lustration]

GRANDPA'S WATCH.

GEORGE is never so happy as when he is on grandpa's knee; and the first
thing that grandpa has to do, when little George is seated there, is to
pull out his watch.

"Watch, watch!" cries little George; and grandpa takes it out, opens it,
and lets him see all the queer little wheels and the bright works, that
shine and glitter so, and keep up the quick movements, and make the
watch say, "Tick, tick!"

Grandpa and George are good friends, because grandpa tries to explain
things to him. One day he brought home a watch and gave it to the little
boy for his own, and showed him how to wind it up, and make it tick.

George is very proud of it, and will soon learn to tell the time of day.
He knows now how to count ten.

A. B. C.

[Illustration]

HELEN'S BIRD.

WHEN Helen was eight years old, a pretty little canary-bird was given to
her as a birthday present. She named it "Chirp;" and she and Chirp soon
got to be very fond of each other.

Helen took the whole care of him; and he grew so tame that he would
perch on her hand, and take seeds from her finger, and even from her
lips. He was a fine singer, and Helen liked to be waked in the morning
by his music.

His cage was placed on her table near her bed, and she always began the
day by having a little talk with Chirp. There was not the least risk in
opening the cage, and letting him out into the room; for he would fly to
Helen as soon as she called him.

So for years the little bird and the little girl lived happily together.
One November day, when Helen was almost eleven years old, she had been
out making a call, and, on her return, Chirp was missing. Helen saw that
a window had been left open, and knew that he must have flown out.

"Oh, dear!" said she, in great distress, "my poor little Chirp is gone,
and I shall never see him again."

Her mother tried to comfort her by saying that he had not been gone
long, and could not be far away. "But," said Helen, "it is cold weather,
and is snowing too, and he must be chilled to death."

However, without wasting time in talk, she snatched up a handful of
canary-seed, and ran out of doors at once in search of her little pet.
She looked up into the vine that grew on the side of the house, and
called, "Chirp, Chirp!"

She could see nothing of him; but Chirp saw her, and in a moment came
fluttering down among the snowfla