indulgent parents, who bought her any number of toys and nice things. A
few days ago, as she was sitting up, she said, "Mamma, I believe I'll
ask papa to buy me a baby carriage for my doll." The brother--a
precocious youngster of only six years of age, spoke up at once, and
said, "I would advise you to strike him for it right away, then; you
won't get it when you get well."

* * * * *

A little girl went timidly into a store at Bellaire, Ohio, the other
morning, and asked the clerk how many shoe-strings she could get for
five cents.

"How long do you want them?" he asked.

"I want them to keep," was the answer, in a tone of slight surprise.

* * * * *

It was just after Christmas, and Kenneth's mind was full of the story of
the Babe who was born at Bethlehem. When, therefore, he was taken into
mamma's room to see his new little brother, he looked with wonder on the
dainty cradle, trimmed with lace and ribbons, wherein the little baby
lay, and asked, in an awed whisper, "Mamma, is that a _manger_?"

* * * * *

A neighbor asked a little girl the other day if her father wasn't one of
the pillars of the Miamus M. E. Church. "No, indeed," she warmly
replied; "they don't have any _pillows_ there."

I SHOULD LIKE TO KNOW.

When in budding trees
Bluebirds sweetly sing,
And the pretty early flowers
Come to welcome spring,
"No more cold," we _think_,
"No more sleety rain";
But sometimes old Winter turns,
Mocking, back again.

Then the bluebirds hide,
And the buds stand still,
And the flowers droop and shrink
With a sudden chill,
And the young vines stop
Growing in the wood,
Waiting patiently until
He is gone for good.

But when, some fine night,
In a friendly throng,
From the swampy places where
They have slept so long
Hop the frogs, and all
Loudly croak together,
_Then_ there will be, we are _sure_,
No more wintry weather;

And the birds rejoice,
And the buds unfold,
And the sun upon the grass
Lies in bars of gold.
Now I'd like to know,
For it's surely so,
How when spring is _really_ here
Frog-folks chance to know.

THE CHAMOIS AND THEIR FOES.

The only European species of the antelope family are the chamois
(_Antelope rupicapra_), which inhabit the highest regions of the Alps,
the Pyrenees,