him up, when
away went his head, legs, and tail, all tucked under his shell. He
looked like a box shut almost tight. When he was put in the water, out
they came again.

He spends the whole day trying to climb the sides of the smooth pan he
is in, slipping back, and trying again. We put in a large shell to serve
him for a house; and one day he climbed to the top of it, got out of his
pan, and crawled over the carpet into the next room. So we had to take
his house away.

I think we shall have to name him Willie Winkie, because he opens and
shuts his eyes so often and so quickly.

Charley and John have the promise of a garden all to themselves when
summer comes here. Perhaps by and by, we will tell the other children
who read "The Nursery," how they get on with it, and what kinds of
flowers they raise.

C. R. S.
ST. PAUL, MINN.

[Illustration]

THE LAZY SHEPHERD.

SOME years ago in Scotland, two boys, whose names were Henry Bright and
John Yorner, were left orphans by the death of parents. Mr. Donald, a
good man, who had nine or ten thousand sheep, and employed many
shepherds, took both these boys into his employ.

"Now, boys," said he, "a shepherd's life may be barren or fruitful, lazy
or active, just as you choose to make it. In pleasant weather, while you
are tending the sheep, if you have good dogs to help you, you can, if
you choose, find leisure for reading and for study, and at the same
time not neglect your proper duties.

"If you want books, come to my house, and I will lend them to you. You
have eight years to serve before you are twenty-one; and in that time
you can fit yourselves for employments that will yield you much more
than the work of a shepherd."

Henry Bright first suited himself to a good dog, and taught him so well,
that Plato--such was the dog's name--soon took almost the whole care of
a hundred sheep that Henry had to look after. The lad would take a seat
under the shelter of some rock, and read and study, while Plato would
lie at his feet, or run round to see that no sheep or lamb was straying
too far from the pasture-ground.

But John Yorner was lazy, and did not care for books. He would not take
the trouble even to teach a dog his duties. He would lie on a bank in
the sun, with his hands clasped above his head, and there sleep away the
long hours before dinner. Often his sheep would stray away and get lost;
so that