very
was made that little Martha was missing!

The patient oxen were turned about, and as fast as possible the
distracted family traveled back to the dinner camp, Mr. Harris and the
big brothers calling, as they went, the name of the child.

The camp was finally reached--but little Martha was not there and no
trace of her could be found.

The forest had seemed so peaceful an hour before, but now it was filled
with terrors. What wild animals might not lurk in the thickets! The very
brook seemed to murmur of dangers--quicksands and treacherous
water-holes.

"Baby! Baby!" called Mr. Harris suddenly, breaking into a sharp cry; and
this time, in the anxious waiting pause of silence, a shrill little
voice from right under the wagon piped out, "Here I is!" and over the
rim of the great copper kettle popped Martha's golden head. Scrambling
out, "head-over-heels," she rushed into her mother's arms, as fresh and
rosy from her after-dinner nap as though she had been rocked in the
downiest cradle in the land.

AN APRIL DAY.

Now bless me! where have my rubbers gone,
And where my big umbrell'?
It's pouring rain, and a minute ago
It was just as clear as a bell!

Oh, here are my rubbers, and here's my umbrell'--
But, dear! dear me! I say,
The sun's out bright and the rain all gone--
Did you ever see such a day!

--_Selected._

AN ODD EARTHQUAKE.

After Hiram sowed the field of rye, he left the big wooden roller
standing in the lane. It was a big roller, almost five feet high! One
sunny forenoon Roy and Dorothy raced up the lane with little black Trip
and white Snowball at their heels.

Dorothy was a gay, prancy horse and Roy was a coachman armed with a long
whip. They paused for breath beside the roller. Roy clambered up to the
high seat and flourished his whip. Dorothy drummed on the
hollow-sounding sides with her chubby fingers. Suddenly a loose board
rattled to the ground. Dorothy thrust her curly head inside the roller.

"Oh, what a nice playhouse!" she cried.

Roy got down and peered in.

"So it is," he cried. "We can live here when it rains, for there's a
really roof and a truly floor."

"We'll call it Clover Cottage," said Dorothy, "for see how thick the
clover is all around it."

In about an hour "Clover Cottage" was in perfect order. Pictures and
cards were tacked up, and the dolls and the furniture and the dishes all
in place. Snowball w