nding around her white knee;
"Look," cried Miss Pops, "it is bowing to me,
Bowing to me!"

[Illustration: HAPPY MISS LOLLIPOP.]

Over the hills the sweet flower bells rang,
High in the tree tops the little birds sang.
--Tipsy-top bobolinks bent on a spree;
"Hark!" cried Miss Pops. "They are singing to me,
Singing to me!"

Deep in the roses the bumblebees flew,
Sipping their rations of honey and dew,
With jewel-necked humming-birds gorgeous to see;
"Now," cried Miss Pops, "they are shining for me,
Shining for me!"

Sweet little Happy Heart! Pure little soul!
Earth would be robbed of its darkness and dole
If with the faith of thy heart I could see
How much of God's world is fashioned for me!

TOMMY'S TEMPTATION.

Mr. Allen's early apples were almost ripe. They were uncommonly pretty
apples--yellow, streaked with red. How tempting they looked! Ripe
apples in August are always tempting.

Mr. Allen knew that, so he had put up a sign to warn the boys off. For
boys were very apt to help themselves to ripe apples. Somehow they
think that taking a few apples is not stealing.

So, as I said, Mr. Allen put up a board with these words on
it--"Trespassers prosecuted." That meant, if he caught any boy near
his apple-tree, he would carry him off to a justice of the peace, for
stealing.

Early one morning Tommy Tilden was walking through the lane. He had
just driven the cows to pasture and was coming home. He stopped and
looked at the apples. How good they did look, to be sure!

He searched on the ground to see if any had dropped into the lane.
But he could not find one. Then he looked at the tree again. "I wish I
had one," he thought.

Ah, Tommy, Tommy, the best thing for you to do is to run away as fast
as you can!

But Tommy didn't do any such thing. He kept looking at the apples and
wishing he had one. Then he thought, "I'll just climb up and look at
them."

And now, of course, you can guess what happened. Tommy climbed up, and
tried the apples with his thumb to see if they were ripe. Then he
reached out to get a fine big one, and the branch broke, and over he
went, with the branch, and the sign, and a shower of apples, into Mr.
Allen's garden.

The dog ran out barking furiously, and Mr. Allen, who was just eating
his breakfast, came out too, and little May Allen, to see what was