloft a ——­, (8.)
  But still I stepped within the ——­
    And took an empty chair.

  The leader gave a fearful ——­; (9.)
  Sprang up, and overturned the ——. 
  Oh!  I could cover half a ——­
    With what I felt that night. 
  He came, and gave me such a ——­, (10.)
  That I cried out amain, though ——­
    With anguish and affright.

  “Come, will you join our game of ——? (11.)
  Or do you choose that I should ——­
  The wretch, who wishes naught but ——­
    To honest men like us?”
  With that he flung me from the ——­, (12.)
  And seizing on me by the ——­,
  He drew me forth into the ——­
    And made a dreadful fuss.

  The night had now grown clear and ——. (13.)
  I wandered to a distant ——­,
  And thought the cold ground not so ——­,
    As was that fearful spot. 
  But soon there passed a friendly ——­, (14.)
  Who placed me in his empty ——­
    And took me to his cot.

  M. W.

The solutions are as follows:  1.  Clash, lash, ash. 2.  Plight, light. 3.  Trout, rout, out. 4.  Strain, train, rain. 5.  Place, lace, ace. 6.  Scamp, camp. 7.  Fright, right. 8.  Broom, room. 9.  Scream, cream, ream. 10.  Tweak, weak. 11.  Skill, kill, ill. 12.  Chair, hair, air. 13.  Chill, hill, ill. 14.  Swain, wain.

* * * * *

    Pittsburg, Pa.

    DEAR READERS OF “ST. NICHOLAS:”  I live in a city of iron and steel
    manufactories.  I will do my best to tell you how an ax is made.

The works are a beautiful sight at night, with their huge, glowing furnaces and the forms of the brawny workmen, passing between us and the light.  In one furnace they are heating pieces of cast-iron, about twelve inches long, four inches wide, and one-half inch thick.

A workman takes a pair of long pincers, draws from the furnace one of the red-hot pieces of iron, and passes it to another workman.  This workman is standing before two large wheels, which revolve slowly, and which have several notches in them.  The piece of hot iron is placed