[Illustration: THE SEA-SWALLOW.]

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[Illustration]

LITTLE RUTH'S PRAYER.

Stormy and chilly had been the day;
Drifts of snow on the sidewalk lay:
All who were out in the wintry street
Went shivering on with rapid feet;
And some were poor, and thinly clad,
And wished that a good warm home they had.

But, gloomy without, it was bright within,
In the house where our little Ruth had been:
By the nursery fireside's cheerful blaze
Merry had been her thoughts and plays;
She had dressed her dolls for a fancy ball,
And read her story-books one and all.

But when, at the close of the happy day,
She knelt, her one little prayer to say,
She thought of the hungry, perishing poor,
Of the children who cold and sorrow endure,
And, laying her head on her mother's knee,
Said, "Give them, O Father, _all_ you give _me_!"

DORA BURNSIDE.

ARTHUR'S MISHAP.

I am a little boy, three years old, named Arthur; and I want to tell you
what happened to me last summer.

I went down to the seashore to visit my grandmamma, alone, without
mamma, or Mary, my nurse. Grandpapa took me in the cars, and I staid
almost a week. I had a good time; for they have horses and cows and pigs
and chickens, and a swing.

One day, Aunt Anna and I went to the duck-pond. I had a rod and line,
and made believe fish. Aunt Anna turned away for a minute, and, when she
looked around, all she could see of me was my hat, floating on the
water. I had tumbled in, and was way down at the bottom of the pond.

But I soon rose to the top; and Aunt Anna reached over, and pulled me
out, and ran up to the house with me in her arms. I did not cry at all,
but coughed and sputtered a little, and told her I didn't like that old
duck-pond.

Grandmamma took off all my wet clothes, and wrapped me in a blanket, and
sang me to sleep. When I waked up, I felt all right. I got a good drink
of water when I was in the pond; but I don't mean to go very near the
edge next time.

E. B.

[Illustration]

PUSSY GETS A WARNING.

"Pussy, now that you are here, I wish to say a few words to you; and it
will be for your peace of mind to give heed to them at once. I have seen
you several times, of late, looking sharply at that little wren's nest
in the pear-tree."

"Mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow!"

"Yes, I know what you mean by that; but you need not