ending is really a trade that must be learned.

Some chair-menders are blind men, and it is still more interesting to
watch them at their work. The plaiting of the canes is done as
unerringly by their unseeing fingers as by the men who can see, and with
wonderful quickness. Occasionally the business is combined with that of
basket-making, and should we follow poor old "Chairs-to-mend" home, we
might discover his family busy weaving reeds and willowy branches with
the same cleverness the father shows in handling the canes.

TWO KITTIES.

BY JOY ALLISON.

[Illustration]

Two little kitties
Wandered away
Into the prairie
One summer day.
One on two feet,
Rosy and fair,
Almost a baby,--
"Golden Hair."

Four feet,--useless,
Eyes fast closed,
Borne in a basket
The other dozed.
Searching in terror
Far and wide,
"Golden Hair's" mother
Moaned and cried.

Mother Puss calmly
Following slow,
Listening,--calling
Meoh!--Meoh!--
Mother Puss found them,
A little heap,
Down in the deep grass
Fast asleep.

"HARE AND HOUNDS."

[Illustration]

"What shall we do?" the children said,
By the spirit of frolic and mischief led,
Frank and Lulu and Carrie, three
As full of nonsense as they could be;
Who never were known any fun to stop
Until they were just about ready to drop.

Frank, whose "knowledge-box" surely abounds
With games, spoke up for "Hare and Hounds."
"Down the cellar, or up the stair,
Here and there, and everywhere,
You must follow, for I'm the Hare!"
Lulu and Carrie gave quick consent,
And at cutting their papers and capers went,
For the stairs were steep, and they must not fail
To have enough for a good long trail.
Away went the Hare
Right up the stair,
And away went the Hounds, a laughing pair;
And Tony, who sat
Near Kitty, the cat,
And was really a dog worth looking at,
With a queer grimace
Soon joined the race,
And followed the game at a lively pace!
Then Puss, who knew
A thing or two,
Prepared to follow the noisy crew,
And never before or since, I ween,
Was ever beheld such a hunting scene!
The Hare was swift; and the papers went
This way and that, to confuse the scent;
But Tony, keeping his nose in air,
In a very few moments betrayed the Hare,
Which the children told