his grandsir in the Revolutionary war."

"I guess you wasn't in any o' them wars?" stated the hired man,
inquiringly.

"No; I wasn't born then, and o' course I couldn't; but my father used to
tell us about it on trainin'-day nights. Trainin'-day was a great time,
with its uniforms and feathers; my father was a sarjint, and we had
gingerbread and federal cake."

"Well," burst out Sneeze, "if ever I get a chance I'm goin' to be a
soldier, an' fight for my country, as George Washington did. I just wish
we'd have trainin'-day now, and that Fourth of July came every day.
Then, too, when I'm a man, I'm goin' to marry Eliza Johnson, for she--"

"Shut up, Sneeze!" put in Mrs. Dodson. "Little boys like you ought to be
seen and not heard; when your parents make speeches and rusk at Fourth
o' July celebrations that them that was good judges says was most
interestin', you had ought to be listenin' to their talkin' and learnin'
o' them. Here's Bubby a tunin' for somethin' to eat; give him one of
them rusk out of the basket, an' stop your nonsense."

Sneeze's face was as red as his hair, and not another word did he say;
but his dreams that night were a mixture of feathers, soldiers and
pound-cake, Eliza Johnson, mother and speeches, and thus ended his first
memorable Independence Day.

MEADOW TALK.

BY CAROLINE LESLIE.

[Illustration]

A bumble-bee, yellow as gold,
Sat perched on a red-clover top,
When a grasshopper, wiry and old,
Came along with a skip and a hop.
"Good-morrow!" cried he, "Mr. Bumble-Bee!
You seem to have come to a stop."

"We people that work,"
Said the bee with a jerk,
"Find a benefit sometimes in stopping;
Only insects like you,
Who have nothing to do,
Can keep up a perpetual hopping."

The grasshopper paused on his way,
And thoughtfully hunched up his knees;
"Why trouble this sunshiny day,"
Quoth he, "with reflections like these?
I follow the trade for which I was made;
We all can't be wise bumble-bees.

"There's a time to be sad,
And a time to be glad;
A time both for working and stopping;
For men to make money,
For you to make honey,
And for me to do nothing but hopping."

A BOY'S EXPERIENCE WITH TAR MARBLES.

BY C.S.N.

Almost all boys, at some period of their lives, devote their spare time
to playing with marbles, and I certainly was not unlike other boys in
this respect. My