now think of Margaret smiling under her
brilliant garland, while poor Herbert looked up to her with his pale
sweet face. I heard him once say to her when we had all gone away to
pluck flowers:

"How beautiful you are to-day, Margaret, with your rosy checks and
brown hair."

"But that does not make me any better or prettier than you, because I
am strong and you are not, or that my cheeks are red and your's are
pale."

Miles was just carrying little Dora over the steeping stones at the
brook, when Herbert cried:

"O, if I could only run and leap like Miles; but I am very helpless."

To which Margaret replied: "Never mind, brother; I will love you and
take care of you all your life," and she said these words with a
sister's love, as she put her arms around the neck of her helpless
brother. She loved him the more, and aimed to please him by reading
books to him which were his delight. This was a pleasant sight, and
the brothers always admired Margaret for her attention to their
helpless brother.

* * * * *

THE BIT OF GARDEN.

Young children like to have a small piece of land for a garden which
they can call their own. And it is very pleasant to dig the ground,
sow the seed, and watch the little green plants which peep out of the
earth, and to see the beautiful buds and fresh blossoms.

Every boy and girl has a bit of garden, and we are told in the good
book to take good care of it, and see that the weeds of vice do not
spread over it, and to be sure and have it covered with plants of
goodness. This garden is the HEART. Such things as anger, sloth,
lying and cheating, are noxious weeds. But if you are active and
industrious, and keep cultivating this little garden, and keep out all
the bad weeds, God will help you to make a good garden, full of
pleasant plants, and flowers of virtue. I have seen some gardens which
look very bad, covered with briars and weeds, the grass growing in the
paths, and the knotty weeds choking the few puny flowers that are
drooping and dying out. Every thing seems to say--"How idle the owner
of this garden is." But I have seen other gardens where there were
scarcely any weeds. The walks look tidy, the flowers in blossom, the
trees are laden with fruit, and every thing says, "How busy the owner
is." Happy are you, dear children, if you are working earnestly in the
garden of your hearts. Your garden will be clean, pleasant, and
fruitful--a credit and