lves; we'll not move yet."

The third night, when the mother Lark came home, the baby Larks said,
"Mother, dear, the farmer came to the field to-day, and when he looked
at the corn he was quite angry; he said, 'This will never do! The corn
is getting too ripe; it's no use to wait for our relatives, we shall
have to cut this corn ourselves.' And then he called his son and said,
'Go out to-night and hire reapers, and to-morrow we will begin to cut.'"

"Well," said the mother, "that is another story; when a man begins to
do his own business, instead of asking somebody else to do it, things
get done. I will move you out to-night."

A TRUE STORY ABOUT A GIRL

Once there were four little girls who lived in a big, bare house, in
the country. They were very poor, but they had the happiest times you
ever heard of, because they were very rich in everything except just
money. They had a wonderful, wise father, who knew stories to tell,
and who taught them their lessons in such a beautiful way that it was
better than play; they had a lovely, merry, kind mother, who was never
too tired to help them work or watch them play; and they had all the
great green country to play in. There were dark, shadowy woods, and
fields of flowers, and a river. And there was a big barn.

One of the little girls was named Louisa. She was very pretty, and ever
so strong; she could run for miles through the woods and not get tired.
And she had a splendid brain in her little head; it liked study, and it
thought interesting thoughts all day long.

Louisa liked to sit in a corner by herself, sometimes, and write
thoughts in her diary; all the little girls kept diaries. She liked to
make up stories out of her own head, and sometimes she made verses.

When the four little sisters had finished their lessons, and had helped
their mother sew and clean, they used to go to the big barn to play;
and the best play of all was theatricals. Louisa liked theatricals
better than anything.

They made the barn into a theatre, and the grown people came to see the
plays they acted. They used to climb up on the hay-mow for a stage,
and the grown people sat in chairs on the floor. It was great fun. One
of the plays they acted was Jack and the Bean-Stalk. They had a ladder
from the floor to the loft, and on the ladder they tied a squash vine
all the way up to the loft, to look like the wonderful bean-stalk. One
of the little girls was dressed up to look lik