irst time they were alone together.
And Fido gave a deep sigh that meant yes.

HELEN C. PEARSON.

[Illustration: ]

THE CAT AND THE BOOK.

OH, dear me! what a deal of knowledge
It must take to read books, and fit for college!
But, if cats are not able to read a single letter,
They can catch mice, and climb trees; and is not that better?

Now, if these little rhymes are not wholly to your taste,
Bear in mind they are supposed to be by a cat, and written in haste.

LITTLE PIGGY.

ONE day my brother Richard brought a little pig in-doors from the
farm-yard. "Squeak, squeak!" cried the little thing as it nestled in
Dick's arms.

As soon as we all had looked at it, my mother wished Dick to take it
back to the sow. "No," said Dick: "she has too many piggies to bring up.
I think we must kill this one." We all begged him not to kill it; and
after some talk it was settled that I should have it, and try to bring
it up.

So I took piggy under my charge. I named him "Dob." I fed him on
skim-milk with a wooden spoon; and he soon looked for his meal as
regularly as I looked for my breakfast. I made him a bed in a basket
with some hay and a bit of flannel; but he soon outgrew the basket, and
we then made him a bed under the kitchen-stairs.

When he grew big enough, he was sent into the farm-yard to get his
living among the other pigs; but he would always run after me, and
follow me into the house like a dog. I had only to call out, "Dob, Dob!"
at the gate, and Dob would be sure to come.

One day he followed me in-doors with a bit of hay in his mouth. He ran
down stairs, and left this bit of hay where he used to sleep, under the
kitchen-stairs. He then ran off, and soon returned with some more hay in
his mouth, and put it in the same place. "Well, I declare!" said cook,
"this pig has as much sense as a Christian. Now he has made his bed, I
wonder whether he'll come and sleep in it?"

In the evening, when we were at tea, Dob came to the kitchen-door,
crying, "Ugh, ugh!" and, when they let him in, he trotted off to his
bed. We all thought this very clever on the part of Dob; and cook said,
"_He was the knowingest little piggy she ever seed!_"

T. C.

[Illustration]

CAMPING OUT.

ALBERT lives in the Far West. He is only seven years old. He has no
brothers or sisters to play with him,