phant soon forgave him, and at last grew quite fond
of him. Love wins love.

UNCLE CHARLES.

[Illustration: THE KEEPER PUNISHED.]

NEDDY'S SAND-BANK.

On lovely summer afternoons, when the sky is blue, and the sea bluer, I
take my books or work, and go out to sit under a great oak-tree that
stands at the top of a sand-bank, which slopes gently down to a broad,
white, beach.

[Illustration]

This sand-bank is a wonderful place for the children. Every fine day
Neddy takes his box of playthings, and marches off to the sand-bank; and
I think, as I kiss his dear rosy cheeks, what a nice, clean boy he is in
his linen blouse, broad-brimmed hat with blue ribbons, white stockings,
and neat buttoned boots. He returns after a few hours, looking like a
little savage.

"Just fit to go into the wash-tub," Dinah says; and she is right.

What do they play on the sand-bank? I will tell you what they did
yesterday, while I sat under the oak-tree and worked, and listened to
their prattle.

"Let's build cities to-day," said Tommy Abbott. "Oh, yes!" said Jamie
Newton. "I will build Boston," chimed in Neddy: "I don't know much about
other places." After each had selected a city to build, they were silent
for some time.

But by and by Neddy looked up, and called to me, "Oh, do come down here,
mamma, and see my Boston!" So I climbed down the bank to visit his city.
He had scooped a hole in the sand, lined it with clay, filled it with
sea-water, and stocked it with his shining tin fish. Of course I knew at
once this was the pond on Boston Common.

[Illustration]

Jamie Newton, who studies geography, and knows all about great cities
everywhere, made a model Philadelphia, with its long, wide streets.
Jamie's streets were so clean, and so beautifully shaded with sprigs of
evergreen, that Mary Whitman said her grandest doll, Arabella Rosetta,
should take a nice ride through them. So Rosetta was set up in her
carriage, and one tucked the crimson afghan about her dainty feet, while
another opened her _very best_ sky-blue parasol, (for Rosetta is
particular about her complexion), and Mary put on her hat with the blue
plumes, and pink roses, smoothed down her flounces, and said, "Be a good
girl, Rosy. Don't stay out after dark, for the dew will spoil your
clothes."

[Illustration]

By and by it grew late. The sun sank down into the sea; while the moon,
broad and full, rose from behind the hill; and I said, "Come, Neddy