Just hops along out of our way.

It does not know how to sing like a bird,
Nor honey to make like a bee;
'Tis not joyous and bright like a butterfly;
Oh, say, of what use can it be?

But, since God made it, and placed it here,
He must have meant it to stay:
So we will be kind to you, little brown toad,
And you need not hop out of our way.

E. A. B.

[Illustration]

TRUE STORY OF A BIRD.

ONE day last spring, in looking over the contents of some boxes which
had long been stowed away in the attic, I found some pieces of lace,
which, though old-fashioned, seemed to me very pretty. But they were
yellow with age,--quite too yellow for use.

I took them to the kitchen, and, after a nice washing, spread them on
the grass to bleach. I knew that the bright sun would soon take away
their yellow hue.

A day or two after, Johnnie came running in, and said, "Auntie, the
birds are carrying off all your old rags out there," pointing to the
place where the laces were spread. Out I went to see about my "old
rags," as he called them; and I found that several pieces were missing.
We knew that the birds must have taken them; but, where to look for
them, we could not tell.

That afternoon, Johnny invited me and his cousins to take a row with him
in his boat to Rocky Island, of which the readers of "The Nursery" have
heard before. We were all glad to go. As we were passing some bushes on
the bank of the river, one of us spied something white among them. We
wondered what it could be.

Johnny rowed nearer; and we could see that it was a piece of lace.
Rowing nearer still, we saw another piece, and another, and at the same
time heard the flutter of wings. We then asked to be landed, and our
boatman soon brought us to shore in fine style.

On parting the bushes, we saw a nest just begun, and a piece of lace
near it, but not woven in. Close by were four other pieces; but they
were all caught by the little twigs, so that the bird could not get them
to the nest. We took the lace off carefully, leaving the nest as it was,
and brought it away with us.

On returning to the house, the children measured the lace, and found
nearly six yards, the largest piece being about two yards. It seemed
quite a lift for the little birds; and it was too bad that after all
they did not get the use