sed to stand and
watch, and presently the garden-gate would open, and then the father
would come out, leading the little girl by the hand, and the mother
brought a large plateful of bits of broken bread. The little girl used
to throw the bread to the ducks, and they ran after it and ate it up
quickly, while she laughed out with glee, and the father and the
mother laughed too just as merrily. Baby, the father had blue eyes, and
a voice that you seemed to hear with your heart.

"The little girl used to feed the chickens too, and the foolish old
turkey that was so fond of her it would run after her until she
screamed and was afraid. The dear father and the little girl came out
every morning, while the black pigs looked through the bars of the
farm-yard gate and grunted at them, as if they were glad, and I think
the ducks knew that the father had made the pond, for they swam round
and round it proudly while he watched them, but when he went away they
seemed tired and sad.

"The pond is not there now, baby, for a man came by one day and made it
into a ditch again; and the chickens and the ducks from the farm are
kept in another place.

"The little girl is far away in her own home, which the father made for
her, and the dear father lives in his own home too--in the hearts of
those he loved."

That was the story that Bridget told the baby.

THE LITTLE MAID.

There is a sweet maiden asleep by the sea,
Her lips are as red as a cherry;
The roses are resting upon her brown cheeks--
Her cheeks that are brown as a berry.

She's tired of building up castles of sand,
Her hands they are gritty and grubby;
Her shoes, they are wet, and her legs, they are bare,
Her legs that are sturdy and chubby.

I'll wrap a shawl round you, my dear little maid,
To keep the wind off you completely,
And soft I will sing you a lullaby song,
And soon you will slumber most sweetly.

THE DONKEY ON WHEELS.

There was once a poor little donkey on wheels. It had never wagged its
tail, or tossed its head, or said, "Hee-haw!" or tasted a tender
thistle. It always went about, anywhere that anyone pulled it, on four
wooden wheels, carrying a foolish knight, who wore a large cocked hat
and a long cloak, because he had no legs. Now, a man who has no legs,
and rides a donkey on wheels, has little cause for pride; but the
knight was haughty, and seldom remembered his circumstanc