ring look,
Says:--"Listen ere I flow away!

"Soon as Spring spoke its royal word,
I humbly doffed my wintry cap--
But when the north wind's voice was heard,
I covered up the earth's green lap.

"And gently swathed each baby flower,
As snug as in a feather bed--
Until in field, and wood, and bower,
Their fragrance might be safely shed.

"And now my snowdrops gaily ring
A merry peal to herald May--
And all rejoice at coming Spring,
While I must hasten far away!"

[Illustration]

SUMMER.

Now the corn has grown ripe in the Summer's hot days,
And the reaping began with the sun's early rays,
Mike and Jack since the morn,
Have been cutting the corn,
Which is bound up by Peggy and Sue;
And gay, flaunting poppies and flow'rets of blue
Wag their heads o'er the sheaves and seem nodding at you.

But when noon's sultry hour proves oppressively hot,
The reapers look out for a cool, shady spot,
And a respite they snatch,
Their short meal to dispatch,
And well earned indeed is their rest!
While the children give chase to the hare that's hard prest,
Or the bird by the harvest disturbed from her nest.

For what care the children for heat or for work,
At that age when all labor so gaily we shirk?
Play, then, little ones, play,
And enjoy while ye may,
But to all of God's creatures be kind--
Then when months have rolled by and left Summer behind,
Its joys unalloyed shall still dwell in your mind.

TIMOTHY.

Timothy was our pet hedgehog. I bought him in Leadenhall Market, brought
him home, and put him into the back-garden, which is walled in. There,
to that extent, he had his liberty, and many, and many a time did I
watch him from my study window walking about in the twilight among the
grass, searching for worms and other insects. And very useful was he to
the plants by so doing. When the dry weather came food got more scarce;
then Timothy was fed with bread and milk from the back-kitchen window,
which is on a level with the stone. Soon he came to know that when he
was hungry there was the supply; and often he would come and scratch at
the glass or at the back-door for his supper, and after getting it, walk
off to the garden beds to make himself useful. Few people know of the
great use of a hedgehog in a garden, or they would be more generally
kept. Our Timothy, poor fellow, however, in spite of all his good
qualities, came to a bad end.