Upon a coll of hay;
And by cam' a greedy gled
And snapt him a' away.

CHILDREN'S HUMOUR AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

The humours of little folks, fresh and original, and invariably of the
unconscious variety, and their quaint sayings, unrehearsed and uttered
regularly without regard to effect--though with merciless honesty
often--form a never-palling treat; and every man and woman who has
reared a family, or has had joy in the society of other people's
children, has his and her own budget, comprising tit-bits at once
interesting, startling, and amusing. When occasion has saved us from the
foolishly doting parent who is everlastingly prosing about the very
clever things his own little Johnnie has said or done, I have seldom
found greater enjoyment of a mixed company than when the queer sayings
of children went round the board, and we had "recollections," by
suggestion, of things which perhaps had been better left unsaid, as also
of things which had been more agreeably expressed if differently worded;
yet all so honestly set forth that even the "victims" could not help but
enjoy them in some measure. Children accept all statements so
implicitly, and, with their quick-working wits, they reason so
straight-forwardly, that the application when voiced comes at times with
a bang sufficient to take one's breath away. Given this and that,
however, an application is unavoidable. As lief set fire behind powder
in a gun and expect there will be no report. A mite of five, thus, will
on occasion utter a syllogism that would not discredit a professor of
logic, or will put a question to which a whole college of theologians
might not venture an answer. A little lady of my acquaintance who had
not yet seen her fourth birthday, was one morning told by her mother
that she could not get out to play--the frost was too severe. "Who makes
the frost, ma?" was asked. "God, dear." "What does He make frost for?"
"To kill the worms." "And why does He make worms, and has to make frost
to kill them?" This was a sufficient poser, but the mother continued,
"The worms have to be killed, else they would eat the roots of all the
plants and flowers." The little lady reflected, then gravely asked, "But
does God kill the wee chicky worms that never eated any roots?" The
mother did not answer, but looked now even more grave than the child.
The same little miss was listening one evening to a newspaper report
being read, which told how a man in a st