ing,
Oh! beautiful and balmy spring.

_The Woodpecker_--

I'm a woodpecker--a bird
Whose sound through wood and dale is heard.
I tap, tap, tap, with noisy glee,
To test the bark of every tree.
I saw a rainbow stretching gay,
Across the sky, the other day;
And some one said, "Good-bye to rain,
The woodpecker has come again."

_The Lark_--

I'm the lark and early rise
To greet the sun-god of the skies,
And upright cleave the freshening air,
To sail in regions still more fair.
Who could not soar on lusty wing,
His Maker's praises thus to sing?

_The Nightingale_--

In music I excel the lark,
She comes at dawn, I come at dark,
And when the stars are shining bright,
I sing the praises of the night.

_In Concert_--

Oh! in a chorus sweet we'll sing,
And wake the echoes of the spring."

LITTLE BY LITTLE.

"Little by little," the acorn said,
As it slowly sank in its mossy bed,
"I am improving every day,
Hidden deep in the earth away."
Little by little each day it grew;
Little by little it sipped the dew;
Downward it sent out a threadlike root;
Up in the air sprung a tiny shoot,
Day after day, and year after year,
Little by little the leaves appear;
And the slender branches spread far and wide,
Till the mighty oak is the forest's pride.

"Little by little," said the thoughtful boy,
"Moment by moment, I'll well employ,
Learning a little every day,
And not misspending my time in play;
Whatever I do I will do it well.
Little by little, I'll learn to know
The treasured wisdom of long ago;
And one of these days, perhaps, will see
That the world will be the better for me."

--_Selected._

A LITTLE POLLYWOG.

"A tiny little pollywog,
And little brothers three,
Lived in the water near a log,
As happy as could be.
A-swimming, swimming all the day,
A-sleeping all the night,
And trying, though they were so gay,
To do just what was right;
A-growing, growing all the while,
Because they did their best;
But I am afraid that you will smile
When I tell you the rest.

One morning, sitting on the log,
They looked in mute surprise;
Four legs had every pollywog,
Where two had met their eyes.
Their mother, letting fa