sy, are you going to tell us your secret
to-day?"

Pansy would shake her head, and reply, "You must guess it, papa! Can you
not guess it?"

"Well, I guess you have a new tooth coming."

"Oh, no, that is not it. Mother can guess better than that, I think. It
concerns you, mother."

"Well, I guess," said mother, "that you are to have the present of a
kitten from aunt Julia."

"And I guess," said brother John, who was five years older than Pansy,
"I guess you are knitting a pair of woollen cuffs for papa."

[Illustration]

"You are all wrong," cried Pansy, "and I shall not tell you my secret
to-day."

The next morning, as she was coming down stairs, she paused, and said to
herself, "Shall I tell them my secret now? No, Pansy, let them see that
you can keep a secret."

No sooner was she seated at the table in her high-chair, than papa said,
"Well, Pansy, how much longer are you going to keep us in the dark? Are
you going to tell us your secret?"

"Not yet, papa," said Pansy, looking up with a roguish smile.

"What can it be?" said mother, laying down her knife and fork, and
putting her hand to her head.

"I don't believe it is any thing of any account," cried brother John.
"She wants to keep us curious."

"Well, I think Pansy must be learning a new piece to recite," said her
mother.

"That's not it," said Pansy. "It's a 'portant secret: one that my mother
will like to hear."

"Oh, it's important, is it?" said papa. "I do wonder what it can be."

"Mother, what day was it that you lost your wedding-ring?" said John.

"Don't speak of it, John. It was more than a month ago. I have hunted
high and low, and cannot find it. I would have given all my other
jewelry rather than have lost it."

Here Pansy turned red in the face, got down from her high-chair, and ran
out of the room.

"Did you see that?" said papa. "The little rogue has found the ring, and
that's her 'portant secret."

In a minute Pansy came back, holding up the ring, and her face radiant
with delight. "I found it, mother, among my doll's things. You must have
dropped it there when you were fixing them."

And so little Pansy's secret was out at last!

DORA BURNSIDE.

[Illustration]

A TROTTING SONG.

UP and away! now up and away!
We've a good long journey before us to-day.
The road is smooth, and the sky is bright:
Whoa, now! My darling, h