ies are very sad to hear; but,
as she is a very brave little duck, she thinks she will try once more;
and this time she is left in peace, and when she has her dear little
children-ducks around her, you may be sure she is a joyful mamma.

So this is where the eider-down comes from; and, as there are a great
many ducks, the people get a great deal of down; and with this down are
made the quilts which keep us so warm in cold winter-nights.

The eider-down quilts are very light and warm; but I always feel sorry
for the poor mamma-duck.

SISTER PEPILLA.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

THE TRIAL-TRIP

DAVIE and Harold are two little Boston boys. They are brothers. Last
summer, they had two pretty little yachts given them by a friend. Then
they had a launch in the bath-tub; and their mamma named the yachts,
breaking a bottle of water (a small medicine-bottle) over the bows.
Davie's yacht was named the "West Wind;" and Harold's, the "Flyaway."

One afternoon, the boys went to City Point, hired a row-boat, and rowed
out about halfway to Fort Independence, where they put the little
vessels into the water for a trial-trip. It was a pretty sight to see
the sails fill with the wind, and the tiny yachts ride the waves as if
they meant to go to China before they stopped.

The "West Wind" beat the "Flyaway," and I regret to say that Davie
taunted his brother with the fact, and made him cry; for Harold is a boy
that takes every thing to heart.

MAMMA.

SWADDLING-CLOTHES

DID the little readers of "The Nursery" ever think how thankful they
should be for the free use of their arms and legs? I do not believe it
ever came into their thoughts that there could be any other way than to
use them freely. But in Syria, a country many miles from here, the
mothers do not let their babies kick their feet, and hold out their dear
little hands. They are bound very closely in what are called
"swaddling-clothes."

They are seldom undressed, and are kept in a rough cradle, and rocked to
sleep as much as possible. When the mother carries them out, she straps
them to her back; and often, on the mountains there, one may see a woman
with a baby on her back, and a great bundle of sticks in her arms.

With the sticks she makes her fire, in a room where there is no chimney,
and where the smoke often makes poor baby's eyes smar