r years in a cage, but should they have
enjoyed some years of freedom they pine away soon, and in such cases
refuse to sing. The nest bird, however, sings in captivity, though its
notes might lack the sweetness and duration of the free bird. In
appearance the little robin bears scarcely any resemblance to its
namesake of this continent, being much smaller in size, and having a
breast of far rosier hue.

FOOLISH GIRLS.

While the great majority of our girls are sensible and wise, not a few
are silly victims of sensational story papers. Their minds become
corrupted, and their imaginations attain an unhealthy development. They
picture to themselves an ideal hero, and easily fall victims to
designing knaves, who induce them to elope. The spice of romance in an
elopement takes their fancy, and they leave the homes of happy childhood
to wander in the paths of pleasure. It has been well remarked that
nothing good is ever heard of a girl who elopes. Now and then she
figures in the divorce courts either as plaintiff or defendant, but
ordinarily the world moves on, and leaves her to her fate. Occasionally
the police records give a fragment of her life when the heyday of her
youth and life has fled, and the man with whom she has eloped has taken
to beating her in order to get up an appetite for breakfast. Here and
there the workhouse or charitable home opens its doors to receive her,
when she wearies of the life she gladly assumed, and is too proud to beg
for forgiveness at home.

LITTLE QUEEN PET AND HER KINGDOM.

There was once a little queen who was born to reign over a great rich
kingdom called Goldenlands. She had twelve nurses and a hundred and
fifty beautiful names: only unfortunately on the day of the christening
there was so much confusion and excitement that all the names were lost
as they fell out of the bishop's mouth. Nobody saw where they vanished
to, and as nobody could find them, the poor little baby had to return to
the palace nursery without anything to be called by. They could not
christen her over again, so the king offered a reward to the person who
should discover the princess's names within the next fifteen years.
Every one cried "Poor pet, poor pet!" over the nameless baby, who soon
became known as the Princess Pet. But her father and mother took the
accident so much to heart that they both died soon after.

Of course, little Pet was considered too young to manage the affairs of
her own kingdom, a