t we sometimes make
a mistake and spoil a lot."

"What is done next?" asked Charley.

"If they are properly burnt, they are allowed to cool gradually, and
are then ready for sale."

By this time all were pretty well tired, and so they said good morning
to Mr. Sands and went home.

"Mother," said Charley, as they sat down to dinner, "I shall ask how
it's done oftener than ever, now, for I like going over factories.
What's to be the next one, I wonder."

"Bread," exclaimed Mary, as she cut a big slice for herself. "Shall it
be bread, mother?"

"Yes, if you like, but I propose we go to see the flour made first. So
the next place we explore will be a flour-mill."

E. M. W.

BIRDIE'S BREAKFAST.

MRS. S. J. BRIGHAM.

Take your breakfast, little birdie,--
Cracker-crumbs, and seeds so yellow,
Bits of sponge-cake, sweet and mellow;
Come quite near me;
Do not fear me.
I can hear your happy twitter,
Although winter winds are bitter;
Take your breakfast, little birdie.

Come! Oh, come and tell me birdie!
All night long the snow was falling;
Long ago, I heard you calling;
Tell me, dearie,
Are you weary?
Can you sleep, when winds are blowing?
Frosts are biting, clouds are snowing?
Come! Oh, come and tell me, birdie!

Take your food, and trust me, birdie;
Daily food the Father giveth;
Bread to every thing that liveth.
Come quite near me;
Do not fear me.
Come each day, and bring your fellow,
For your bread, so sweet and mellow;
Take your food, and trust me, birdie.

A BATTLE.

Do you like accounts of battles? Here is one for you. I shall have to
tell of a well-disciplined army, and some hard fighting, as well as of
a victory.

The scene is a quiet country district, with fields and hedge-rows, not
looking a bit like war and bloodshed, and the time is a summer
afternoon, hot, for it is July, and a haze is over the mountains,
which rise a little way behind, as silent witnesses of the fray. The
sun begins to decline, and as the air grows cooler the army has orders
to start. There is a short delay of preparations, and then the
warriors pour forth; not in confusion, but in a compact, unbroken
column, each keeping to the ranks in perfect order, and never
diverging from them. At first the army follows the high road, but ere
long it passes thro