first.
But on he goes, with his good intent,
The little gasping man;
For every frog must sing in Lent,
As loud as ever he can.

OLIVE A. WADSWORTH.

[Illustration: DRAWING-LESSON BY HARRISON WEIR.]

A WOODCHUCK HUNT.

ONE September morning, before breakfast, Ned and Harry went woodchuck
hunting. They took Dick, who is a big, fat, spotted coach-dog, and Gyp,
a little black-and-tan, with short ears, and afraid of a mouse,--both
"such splendid hunters," Harry said.

Gyp ran ahead on three legs; and Dick walked sedately behind. Ned
carried the bow, and Harry, the three arrows: and it was enough to make
any wise woodchuck tremble to see them.

First they crossed a potato-field, and then a meadow where there was a
brook, and where they lost Gyp so often among the bogs, that Harry
carried him at last so as to know where he was. Dick ran through the
brook, and shook himself over Ned's new sailor-suit; but that was no
matter.

Then they came to a rickety old stone wall, and Dick barked. "It must be
a woodchuck in the wall. We've got him!" shouted Ned. "Down comes the
wall!" Then the stones fell; and Gyp jumped up and down with excitement,
while Dick gave a low and terrible growl. "He must be here," said Ned.

But, as he was not to be found, Dick was reproved for giving a false
alarm; and they all jumped over the stones of the old wall, and ran up
the hill towards the walnut-grove, where woodchucks were sure to be as
thick as nuts.

"Here's a fresh hole!" shouted Harry. "Now it's almost breakfast-time:
he'll be out before long. Come on, Mr. Chuck, we're waiting for you."

So the boys lay down flat on the mound of earth, and peered into the
hole, by way of inviting its owner to come out and be shot; while Dick
and Gyp gave persuasive growls and yelps.

[Illustration]

Strangely enough no woodchuck appeared; and after waiting an
"age,"--five minutes long,--the brave hunters decided to dig in. "We
ought to have brought spades," they said; but sticks and stones and
hands did very well in the soft, wet earth.

About the time that Harry got out of breath, and Ned had dropped a stone
on his foot, Dick barked furiously at something moving under a
hazel-bush. "Shoot, Ned, shoot!" Harry shouted. "Whiz" went an arrow
straight into the bushes, where it lodged, and never more came out.

"A chase, a chase!" cried Ned, throwing down