o "study her lessons,"
she had sprained her ankle, and she had been very miserable all by
herself, and cried and called for him until she fell asleep.

The books, all but one, were lying on the other side of the boat, on
the sand. Davy never minded them, precious as they were to him, but
taking his little sister on his strong back, he carried her home, her
arms about his neck and her cheek close to his; and Maggie had to stay
in the house, with her foot bandaged, for a week. But Davy never
forgot that fright nor left her to herself again until she was much
older; and the little girl never thought of disobeying his orders
after that. They had both learned a hard lesson.

EARLY TEA.

[Illustration: {A CAT PUSHES A PRAM CONTAINING ANOTHER CAT.}]

Five little pussies
Sitting down to tea;
Pretty little pussies,
Happy as can be!

Three little pussies,
All in a row,
Ranged on the table,
Two down below.

Five little pussies,
Dressed all in silk,
Waiting for the sugar,
Waiting for the milk.

Dear little pussies,
If you would thrive,
Breakfast at nine o'clock,
Take tea at five.

BONEY.

Boney was not a thin cat by any means, as his name would suggest. He
was very stout for his age; this could be explained by the fact that
he had always looked out for number one, and had managed to secure a
great many nice things to eat in the course of his short life.

His coat, which was striped, gray and black, had an infinite number of
shades in it and was so beautiful, that more than one lady wanted to
buy him.

Boney was not his whole name. A lovely romance could be written, I've
no doubt, out of the adventures of this cat, before Fannie found him,
one cold morning, in the summer-house. He was covered with dust and
leaves, and moaning piteously. Fannie said,--"Pussy, pussy," to him;
and he tried to get up and come to her, but he couldn't make any
progress, and John Henry came up at that moment, and taking up the cat
by the back of the neck, looked at it critically, and said,--"That cat
ain't a-going to die--he'll come out all right in a few days; he's
been pelted with stones by those children that live at the
cross-roads, I think."

Fannie followed her brother into the house with the cat, and he gave
it some warm milk, and Fannie covered it up, snug, by the kitchen
stove.

It was surprising how soon that pussy got well; a