Hidden but heard,
Joyous and grateful
Sings many a bird.

Out where the waters,
Merry and sweet,
Ripple and tinkle
Close by your feet;
Where all things happy,
Fragrant, and fair,
In the bright morning
Welcome you there!

MATHIAS BARB.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

A JOURNEY TO CALIFORNIA.

TWO little girls, Annette and Lisette, went to California with their
parents in 1849. There was no Pacific Railroad at that time; and the
journey across the plains was a long and a hard one.

Annette and Lisette rode in the great wagon drawn by oxen. They thought
that fine fun. At night they slept in a tent. On pleasant days they
walked with their mamma for miles over the green prairies, plucking
wild-flowers as they went along.

They saw great numbers of the funny little prairie-dogs sitting in the
doors of their cunning houses; sometimes they caught sight of an
antelope; and they often passed great herds of shaggy buffaloes.

They liked the prairie-dogs and the antelopes; but they were afraid of
the buffaloes; and, when their papa went out to shoot one, they would
almost cry for fear he would get hurt. But, when he came back with
plenty of nice buffalo-meat, they had a real feast; for they had had no
meat but salt-pork for many a day, and they did not like that very well.

Sometimes a storm would come up with fearful peals of thunder, and
flashes of lightning. More than once the tent was blown down, and the
rain came pouring on them; but the little girls put their heads under
the bed-clothes, and crept close to their mamma, and never minded the
storm.

After travelling in this way three or four months, they were still many,
many days' journey away from California, and Annette and Lisette began
to wish themselves back in their old home; for now the plains were no
longer green and bright with flowers, but hot, sandy, and dusty, with
only ugly little bushes, called "sage-bushes," growing on them.

Sometimes they would have to go all day without water; for the water was
so warm and impure, that nobody could drink it,--not even the cattle.
They saw several hot springs, so hot that they could not put their hands
in them; but their mamma found them very nice for washing clothes.

Late in the fall they crossed the Sierra Nevada Mountains; and, oh! how
steep and narr