Part 3

````Picking sweet red berries;

````The girls were 'neath the fruit-trees,

````Shaking down the cherries.=

VACATION TRIALS.

JOHNIE'S STORY.

|I wanted to be good. I wanted to have lots of fun.

When I got up in the morning I said, "Here's another long day, and no school." I did n't have to hurry up. Mamma let me take as long as I liked to eat my breakfast.

After breakfast was the worst. We wanted to do the biggest lot of things you ever knew, but we could n't.

We began to play store. That was fun for a little while. Then Susan scolded because we took her new pie-pans for our angleworms. We sold the worms ten for a cent for the boys to fish with.

When we were tired of the store, we had to put things all back in their places.

We wanted a circus. Wo made a good one with our cat Mopsy for a tiger. Six boys gave us five pins each to see it. They found the pins in their mothers' cushions.

Edgar Lane's mother bought a ticket. We made tickets out of pretty colored paper.

I lost mother's best scissors somehow. It took all the money in my bank to pay for them.

When we were having some jolly fun Susan called out, "You bad, wicked children, you've got your ma's best shawl for a curtain."

We did n't know it was her best shawl. It didn't look nice. Papa said it was camel's hair. We never thought camels had such queer hair.

We didn't play circus any more.

We went in the garden and camped out. We played the trees were high mountains. I was on the Alps. My sister in the grammar school told me about the Alps.

Edgar was in the same tree on another limb.

He called his "The Catskills." He went to those mountains once. We had a splendid time. Pretty soon Grandpa came out and said, "Here, you young rascals, come down, you will shake off all my nice fruit!"

There don't seem to be any place for boys.

I told Susan so, and she said boys were always in the way.

If we could only leave things around it would be better.

It spoils vacation when some one keeps saying, "Don't do that!" or, "O, dear, those boys!"

Edgar says clothes are hateful things. His mother wants him to look pretty. He wants to roll on the grass, but he can't. My mother lets me. I have some overalls and stout shoes, and I roll.

My papa says boys have to climb and roll and keep busy if they want to grow strong.

When we got tired of our mountains we went fishing. I tumbled in and spoiled my straw hat. It was not deep, only the mud.

Vacations would be nice if it wasn't for the big folks. They want you to do as they do.

My papa and mamma don't, but grandma and aunties and my big cousins do. They make you feel prickly all over telling you about proper things.

I tell you it's real hard to feel full of fun and not let it out. It's hard to be a boy in vacation unless you can go off in the country or down by the sea.

--KATE TANNATT WOODS.

THE VOYAGE OF THE BLUEBELL.

|One rainy day papa made two ships for his little girls. They were about a foot long. They had little white sails, and tiny flags floating from the tops of the masts. They were gayly painted.

Sixon put his nose into the paint pail, so he was painted too. But it soon wore off.

Mabel's ship was decorated with blue, so she called it "The Bluebell."

Nelly's was bright with scarlet trimmings. A fine sounding name would be best she thought She named hers "The Pride of the Seas."

When the pleasant weather came again, they had fine times sailing them. As they were always careful they were allowed to go down to the lake. There was a little cove, with a bright sandy beach where they played. They sent the ships across this cove from one side to the other. Back and forth they went, in safety, for a while.

There is sometimes danger for ships, however. This the children soon realized. One day a stray breeze caught the little "Bluebell."

She did not sail across to the other side as she had done before, but out by the point, and away into the great, wide lake.

The wind was strong; the blue streamers fluttered bravely in the sunshine. She sailed far away, and at last was quite out of sight.

"Let's play she has gone to California," said Kelly, as they stood watching her.

"She will come back some time with a load of gold," added Mabel.

"The Pride of the Seas" stuck fast on a mud bank. John, the hired man, rescued her.

THE TWINS.

````Do you know our Peter and Polly,

`````So pretty, so plump, and so jolly!

```One with merry blue eyes and lips like a cherry,

``And one with dark hair, and cheeks brown as a berry!

```Then this is our Peter and Polly!=

````Do you know our Polly and Peter?

````One a little and one a great eater;

```One with jews-harp and whistle and hammer

```Just making a houseful of clamor;

````And one with her dollies and stories

````And lapful of blue morning-glories?

```Then this is our Polly and Peter!=

J. P. R.

THE EVENING LESSON.

````Let me show you, babies dear,

````How to act when Puss is near.

````In this manner run to hide:

````Dodge around and jump aside;

````Don't be slacking in your pace,

````Thinking she'll give up the chase.

````You may scamper as you will,

````She 'll be close behind you still.

````When she tries to use her claws,

````Then be lively, never pause;

````Though you leave your ears behind,

````Squeeze ahead and never mind.=

````Now, Suppose the cat were here,

````Show me how you'd disappear.

````Are you ready? One, two, three!

````Good enough! she'll hungry be

````Ere she catches you or me.=

--PALMER COX.

DORA'S HOUSEKEEPING.

|One morning Dora's mother was going away to the next town. She was going to bring grandma for a visit.

The carriage was waiting before she was quite ready. "Now I shall not have time to finish my work," she said. "I will let you sweep the sitting-room, Dora. You did it very nicely last week, and I know you want to help me."

Dora was pouting because she could not go in the carriage with her mother. She thought it was very cruel that she must stay at home when she wanted to go so much. So she did not answer, but sat by the window pouting till the carriage was gone. Then she said to herself, "I don't feel like sweeping, and don't care how I do it. I think 't is too bad that I can't go to ride!"

So she swept the sitting-room in a very heedless manner. She did not get the dust-pan and take up the litter; she only brushed it together and left it under the hearth-rug.

When her mother came home she praised her for making the room so neat. Grandma praised her too. She said, "I like to see children do their work well. Then I feel sure they will do their work well when they are grown up. I am glad if our little girl is going to be a good house-keeper."

O, how Dora felt! She was so ashamed of what she had done. She felt worse because they praised her. She kept thinking of the litter under the hearth-rug. She was afraid some one would move the rug and see it. She was unhappy all the rest of the day. When she went to sleep at night she dreamed that she could not find the dust-pan.

She woke very early the next morning and went down stairs alone. She found the dustpan and brushed up the litter as carefully as she could. It seemed easy enough to do it now. She wished that she had done it at first; then she would have deserved praise from her mother and grandmother.

Dora remembered this for a long time. I am J not sure if she ever forgot it; and it taught her a good lesson. She found that wrongdoing made her very unhappy. When she grew older she learned to be a neat housekeeper.

--M. E. N. HATHEWAY

OUT IN THE RAIN.

Down in the meadow, one summer day, Went two little cousins, Clarrie and May.

```Pitty-pat, patter, came drops one by one

```Two little cousins beginning to run.=

```Over the stubble the little feet go,

```Rain-drops are drenching from top to toe.=

```Dripping and tired, they enter the gate;

```Two watching mothers the little strays wait.=

```Wet skirt and jacket are off in a trice,

```Two little cousins are soon dry and nice.=

```Down in the meadow, when ceases the rain,

```Two little cousins will frolic again.=

--LUCY RANDOLPH FLEMING.

THE LITTLE CHIMNEY-SWEEPS.

|One rainy day Tommie was standing by the window watching the great drops roll down the window-panes. He did n't like rainy days.

All at once he heard a great noise in the fireplace. Such a chattering! The screen was taken down, and there were four poor little swallows clinging to the sides of the chimney. Tommie called them "chimney-sweeps," and tried to catch one. It clung so fast to the chimney sides that he could scarcely pull it off.

There was no nest to be seen. Tommie and his mamma thought the poor little sweeps must have been frightened by the storm.

Tommie wondered what he could do with them. They could not go up the chimney, and the old birds would never come down. If he put them in the yard the cat would catch them.

Then Tommie told his mamma that he could carry them to the observatory on the house-top, and got his papa to put them in the chimney. He got a little basket, caught the poor little birds, and put them in it. His mamma tied a handkerchief over the top of the basket to keep the birds in. By noon the sun was out, and Tommie's papa came home to dinner. They went to the observatory, Tommie carrying the basket of "chimney-sweeps."

The little boy held the basket while his papa put the birds in the chimney-top, one at a time. They clung to the bricks and began to cry again.

Tommie was held up to see the little birds, and then they went down stairs, so that the old birds might take care of their little ones and not be frightened.

After Tommie had gone, the mamma and papa birds came up and showed the little ones how to get to their nest again.

--AUNT NELL

"ROCK-A-BYE BABY ON THE TREE TOP."

One day last summer, down in Texas, there was a fearful storm. It was a windstorm. The wind was so strong that it earned roofs of houses, and such things, a great way.

When it was over, some men set out to follow the track of the storm. One of them told this true story. They thought they might find things that the wind had dropped; and they might find some one hurt and in need of help.

It was near night, and quite dark in the woods, when they heard a cry. They stopped to look heard the cry and then they saw some dark thing up in a tree.

"It is a panther!" said one. "Stand off! I will shoot!"

"No; stop!" said another; "it is not a panther. I will climb up and see what it is."

Up he went; and what do you think he found, lodged in the tree!

A cradle with a dear little baby in it! The fearful wind had blown down the baby's home. It had carried off baby, cradle and all. The cradle was caught by a branch of the high tree.

Then the wind blew against it so hard that the cradle was wedged in a crotch of the tree. It was so fast that the men had to saw away the boughs to get it down.

There was the dear baby, all safe and sound, in its cradle nest No one knew where the baby's friends were, or where its home had been. The men carried it to their home, and a kind woman took care of it.

Are you not glad that the poor little baby was saved in the tree? If the cradle had fallen to the ground, you know, the little one might have been killed. Was it not a good thing that the men heard the baby cry?

--MRS. D. P. SANFORD

THE BLIND BASKET-MAKER

|Henry, the basket-maker, is sitting at the door of his house. He is now nearly sixty years of age. With Fido his dog, and Lucy his granddaughter, he goes from place to place and gets work. Lucy finds it very tiresome to go every day with her grandfather, but Fido is very fond of going.

The old man has not seen the sun, or his own face, or the trees, or anything at all, for more than twenty years. He does not know what Lucy looks like. He only runs his fingers through her golden ringlets and calls her his Sunshine.

If Fido could only be taught to know colors, would it not be nice? There, that basket is done, and off walks the old man, cane in hand, and the basket on one arm. Lucy leads him, and Fido follows close.

--R. W. LOWRIE.

"GO HALVES!"

|Little Fred Mason's father took him to an exhibition of wild animals. After they had looked at the elephants, lions, tigers, and bears, they went to see the monkeys. On the way, Mr. Mason bought two large oranges and gave them to Fred.

There were six cages of small animals. One of them was for the "happy family." Fred thought the creatures in it must be called the "happy family" because the dogs, cats, and monkeys were all the time teasing and plaguing one another. One monkey had a rat in his lap. He tended it as a mother does her baby. The monkey was happy, but Mr. Mason did not think the rat liked it very well.

Fred put one orange into his side pocket He could not wait until he got home to eat the other. As he walked along among the cages he seemed to care more for the fruit than for the animals. He sucked the orange with all his might, till he came to a cage with three monkeys in it.

One of them looked very sober and solemn. One opened his mouth and seemed to be laughing. All of them looked at Fred and held out their hands. They could not talk; if they could, they would have said, "Go halves!"

The orange was nice and sweet; Fred did not wish to "go halves." he turned away, for he did not like to be asked for what he was not willing to give. The monkeys put their hands out for some of the orange, but Fred looked the other way.

Fred should have looked at the monkeys, for the one nearest to him put out his long arm and snatched the orange from his hand. Fred tried to get it again. While he was doing so, the solemn monkey reached down and took the other orange from his pocket Fred did not think how near he was to the cage.

Fred began to cry. The laughing monkey had no orange. He was afraid of the solemn monkey, but he chased the one that had stolen the orange Fred was eating, all over the cage. He got it at last.

Fred's father bought two more oranges for him, and he did not go so near the cages again.

--MARY BLOOM.

A Nice Orange.=

````"If you don't think so, smell of it!"=

FREDDIE'S BAGGAGE.

|The ship "Ocean Queen" sailed into Finnport harbor and anchored a little way from the wharf. It looked very grand with its tall masts.

A boat rowed to the wharf, bringing Uncle Robert. He was master of the ship, and a nice man he was. All the boys liked Uncle Robert. He always brought them queer things from China and Japan.

One day Freddie climbed up on his uncle's knee and asked if he would not take him to sea. Uncle Robert stroked the little boy's curly head and said, "Yes, Freddie boy, you shall go some time." Every night Freddie dreamed he was sailing on the water. Every morning he would look to see that the "Ocean Queen" had not gone and left him.

One day Freddie thought he must get his baggage ready. So he took his mamma's rag-bag and emptied all the rags under the sewing-machine. He took his little nightdress from under his pillow and put it into the bag. Then he put in a ball of knitting-cotton. That was for fishing-lines. He took some pins and bent them into hooks. Lastly he put in his little Testament.

Then he started for the wharf. He called at several stores on the way, and said lie was going to "ship to sea." The men laughed, but Freddie went along all the same.

On the way he met his uncle, to whom he said, "I'm all ready; here is my baggage, nighty and Testament, and a whole lot of string and pin-hooks to catch fish."

Uncle Robert looked into the bag, and sure enough Freddie was "all packed."

"Well, Freddie," said his uncle, "I am not going now. When you are older you shall go."

Freddie did not at first want to give up the idea. Uncle Robert talked kindly, and gave him a gold dollar. So Freddie behaved like a good little boy, and waited until he was older.

--ELIZABETH ORR WILLIAMS.

MAKING MAPLE SUGAR.

|Let's go down in the wood-lot," said John to his little brother Tim, one day, "and tap a tree and make maple sugar. I can't find the gimlet, but I've got a big nail and the hammer."

So down they went. John pounded the nail into a tree, and pulled it out again, till he had made quite a hole. Then he made a little wooden spout for the sap to run in, and hung his pint kettle upon it.

"By to-morrow," said he, "that kettle ought to be full of sweet sap, a lot nicer than any honey the bees ever thought of."

"O," cried Tim, "I thought it would be full of maple sugar, all ready to eat!"

"You _didn't_ suppose that maple sugar ran out of a tree all ready made, did you, Tim?" said John. "You don't know much. You ought to study trees and things. You see the sap runs out when you tap the tree. Then you build a fire and boil it down. When it's cool, there's your sugar, sir."

"We'll boil it down to-morrow," said Tim.

But it was a long time till to-morrow! Tim and John went to bed early and got up early. As soon as school was done they ran to the wood-lot to boil the sap down. But there was not a drop in the little kettle! Tim almost cried. "What a stingy tree!" he said.

Miss Smith, who was gathering autumn leaves in the woods, came along while they were talking. "Are you tapping for maple sap?" she asked. "This is the wrong season of the year, John, you know."

John didn't know.

"The spring is the time, when the sap runs up. And when you want to make maple sugar, you must tap a maple-tree. This is a birch! You ought to study about trees, John."

And they went home, sadder and wiser boys.

--MARY N. PRESCOTT.

WEEZY'S SAMBO.

|Little Weezy Haynes had more dolls than she could take care of, and they were always falling into mischief.

Her china twins had but one leg and one arm between them, and not a sign of a head. Her pretty wax Rosa was without a nose.

And as to her guttapercha baby, it was so wrinkled and ugly that Weezy rubbed the window-panes with it when she played at cleaning house. Phebe Redlan cut paper dolls for her by the hour, but these frisked out of the window or into the fire; and of Weezy's large family there was left only one sound child.

This was little Sambo, knit of worsted; black face, scarlet jacket, yellow trousers, and all. When he tumbled into the wash-bowl Weezy squeezed him out, and dried him over the register. When lie ravelled mamma darned him, and made him as good as new.

O, he nicest kind of a doll! and from his white sewing-silk teeth to his black stocking-yarn toes, Weezy loved every inch of him. Yet she did love to punish him. One morning when she found him in papa's boot she shook him till one of his bead eyes dropped out.

"What for Sambo run away and hide?" cried she. "Now mamma mus' tie Sambo, 'cause Sambo did n't mind."

She looked about the hall for something to tie him to, and saw papa's overcoat on the hat-tree. The buttons on the back of it were just within her reach.

"There! Sambo must be tied till he is a good boy," said she, winding the ends of his tiny scarf round one of the buttons.

Then, leaving the poor doll hanging by his neck, she danced off to the kitchen to tease Bridget for "two big plums."

Pretty soon Papa Haynes came out of the sitting-room to go down town. It was rather dark in the hall, and he put on his overcoat without seeing the doll. Next he drew on his gloves, and walked briskly into the street with Sambo bobbing up and down from the button at his back.

It was funny enough! One little boy laughed so hard that he rolled off the doorstep. Some school-children on the corner shouted, and clapped their hands. Papa Haynes wondered what all the noise was about. He could n't see anything to laugh at.

He might have gone on right through the village with Sambo's yellow legs dancing a jig behind him, if the minister had n't called to him.

"Sir?" said papa, wheeling in front of the minister's gate so suddenly that the doll bounced against him.

"Why, what is this?" he went on, reaching his hand behind his back.

"Something that belongs to Weezy, I fancy," laughed the minister, unwinding Sambo's scarf.

When Papa Haynes saw the doll he could n't help laughing too.

"Well, I must say I've cut a pretty figure," said he, with a very red face. "No wonder the boys shouted!"

He felt like tossing Sambo over the fence, but then he thought of his little daughter.

"I suspect Weezy is crying this minute for her lost baby," said he, cramming Sambo, head first, into his pocket. "I'll take it home to her this time, but she must look out how she ties it again to my coat-button!"

--FENN SHIRLEY.

O, HOW IT RAINS!

`````The wind it is roaring,

`````The rain it is pouring,

```And Sissy and I have been out for a walk;

`````But is n't it lucky,

````We both are so plucky,

```The rain cannot scare us from laughter and talk?=

`````I am her big brother

````(She hasn't another),

````And she's all the sister that ever I had.

````No girl could be nearer,

````Or sweeter, or dearer:

````She's my little lassie, I'm her little lad.=

`````It was in December

`````(We both can remember)

```I drew her about o'er the snow on my sled.

`````But all fun won't be going,

`````For though it's not snowing,

```There's rain to be kept from my wee Sissy's head.=

ROVER AND THE CATS.

|Rover was a large black Newfoundland dog. He weighed one hundred and sixty pounds. But he knew more than he weighed.

When he wanted to come into the house he would ring the front door bell The knob pulled down, so that he could press on it with his paw. How many times black Sally brushed her hair in a hurry and ran to the door! There she would find Rover, who said "Bow-wow" very politely. It is a pity, but Sally was not always as polite as Rover. Sometimes she said cross words to him.

One day Thomas, the gardener, shot a woodchuck on the hill back of the house. He brought it down to the garden, where the four children were playing with Rover. The little ones flocked about him, greatly pleased to see the strange animal. Then Master Minot spoke up, and said he thought there ought to be a grave for the woodchuck. He would be captain, he said, and they would all march to the grave and bury the animal.

* A small burrowing animal, a pest to farmers in America.

And so they did. Thomas dug the grave near where the beans grew. The woodchuck was put in an old raisin-box. Minot was captain, but then he drew the woodchuck in his little cart. He also played a tune on his tin whistle. Thomas went first, and then the children. Rover marched behind. The raisin-box was put in the hole near the beans and covered up. An old shoe was set up as a tombstone. Then the children all scampered back to where they had been playing "I spy."

But Rover sat by the grave a long time. After dinner he went there again. Two or three times in the afternoon Thomas found him there. At supper time he was nowhere to be seen. "Dear old Rover," Captain Minot said, "has he run away?"