thebox.
"Don't hurt him," said Maggie; and Samuel raised the cover to put in hishand.
There was a flutter and a scream, and Mr. Bobolink flew away, and soaredhigh into the air, and soon joined his travelling companions on theirway to Canada.
The children were much disappointed, and when they told their father helaughed heartily, and repeated the old proverb:--
"A bird in the hand is worth two in the air."
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MIDSUMMER MORNING.
In my garden hear the lark Carol aloft;Hear the dove her matins sing In answer soft.The night has fled away;Good morrow! lovely day.
Dawn has touched with fairy finger All things near,Left a dewdrop on each blossom Like a tearSing! merry thrush, on highTo the breaking summer sky.
Cobwebs, quiver in the sunlight Sparkling bright,Daisies ope their starry petals To the light.So with a rosy dawnComes up this summer morn!
Horatia Browne.
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HOW TODDIE WAS FOUND.
Old Jones, the sexton, toiled slowly up to the Rectory one wintermorning. He had a sad tale to tell, and the ground was heavy with snow,and poor old Jones's heart was full of a great sorrow.
The Rectory lay cosily among the sheltering trees, and gleamed warm andcheerful beneath the gloomy skies. Mr. Chillingworth, the Rector, was agood man, and greatly beloved by the people in the parish of Redhall.
Old Jones, as I have said, was the sexton; and he tried his best, withvery small success, to keep all the village boys in awe of him. Healways went, with them, by the name of "old red Johnnie," for he wore ared woollen comforter through winter's cold and summer's heat.
He had a champion in one boy, however, called Toddie Banks; for you seepoor Toddie was an orphan, and old Jones had been very kind to him whenhe was just a wee toddling laddie, had taken him to his own home, andtreated him like a son, for the old man had neither kith nor kin, wifenor child, so Toddie was all of them put together to him.
And now Toddie had been missing for a whole day and night, and Jones hadno doubt he had fallen over a precipice, or been lost in some deepsnowdrift, for, you must know, Toddie was a bit of a naturalist, andused to take long walks in search of any curiosities he might find.
The poor old man had never been in his bed the whole of the previousnight, but had been searching everywhere, helped by some kindlyneighbors.
When Mr. Chillingworth understood the whole story, he at oncevolunteered to go in search of Toddie, accompanied by his splendidNewfoundland dog, Neptune.
"Cheer up, Jones," he said in his kindly way. "Neptune and I will do ourbest, with the blessing of God, to find your darling. Go home now, andhave everything prepared, in case we find him overcome in the snow."
Neptune was perfectly aware that he and his master were to find Toddie,so he bounded on gayly before Mr. Chillingworth. They had not proceededmany yards before Neptune suddenly stopped, and, listening intently,galloped furiously in the direction of a stream that in summer time wasa favorite haunt of Toddie's. On reaching the water he stood still, and,uttering a long, sorrowful howl, remained, evidently waiting for hismaster.
Mr. Chillingworth hastened up; and there was Toddie, lying to allappearance quite dead. In scrambling up the river bank he had beenapparently overcome by the deadly cold and sleep from which few everwaken to life again. He had a bunch of scarlet berries in his hand, andit was pathetic to see the cold stiff fingers still clutching theirtreasure. Being so near the Rectory, Mr. Chillingworth just lifted thelad and bore him rapidly to his house. What was his joy, after half anhour's untiring effort to revive him, to see Toddie slowly open hiseyes, and, by the time old Jones and his neighbors reached the Rectory,Toddie was able to sit up and relate his experiences. It was as theRector thought; in reaching after the berries he fell, and rememberednothing afterwards. Poor old Jones and Toddie were heroes ever afterthat, and I am glad to say the village boys ceased to call him "old redJohnnie."
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THE HORSE
SUGGESTED BY A LITTLE GIRL OF FOUR.
Oh a strange and curious thing is a horse, Believe or not, as you choose.For he takes it quite as a matter of course That he goes to bed in his shoes.
And his shoes, which are iron and not soft leather, Are nailed to his feet with pegsAnd he falls asleep without minding the weather, As he stands upright on his legs
And his hair doesn't grow in the proper place But out of his neck insteadAnd his ears are not at the side of his face, But stand on the top of his head.
F. W. H.
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THE TINKER'S VAN.
"Ronald! Ronald! our van has come! John saw it go past the gate whilstwe were in school."
"Has it!" exclaimed Fred Norton, no less excited at the news than hisbrother; "then let's go down at once and have a look at it."
Off ran the two little fellows, and were soon in the village; and there,sure enough, drawn up in a side street, was the van of a travellingtinker. The old horse had been taken out of the shafts and was standingpatiently on one side, while the tinker's wife, with her baby in herarms, walked slowly up and down, casting from time to time an anxiouslook up the street.
Her sunburnt face beamed with a hearty smile as the two boys rushed upto her.
"Here you are, young gentlemen!" she said, with evident delight; "I waslooking out for you. I thought you'd see us go by; but my old man, hesays, 'Susan, what are you thinking of? Those young gentlemen haveforgotten you by this time, for it's six months more or less since welast passed by here.'"
"We haven't forgotten you," said little Ronald indignantly. "How could Iforget when you were so kind to me? I could not have got home that day Isprained my foot, and then your van came up, and you jumped out andcarried me in, and bathed my foot, and brought me home. Why--why--"stammered the little fellow in his eagerness, "I should be a _pig_ if Iforgot you."
"Step inside, sirs," said the woman, quite confused by Ronald'sgratitude; "I want you to see how beautiful the clock looks that yourmamma gave me. It goes just splendid; my old man _is_ proud of it; itnever loses a minute, and yet it gets many a jolt."
The children needed no second invitation. The van was a paradise tothem, and they ran up the steps and looked at everything, and everythingseemed charming. They longed to possess such a treasure, and thoughtthe tinker and his wife must be the happiest of mortals.
"I should like to live here always," said Fred, as he and Ronald stoodat the door of the van and looked out at the scene around them. "It's sojolly free," continued the boy, "so far better than always being in onehouse; and the cat there, and the cocks and hens, and old Dobbin--I'dmuch rather look at things like that than at the maps and pictures onour schoolroom walls."
"Ah! but you don't know all, sir," said the woman, shaking her head. "Iwas born in a van, and have always lived in one, but I don't want mylittle laddie here to lead the life," and she danced the crowing baby inher arms as she spoke. "I hope, by and by, we shall have a littlecottage of our own and settle down, and my boy can go to school andlearn to read his Bible, which is more than his mother can do, for Inever had a day's schooling in my life."
"Can't you read?" said little Ronald in astonishment. "I'll come everyday that you stay here and teach you. I'll begin to-night!" and beforeanother word could be said he had darted out of the van and was up thestreet and out of sight, returning in a very few minutes with a largepicture-book, out of which he himself had learned to read.
Ronald was a wise little fellow to have brought a picture-book; for sucha work of art had never been seen by the woman before, and if readingwas only looking at pictures like that she
felt she might manage itafter all.
She was by no means a stupid scholar, and Ronald was so earnest a littleteacher that the progress made was really astonishing. The tinker founda good many jobs in the village, and stayed nearly a fortnight, and bythat time Susan could spell little words very nicely, and no longer reada-s-s, donkey, as, misled by the picture, she had done at the beginningof the lessons.
Ronald's mother gave the woman a large print Bible with a great manypictures in it; and when next year the tinker's van again visited thevillage, Susan was delighted to be able to exhibit her progress, andslowly and reverently she read the parable of the Lost Sheep.
"I read that to my old man most nights," she said; "his father was ashepherd, and he knows all about sheep. Oh, Master Ronald!" said thewoman, suddenly