what to think. She ran
after him like a cat, her black eyes shining as they had never shone
before.

One day the young man allowed her to try on the skates. The child was
too happy for words. Of course she fell down, and sprawled about the
floor, but did not mind at all.

"Look here, Dinah," said the young man, "I understand that my aunt has
been trying to teach you to read."

Dinah answered that she certainly had.

"Why didn't you learn?" asked the young man. "You need not trouble to
answer," said he, "it was just because you are too lazy. Now, if, on the
first of January, you can read, I tell you what I will do. I will send
you as good a pair of roller-skates as I can buy in Boston."

How Dinah's eyes snapped. For a moment she said nothing, then exclaimed
decidedly, "I'll have those skates, sure."

And she did. When she bent her mind on her work she could always do it
well, no matter what it was.

The lady who had before this found her such a difficult child to
teach, now had no trouble. If Dinah showed the least sign of her former
laziness the word SKATES! was enough to make her bend her mind on her
lesson instantly.

On New Year's morning she received a box marked in large printed
letters:

MISS DINAH MORRIS,
Care of Mrs. Lawrence Delaney,
NEW ORLEANS, LA.

If she can read what is on the outside of
this box she can have what is inside.

And as Dinah read every word plainly and quickly, of course she had for
her very own the fine roller-skates the box held. And now sitting curled
up in the sun, doing nothing, is not the thing she likes to do best.

NIGHT FLOWERS.

There are some flowers that never see the sun. One of the most curious
is the "evening primrose." About six o'clock it suddenly bursts open,
with a popping sound, and at six next morning closes.

If you watch that pretty flower, and listen, you can hear this strange
performance.

This is why it does so. The little calyx holds the petals in such a way
that the moment it turns back they are let loose. At once it bursts out
into full flower, with this funny noise, like a pop-gun.

So the "night-blooming cereus" blossom in the night, only for an hour,
giving out its sweet fragrance, and then dies. Just think of never
seeing the sun at all!

In a far Eastern country there is a kind of jasmine called the
"sorrowful tree." It droops as if sick in the daytime, and at night
grows fresh and bright. It opens its