uch in too short time. Real rest, and plenty of it, is just
as necessary to life as agitation can be."

Remember this, my chicks, all through vacation; but don't mistake
laziness for rest.

A MOTHER WITH TWO MILLION CHILDREN.

No, not the old woman who lived in a shoe,--though old parties of the
kind I mean have been found with their houses fixed to old rubber
high-boots,--but a quiet old mother, who never utters a word, and whose
house is all door-way, as I'm told. Every year she opens the door and
turns two million wee bairns upon the world.

Away they rush, the door snaps shut behind them, and they can never come
back any more! They don't seem to mind that very much, however, for they
go dancing away in countless armies, without ever jostling, or meeting,
or even touching one another.

And how large a ball-room do you suppose a troop of them would need?
One drop of water is large enough for thousands upon thousands of them
to sport in!

The mother is the oyster, and her children are the little oysters, and a
curious family they must be, if all this is true, as I'm led to believe.

A CHINESE FLOATING VILLAGE.

The Little Schoolma'am wishes you a good and lively vacation, and sends
you a picture of a Chinese Floating Village,--a cool and pleasant kind
of village to live in through the summer, I've no doubt, with plashing
water, and fresh breezes, all about you. She goes on to say:

"In China, where there are about four hundred and fifty millions of
people, not only the land, but also much of the water, is covered with
towns and streets; and, although the Chinese are more than eleven times
as numerous as the people of the United States, their country is not
half as large as ours,--even leaving Alaska out of the count. So that
China is pretty well crowded.

[Illustration: A CHINESE FLOATING VILLAGE.]

"In the picture, the little boats belong to poor people, but the big
ones, called 'junks,' belong to folks who are better off. Sometimes
junks are used by rich people for traveling, and then they are built
almost as roomy, and fitted up quite as comfortably, as the homes on
shore.

"There are no railroads in China worth mentioning, so traveling has to
be done by highroad, or by river and canal; and, as this last, though
easy, is a very slow way, it is a good thing when, like the snail, a
traveler can take his house with him."

INFORMATION WANTED.

Providence, R. I.

Jack-in-the-Pulpit: