13

TOM SHOWING THE REDBREAST'S EGGS, 29

JACK AND THE THRUSH'S NEST, 36

REYNARD HARD PUSHED, 45

CHARLEY FOSTER'S COLLECTION, 68

THE TEA ON THE LAWN, 82

WOODSIDE.

I.

_GRANDPAPA'S HOUSE._

"Now for the dear, dear country,
Its trees and meadows fair,
Its roses, cowslips, violets,
Whose sweetness fills the air.

"'Tis there we hear the music
Of lark's and blackbird's song,
And merry little finches,
Singing the whole day long."--C. H.

One bright spring day, not so very long ago, three little children
arrived at their grandfather's house. They had come to pay a long visit,
as their parents were travelling abroad for two or three months.

Now grandpapa lived less than twenty miles from London, yet his house
was quite in the country,--indeed you might have thought that it was a
hundred miles away from any town,--and it was called Woodside.

You may be sure that Jack, Mary, and Annie--for those were the names of
the children--thought the change from London most delightful.

Jack was the eldest--that is why I have put his name before those of his
sisters--and he was ten years old. Mary was the next in age, and she was
nearly nine; while Annie, the youngest, was seven.

On the day they arrived they felt very quiet, all was so strange after
London; besides, they were busy unpacking their toys and picture-books,
and in finding places for all their treasures in the rooms grandmamma
had set apart for them.

They went to bed early too, and never once woke till their nurse called
them in the morning. At first they felt sorry it was time to get up, but
when Jane drew up the blinds, and they saw the bright sunshine and the
clear blue sky, they made haste to dress, so that after breakfast was
over they might go out of doors.

Each of them had visited at Woodside several times before, but they had
not been all together there at the same time. They knew very well how
many interesting things there were to see out of doors, and they hoped
that there would be something new. There was sure to be a difference
among the animals and flowers.

The old house looked the same as they drove up to it, with its twenty
oak trees in a semi-circle a