y,
what a mess!" he said. "Oh, I see! It is that pup. I thought he knew he
must not come in!"

"So I did; but I did not know _why_," growled the pup, as, with sore
back and lame foot, he crept under a chair.

"Come out, come out!" cried the man. "I will not have you in the house
at all. Out with you!" And he seized him with a strong hand, and chained
him in a stall.

"You might have stopped out, and played on the grass, if you had staid
there," the man said. "But, as you will come into the house when you
ought not to, you must be kept where you cannot do so."

And so the young pup had to stay in the dull stall. And when, at last,
he was let out, he did not ask, "Why?" if he was told to do, or not to
do, a thing, but did as he ought at once, like a wise dog.

AUTHOR OF "DICK AND I."

[Illustration]

THE OLD YEAR AND THE NEW.

"Good-by, Old Year!" "Good by, good-by!" he replies, as he goes out into
the cold and snow. "Be good children!" "Who comes? who comes?" "This is
I, the glad New Year!" "What have you brought?" "A plenty of good
wishes. Oh! you must all be good children!"

A MORNING CALL.

Baby Nan has company,
Baby Nell has come a-calling
In her carriage riding gay:
Nan sits on a great soft shawl
With two pillows, lest she fall.
Nan, here's little Nell come calling!
Haven't you a word to say?
"_Gar goo, ghee! gar ghee, argoo!_"
Nell, she's saying, "How d'ye do?"

Pillows bring for baby Nell;
On the soft shawl seat her grandly,
With her mouth set rose-bud way,
And her grave blue eyes surveying
This strange room she's so astray in.
Nell, dear Nell, don't cry! see Nannie!
Haven't you a word to say?
"_Ar-goo, dah, dah! dah dah, goo!_"
"I am pretty well, are you?"

Baby Nan has not a fear;
Up and down her small fists flying,
Bright eyes dancing, laughing gay!
Nell, she's showing you her socks;
Now she shakes her rattlebox;
Hands and feet she keeps a-flying;
She has something more to say:
"_Bab, bab, bab! kee-ee, bab, er!_"
I cannot interpret her.

[Illustration]

Baby Nell can. See her laugh!
Forth her dimpled hand she stretches.
Pass your rattle, Nan, that way;
She, you see, can shake it too.
Now look out, she's seizing you;
Eagerly your toes she reaches!
Both the baby voices say,
"_Goo, goo, bab, bab!