[Illustration] Pages for Laughing Eyes. [Illustration: A THANKSGIVING SURPRISE. ] SLEIGHING SONG. [Illustration] Hurrah! Hurrah! for the jolly snow! Over it we lightly go: Dear sister is so glad, you see, To have a nice drive in the sleigh with me, To have a nice drive in the sleigh with me-- Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah for the ice and cold! Both very young and gay and bold, We fear no snow, we fear no ice, There's naught in the world that is half so nice, There's naught in the world that is half so nice-- Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! FOOD FOR HER LITTLE ONES [Illustration] Over the lofty peaks of many of the mountains of Europe a magnificentbird may occasionally be seen flying, while down in the valley, twothousand feet or more below, a hen may be scratching worms for herdinner, or a young lamb gamboling over the sweet meadow grass. From that enormous height, even, the keen eyes of the eagle can detectthe movement of either, and she flies, or rather drops, straight downupon the poor fowl, and with her powerful foot kills it at a blow, orbreaks the back of the pretty lamb with same terrible weapon. Then, sherises upward with her prey, to feed the little ones she has left in thenest. A BUSY STREET Here you have a picture of busy street-life in a great city. Everybodyis in a hurry and everybody wishes to get ahead. The man at the left hasloaded his wagon so high that he finds it hard to hold the reins. Do yousee the cunning little dog in the pony-cart? He means to see all thereis about him. [Illustration: A BUSY STREET] THE NEW DOLL'S CARRIAGE [Illustration] At Christmas Jessie had a pretty French doll given to her by her auntAmy. For weeks Jessie thought she had nothing more to wish for, but inthe spring, however, when the days were warm and sunny, and naturecalled her out-of-doors, she found it rather inconvenient to take herdolly with her every time. She couldn't use her arms for anything else, you see, and like every other child, she liked to run and jump, and pickflowers and other things that caught her eye. But, like a good littlemother, she thought her dolly needed the fresh air quite as much asherself; so one night, at the supper-table, she said: "I wish I had acarriage for Bella, then I could leave her in that when I went forbuttercups and violets. " Papa was present, and he heard her remark. In a few days Jessie'sbirthday would come, and both he and her mamma had been thinking of whatthey would give her then; for Jessie was such a good, gentle child, seldom teasing for what she could not have, that they always tookespecial care to remember her on such holidays. The innocent hint was just what he wanted. So on the birthday morn, Jessie found Bella seated in a beautiful little carriage, close besideher chair at the breakfast-table. You may be sure she was a very happylittle girl then, and that she gave mamma and papa many loving hugs andkisses for their thoughtfulness and love. JOSIE'S FRIEND. A TRUE STORY. I must tell you what happened to my little girl, for we all thought itso wonderful. [Illustration] She was a dear child, only seven years old, and so anxious to have afriend all her own. One day I took her to Boston. She was wild with joyat being allowed to take such a long trip in the cars. As the trainsteamed out from Newport, Josie's happy little face was pressed close tothe window; but after a while she grew less interested in the fieldsoutside, and more so in the passengers near us. "O mamma!" she whispered to me, "do you see that little girl opposite? Iwant her for a friend so much!" The child she had noticed was indeed a sweet little girl, with hairalmost as golden as Josie's own. She was soon smiling at Josie, and thetwo little travellers held up their dollies for each other to look at. [Illustration] But before we got to Boston my little girl had grown weary, and soon wasfast asleep. When we reached Boston she awoke, and saw her little frienddisappearing. Josie waved her hand to her, and then, to my greatsurprise, shut her eyes tight. "Why, darling, " I said, "didn't you hear mamma tell you this was Boston?Don't go to sleep again; there are auntie and little Bess. " "Mamma, " she answered gravely, "I was not going to sleep. I was askingGod to let that little girl be my friend. " "But, my dear, " I said, "you live in Newport, and you have only seen herin the cars. She probably lives in Boston. Come, auntie is hunting forus. " Josie had a fine time at auntie's, and her cousin Bess for a whilefilled completely the position of friend. But the week over, and we wereaboard the train for Newport; and Josie's mind was again filled with theall-engrossing subject of--a friend. We arrived at home in time for luncheon. Immediately after, Josie was inher room telling her sister all about her visit. Suddenly I heard a cryof joy. "O mamma! mamma! There she is! God did send her. " I hurried into Josie's room, and there at the window stood Josie, holding up her doll, and smiling at the window of the next house. A second glance showed me that this was the very child we had seen inthe cars. The little girls soon became acquainted, for little Carrie had come tospend the winter with the Endicotts, who owned the house next ourcottage. No words can tell how happy my Josie has been with the little friend Godsent her. [Illustration] BUTTERFLY WISDOM. [Illustration] A butterfly poised on a wild-rose spray, As a child tripped by one summer day, And he thought: "How sorrowful she must be To know she can never have wings like me!" But the child passed on, with a careless eye Of the gay-winged, proud, young butterfly, While he fluttered about, as butterflies will, Sipping of honey and dew his fill. The butterfly spread his wings to the sky, As the sweet-faced child again tripped by, And he thought: "How envious she will be My beautiful azure wings to see!" But the child passed, with a lightsome heart, Where never had lodged a poisonous dart, While he fluttered about, as butterflies will, Sipping of honey and dew his fill. [Illustration] When the child again passed the wild-rose sweet, A bit of azure fell at her feet; She lifted it from the moss, and said:-- "Poor little butterfly, it is dead!" Then she tossed it up towards the wild-rose spray, And, singing merrily, went her way, With never a thought, the summer through, Of the butterfly and its wings of blue. [Illustration] MR. MONKEY. Oh, fun, fun, fun! Is there anything half so funny in this world as amonkey? [Illustration] Just listen a moment, and I will tell you of one that I saw the otherday. [Illustration] Think what a proud monkey he must have been, dressed in a fine suit ofclothes! Then to have every one look out of the window when he rung thebell, while he sat up on the corner of the hand-organ. And how thechildren laughed to see him! After he had called every one withinhearing to look at him, he made a little bow and took off his hat verypolitely. [Illustration] Then he put down the bell, and his master gave him cymbals, which hebanged together in a lively way. How delighted all were to see that Mr. Monkey was a student! It was sovery queer to see the little scholar wearing those spectacles which thehand-organ man put on his nose; how well he held the tiny book, nomatter if it was wrong side up! [Illustration] Mr. Monkey would have made a good farmer, we all said, when we saw himchurn. The way that handle flew up and down would have made milk intobutter very shortly, if there had been milk there. [Illustration] Next came the fiddle, a nice little one, just the right size for amonkey to play. The hand-organ sounded very slowly while the littlemonkey played his fiddle. For fear that his master would feel badlybecause he was so far behind, Mr. Monkey put away his instrument, andbowed very low to the people, taking off his hat to thank them for themany pennies showered upon him. [Illustration: A Ride in A Water Wheel] A TRUE STORY. Bertie Gale lived near a noisy little brook, which went singing throughthe meadow. Just below the house in which he lived was a dam. It made alarge pond above it, and the water was used to turn the wheel of a smallwoollen-mill. It was such fun to watch the water pouring over the wheel, turning itswiftly round and round. Bertie was never tired of looking at it, but it made his mother veryanxious if her little boy was long out of her sight. But he had promisednever to go into the water without permission. But one summer the water was shut off for a while, and the mill wassilent. The old wheel was badly decayed and broken, and Mr. Gale said anew wheel must be built. [Illustration] Every day Bertie hurried home from school to watch his father and theworkmen, as they built the new wheel. One day when he came home, he ran down to the mill as usual. The wheelwas in its place all ready for action. How new and clean it looked! The workmen had gone, and no one was insight. "What a nice playhouse it would make, " thought the boy. Then he steppedcarefully into the wheel. [Illustration] "This is my castle, " said Bertie to himself, "and the brook is the riverRhine, and"-- Bertie did not finish his sentence. Suddenly there was a terribleroaring over his head, and the wheel began to go slowly around. The nextthing the boy knew he was lying upon a pile of blocks and shavings, feeling very much as if he had been through his mother's sausage-mill, but very thankful that he was not still going around that swiftly-movingwheel. He was not very much hurt, but it was a long time before he caredto look at the water-wheel again. JAMIE. One day lit-tle Jam-ie went with some friends to see some mov-ingpic-tures and a play called "The Johns-town Flood. " He had been told thesto-ry be-fore and knew how it turned out. So he sat ver-y still throughthree acts, and then he saw a man who had been giv-en the name of "PaulRe-vere" just for that play, be-cause he was go-ing to do some-thingsuch as a real and great Paul Revere once did, more than a hun-dredyears be-fore, a thing to warn the land of dan-ger and help the peo-pleto be free. [Illustration] The man in the play had to mount a horse and gal-lop down a val-leyshout-ing to the peo-ple to go to the hills to get out of the way of agreat flood which had bro-ken out from a res-er-voir a-bove the cit-y. Just then, as the man mount-ed the horse, on the stage, little Jam-ieleft his seat and ran home as fast as he could. "Why, Jam-ie, " said his moth-er "The show can't be o-ver yet, it's on-lyfour o'clock. " "I know it is-n't o-ver yet, mam-ma, " said Jam-ie, "but the ver-y nextact was to be the flood, and I thought that if I staid I'd be drowned!" MOTHER'S CHILDREN [Illustration] "El-sie, just mind the ba-by for a few min-utes while I fin-ish Jack'slit-tle trou-sers. He tears his clothes so that it's just patch, patch, put in pockets and sew on but-tons all the time. " "Oh, moth-er, look! Ba-by has tak-en a step! Come quick and look athim!" So moth-er ran to see her ba-by-boy, and kiss the brave lit-tle fel-lowwho had dared to do this won-der-ful thing. She a-gain seat-ed her-selfat her work, when she heard El-sie call, "Oh, mam-ma! Sa-die has gothold of grand-ma's bas-ket, and is toss-ing all the things out of it onthe floor. She'll scream when I take it from her, but don't wor-ry, Ithink I can man-age her. " [Illustration] It was not long aft-er that when mam-ma cried out, "Why, there must besome-thing burn-ing! Oh, where is Tom-my? He has so many tricks withfire!" [Illustration] Up jumped mam-ma a-gain, and run-ing in-to the li-bra-ry, found Tom-myin high glee at play in front of a bright coal fire in the grate, on thetop bar of which was a row of small fig-ures made from dough that cookwas work-ing in the kitch-en. Tom had seized a big piece of dough, ranoff with it to the li-bra-ry, and mould-ed it up to suit him in theshape of a row of small boys tak-ing hold of hands. He set them on thehot i-ron bar, and was brown-ing them ready to eat! "This is great fun, moth-er!" said Tom. "I'll give the chil-dren somewhen they are baked!" VICTOR. [Illustration] "It's a nice thing to have spring come!" said Vic-tor. "With my red wheel-barrow I can work out in the gar-den ev-er-y day withO-bed. He says he'd rath-er have me with him than an-y two men! Why, Ican car-ry a wa-ter-ing-pot, a lot of twigs, leaves and things I'veraked off the flow-er beds, and some-times I e-ven car-ry a whole loadof stones! "O-bed is go-ing to teach me how to make one gar-den-bed for my-self. Hesays I can plant an-y-thing there that I like. I'm try-ing to think whatI do like. O-bed says that some things come up when you plant seeds andsome come up from bulbs. I like po-ta-toes and sweet peas. I guess I'llplant them. For a bor-der, I'd like small on-ions. Seems to me sometur-nips and hol-ly-hocks would look well in my bed. Now would-n't they?Sweet corn grows up pret-ty and grace-ful, I heard Aunt Hat-tie say, soI'll have some of that in my bed with a lot of for-get-me-nots. Aun-tielikes those ver-y much. "Oh, I must have the fa-vor-ite flow-ers of each one in our house, cometo think of it! Let's see, what is Papa's fa-vor-ite flow-er? I guess itmust be squash, for he likes mam-ma's squash pies so much. "Now what is mam-ma's? It must be he-li-o-trope. It's a hard word, butI've sure-ly heard her say he-li-o-trope sach-et. It must be a pret-tyflower, for ev-er-y thing in the clothes press has that per-fume, Ka-tiesays. "Now I don't know all these plants I've heard folks talk about. I don'tknow an-y of them. Per-haps be-fore I tell O-bed to get all these thingsfor me to start I'd bet-ter ask him if they'll go well to-geth-er. " GRANDMOTHER'S HOME. Grand-moth-er Gra-ham was a love-ly old la-dy. She had a beau-ti-fulhome a few miles from the city. Her chil-dren and her grand-chil-drenwent out to see her quite oft-en. A-my thought there was no place like Grand-ma's for her sum-merva-ca-tion. There was a lake, a boat, white lil-ies, squir-rels, grandtrees old-er than grand-moth-er, her-self. Then there were barns, sta-bles, hor-ses, cows, calves, and a Shet-land pony that an-y childcould ride. A-my had her bi-cy-cle with her, and went off on it to see Grand-ma'sneigh-bors and do any lit-tle er-rands that were re-quired. If cous-inJam-ie were on a vis-it at the same time, per-haps he would mountGyp-sy, the po-ny, and ride a-long by Am-y's side. A race be-tween thebi-cy-cle and the po-ny was great fun. [Illustration] But there were days when rains kept the chil-dren in the house. Grand-matold them love-ly sto-ries then. Jam-ie would sit play-ing with hissol-diers, and A-my al-ways had all she could do in her "house-days" asshe called them, sew-ing to "keep her dolls in clothes, " for "ElmLodge" was a great place to wear out clothes. [Illustration] The sto-ries Grand-ma liked best to tell were "true sto-ries" of thedays when her own chil-dren were small, and A-my liked best to heara-bout her own fa-ther and what he did when he was a child. So one daygrand-ma told this: GRANDMOTHER'S STORY. "My lit-tle Har-vey was ver-y fond of fruit and flow-ers. When he was awee bit of a lad he liked noth-ing bet-ter than to pull the tu-lips offby their heads and fill the crown of his hat with them. We told him thathe must not do this, for there were not e-nough of them to waste in thatway. He looked sad, but sat down un-der a tree, and seemed in deepthought. He was-n't more than three years old then. "We left him and went in-to the house. In a few min-utes he went soft-lydown the gar-den walk, took off his shoes, stooped down, and scooped upearth e-nough to fill them, and then, in his stock-ing-feet, ran ina-mong the tulips and filled each cup full of the earth, emp-ty-ing allfrom his shoes in-to them. Daugh-ter and I had been watch-ing the childfrom the li-bra-ry win-dow. We crept out of the house and got in-to thegar-den as quick-ly as we could, and peep-ing be-hind the hon-ey suc-klear-bor, lis-tened while the lit-tle fel-low talked a-loud. 'Now 'outu-lips, dear, make haste and grow. All this dirt will make 'ou grow, Iknow, and then there'll be e-nough tu-lips for me to fill my 'it-tle hatfull ev'ry day!' "The lis-ten-ers had to laugh at that. My ba-by-boy dropped his shoesand ran as fast as he could a-way from us, 'round-and-'round, throughthe damp gar-den paths! He led us quite a chase be-fore we could catchhim. " How A-my and Jam-ie laughed when Grand-ma told "tales out of school" asshe called them. [Illustration: ALL HER CHILDREN LIKED TO VISIT GRANDMA. ] "But I must just tell you this, my dear, for the tu-lip-story al-waysmakes me think of it. "There came a day, at last, when we had to send Har-vey to school. Tom-my Short took him, with his green wool-len bag, slate, pen-cil, andtwo cook-ies, just round the cor-ner to Miss Burt's school. Aft-er a fewweeks, Grand-pa Chase met the new pu-pil in the gar-den one day, just ashe came in from school. "'Well, Har-vey' said Grandpa, 'I suppose you can spell al-most an-ything by this time!' "'Yes, sir?' said Har-vey. "'Can you spell rat?' "'R-a-t, rat' said the small boy, with much pride. "'Ver-y well, my boy. Now can you spell mouse?' "Har-vey wrink-led up his fore-head and tried hard to think how it couldbe done. Aft-er a few min-utes the child said, 'No, Grandpa, I can't doit. ' "'What, ' cried Grandpa Chase, 'you can spell a great rat and can't spella lit-tle bit of a mouse!' "A-gain Har-vey thought hard, and then he said, 'Yes I can spell a bigrat, but I guess a spelt mouse is a great deal big-ger than a speltrat!'" CHEER UP! [Illustration] You do not like this weath-er, Ralph, But March is pass-ing by, We'll sure-ly have bright days at last, With A-pril's laugh-ing sky. CHILDREN'S WORK. The Berk-ville Ham-let School pu-pils took much in-ter-est in the FreshAir Chil-dren who had been sent out to their vil-lage for sum-merout-ings. They had thought of ways in which mon-ey could be raised tohelp a-long the good cause. "Why could-n't we have some tab-leaux and oth-er things in our schoolhouse on Sa-tur-day af-ter-noons in May?" asked Jen-nie Hill. "Tom-myBurns would print the tickets and all the chil-dren in the vil-lagewill, I know, sell them. " So the mat-ter was talked ov-er, and all the peo-ple liked the plan somuch that the young folks soon be-gan to prac-tice their parts for thefirst day. Le-on and Ef-fie King were to wear old time cos-tumes, stand ver-ystill, and not speak. They made a pleas-ing tab-leau. There was aplat-form in the school room, on the back of which were placedev-er-green trees. For some scenes a pho-tog-ra-pher's screens were usedfor a back-ground. [Illustration] An-na Mor-ris ap-peared af-ter Le-on and Ef-fie. She made a pret-typic-ture. Al-lan Frost, in a clear, pleas-ant voice gave the name of each scene. He was a boy in the Pri-ma-ry class. All liked to hear young Al-lanspeak. When he called "The Task, " the cur-tain, which had been hunga-cross the plat-form end of the room, was pulled aside, and there satAnn Green, the lar-gest girl in school look-ing as if she were hard atwork at the task of puzz-ling out some prob-lem. [Illustration] Bes-sie Burns said she would play she was a laun-dress. She did her partwell. [Illustration] The school chil-dren thought up what they would like to be. Hen-ryHard-ing a dark-eyed, black hair-ed boy said he thought he could gethim-self up to look like a pic-ture he seen of an East-ern GrassSell-er. So he was announced un-der that ti-tle. All thought he lookedhis part. It would make too long a sto-ry to tell ev-er-y thing a-bout that show. But the last scene was rath-er an odd one. One far-mer who lived out ashort dis-tance from the vil-lage, had an old-fash-ioned ma-chine whichhad been in his cel-lar for a great man-y years. One of the school boysknew of this queer ar-ti-cle and coaxed the loan of it for the show. [Illustration] Jer-ry Jar-vis, fath-er of one of the pu-pils, said that he had turnedthe crank of that ma-chine time and time a-gain when he was a boy, andthat he was will-ing to go on the stage with it at that time if it wouldhelp a-long the "Show, " and raise mon-ey for the "Cause. " So when theclos-ing scene came Al-lan Frost called "The Grind-er!" [Illustration] The folks all en-joyed those Sa-tur-day af-ter-noons. The chil-drentried to va-ry the shows as much as they could. One day they gave acon-cert. Once they sold home-made can-dy and cakes. Their "Col-o-ni-alLoan" par-ty was much praised. The vil-lage had man-y treas-ures in oldchi-na, fur-ni-ture, can-dle sticks, kit-chen ar-ti-cles, pic-tures, guns, swords, and clothes of old times. [Illustration] All were sur-prised at the ti-dy sum col-lect-ed and man-y a poor ci-tychild re-joiced in the out-ing that mon-ey brought to them through theFresh Air So-ci-ety. EGGS IN THE HAY MOW. "Run out to the barn, An-nie and see if you can find some eggs. I meanto make cake this morn-ing and I shall want four or five, " said Mrs. Brown to her lit-tle daugh-ter, An-nie, who had been help-ing hermoth-er in the kit-chen work. Hunt-ing for hen's eggs was great fun for the chil-dren at Brown Farm. Some-times two of them would go out to-geth-er, and each would try toget more eggs than the oth-er, and be the first to reach the kit-chenwith a cap or hat full. [Illustration] An-nie placed a short light lad-der a-gainst a high beam in the barn, climbed up and just as she reached the top, her bright eyes peep-ing inthrough the hay piled up on the barn-loft floor, she saw a nice hol-lowplace, some-thing like a small cave, where one wise bid-dy had scratchedout a co-sy nest for her-self, and laid some five large eggs. The henhad gone out for a walk or for a lunch-eon, so An-nie took four of theeggs, put them in-to the crown of her hat, and hast-ened back to givethem to her moth-er. "May I not beat them up for you, with the whirl-i-gig beat-er, moth-er, it is so much fun?" "Yes, you may, An-nie, and it will be quite a help to me. " So on through the morn-ing the lit-tle girl found man-y a use-ful andplea-sant thing to do. When the work was all done and an out-ing hadbeen planned for the af-ter-noon, Mrs. Brown said to An-nie, "Thislit-tle verse comes to my mind. I think one of my old-er chil-dren oncelearned it at school. It is, "Work while you work, Play while you play, That is the way To be hap-py and gay. All that you do Do with all your might; Things done by halves Are nev-er done right. " [Illustration] THE LOST SKATES. [Illustration] "Oh, I'll go and see if the ice is firm, " said Robin tohis friend Marjie, one winter's morning. He went off carrying his skates, and when he reached the ice he laidthem on the bank, and then thought he would have a slide. Marjie, who had followed Robin to the pond, caught up the skates andwent behind a tree and put them on, and was soon skating across thepond. After a while she went to Robin, who was standing by the bank, looking full of dismay. "Why, Marjie!" he cried, "I never saw you come! I've lost my skates! Ileft them on the bank and they are gone!" [Illustration] "Some wicked person must have taken them!" said Marjie. "I would like to catch him, " said Robin. "Then catch me, Robin!" said Marjie. Robin gazed at her. Then a light broke over his face. "Oh, I see!" he cried: "you put them on while I was sliding! Well, nowwe can take turns with the skates!" Marjie thought, as she gave Robin a hug, that there was never a dearerfriend than he! NO JOKE AT ALL. [Illustration] "Ha!" thought Tommy Purr one day, "Here's a chance a joke to play; See him drop upon the floor All those books, and hear me roar!" Chuckling to himself in glee, "I do love a joke, " said he, Pushed poor Whiskers, just for fun-- Down the books came, every one. [Illustration] But the biggest book of all, Happened on his crown to fall; Tommy roared with might and main, Not with laughter but with pain. Tommy now has gone to bed With a big bruise on his head; Vinegar and paper brown Cover up his aching crown. There in sorrow Tommy lies, Wishing he had been more wise; For although those books did fall, His joke proved no joke at all. WINTER HOLIDAYS. O it's merry in the winter When the holidays come round, When the air is crisp and frosty And the snow is on the ground. Though Jack Frost may nip your noses, There is nothing that I know Like a jolly game of snowballs, Making feet and fingers glow! You can take your baby sister For a voyage in a sleigh; You can build a monster snow-man That will pass the time away. Then there's hanging up the holly And the Christmas mistletoe, Roasting chestnuts in the firelight, When you can't go out, you know. If you try, you can be happy In a score of different ways. O, it's wonderful how pleasant Are the winter holidays! [Illustration] WHEN I GROW UP. [Illustration] "When I grow up my dress shall be All made of silk and lace, My hair I'll wear in some fine style That best will suit my face; With rings upon my fingers, too, And bracelets on my arms, I'll be the finest lady out, With wondrous mighty charms. "When I grow up, you understand, I'll always dine at eight, And go to dances and 'At homes, ' And sit up very late. I'll never touch rice-puddings then, But pastry eat, and cheese, And always do just what I like And go just where I please. "When I grow up I'll have no nurse, Nor yet a governess; And lessons will not bother me When I grow up, I guess. I'll pay no heed to proper nouns, Nor yet to mood nor tense"-- Here nurse put in: "When you grow up Let's hope you'll have some sense!" [Illustration] THE TEA PARTY. [Illustration] Little Miss Betty has had a tea-party Everyone came with an appetite hearty; Animals, dollies, and toys were invited; Bobby was good and our Baby delighted; And when it was over they ran and asked mother If they might to-morrow have just such another! TOMMY THE TEASE. "Here's a pie I found cooling on the bench under the pantry window!"said Tom Sommers. "I'm going to eat it all myself!" [Illustration] "That is the cook's pie. I saw her making it, " said wee George. "Won't 'ou div me some pie?" asked little Ella. "No, I won't give you one single bit. This pie is full of plums andjuice, I know. Ah! but it will have a good taste! No, Nancy, Susanna, Mariah Anniah you shall not have even a taste of this sweet pie!" "My name is'nt 'Ria Sannia' 'Ou're a bad boy. 'Ou call me names. 'Ouwon't div me any pie! 'Ou eat it all alone!" "Well, now, this is too bad. Not a knife in any of my pockets! Happen tohave a jack-knife with you, Georgie?" "No, I haven't any knife. " "What, a big boy like you and no jack-knife?" "I'd like one, but folks say I'm too little to have one yet. But I'mgoing to save all my candy money now and buy one for myself. " "Very well, no knife, no pie! It's getting late and I must be goingalong. It'll take me some time to get there for I must walk slowly so asnot to spill a drop of this juicy pie. Good bye. " Saying this, Tom walked away with the pie. Just then a loud and angry voice was heard shouting, "Where's that pie?"The stout cook came rushing upon the scene, shaking her dish cloth androlling pin in the air. "Who's got that pie?" she screamed as she ranaround and around and back again to the same bench where she had placedthe pie to cool. What was her surprise, then, to see the very same piejust where she had left it! "Oh it's that bad boy, Tom Sommers, who has been playing this trick onme!" she shouted, in a loud voice. "Just let me catch him!" THE YOUNG LAMB. One day when brother John came home from market he brought a baby lambfor Maude. "I thought you'd like this little playmate, sister, you seem to be aloneso much. This baby doesn't know how to nibble grass yet and you'll haveto get mamma to show you how to bring him up. " [Illustration] Maude was delighted with her present. Her mother took a baby'snurse-bottle and filled it with sweet new milk and in a very short timeLambkin could take, through the rubber tube, all the milk his kindfriends would give him. Maude and her pet made a pretty picture playing together in the meadow. Nora, who worked in the kitchen, used to sing an odd little song, someof the words being, "Little lamb, little lamb, Will you leave your old dam And sit with me by the nursery fire? You shall have bread and milk, And a cushion of silk, And a cradle as soft as a lamb could desire. "No! no, little child I'd rather run wild And play all the day by the side of my dam; For we love one another Like you and your mother And she'd cry all the day for the loss of her lamb. " TROTTY'S LESSON. "Now try to learn this, Trotty. Of course, you're little and don't knowmuch, but when folks ask you how old your brother is you can just say 'awhole hand old!'" [Illustration] "What for buver?" "Well, it's because I'm just five years old! You won't have to learn tocount yet, but you take a short path and say 'a whole hand old!' Nowwill you do it?" "I will try!" RUTH. "Company coming to-morrow and not a crumb of cake in the house!" saidMrs. Brown one morning. "Jane's gone and there's all the sweeping to do, the baby to take care of, and three meals a day to get!" [Illustration] "Mother, mother dear, " called Ruth from the next room, "do let me makethe cake. I should like nothing better. It would be great fun. " "Great fun! Now that is what one says who knows nothing about it. Itwould be better to go without any cake at all than to place before ourfriends some that they cannot eat, " replied the tired mother. "When I was at Aunt Fanny's, " said Ruth, "she taught me how to make akind of cake that we all liked. Uncle John said he could eat all I couldmake. Do let me try, mother dear. " "Oh, Ruth, what a tease you are. Well, it will keep you quiet for awhile and I suppose you must learn somehow. " Then Ruth ran into the kitchen in high glee. First she looked at thefire in the stove as Aunt Fanny had taught her to do. More coal wasneeded. So she had to go down cellar and bring up as much as she couldin the hod. She opened the draughts and put on a little coal at first. When that had kindled she put on a little more. She took a whisk andswept out the stove oven. Then she put more water into the kettle on ontop of the stove. Soon it was time to close the draughts. She put herhand into the oven to feel how hot it was just as she had seen her AuntFanny do. [Illustration] When the stove was as she wanted it, Ruth ran out to the barn and foundfour warm eggs in nests among the hay. These she brought into the house, and breaking them into a bowl, began to beat them up quickly. Next shetook a yellow dish from the dresser and put into it one cup of butterand two cups of sugar. For a long time she mixed these two togetheruntil they were "all one, " as she called it. Next she put the four beaten eggs into the bowl with the butter andsugar, and beat them until her little hands ached. Then she measured outthree cups of flour and sifted it into another dish. With this she puttwo teaspoonfuls of baking powder, and then sifted flour and bakingpowder together. After this was done, she added a little of it at a timeto the mixture of butter and eggs, beating away until all the flour hadbeen used up. Then she put into it a teaspoonful of vanilla essence andadded enough milk to make a thick batter. Little pans shaped like heartsand rounds, and one large round pan were then well greased, and thebeaten up cake put into each pan until it was half full. Then the pansof cake were set into the oven and in ten or fifteen minutes all thetiny "hearts and rounds" were baked a light brown, while the large panhad to stay baking ten or fifteen minutes more. A very happy child was young Ruth when she took out her pans of cake. Her father, mother, brothers and the "company" who arrived the next daythought it the "nicest cake ever made by so young a little girl. " MISCHIEVOUS BABY. [Illustration] Full of mischief? Well, yes, may be, Else he would not be a baby. But--when he's asleep, dear me, What baby could more quiet be?