We had our yearly festivals, our cowslip gatherings, our blackberry
huntings, our hay makings, and all the delights so pleasant to country
children. Our five birthdays were each signalized by simple presents and
evening parties, in the garden or the house, as the season permitted.
Herbert and Margaret's birthdays came in the sunny time of May, when
there were double rejoicings to be made. They were always set up in
their chairs in the bower, decorated with flowers and crowned with
wreaths. I 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 cheeks 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 yours 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 over 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 f