Various

“ I told you last month how Robert hoped that Santa Claus would bring him a sled; and how Robert woke on Christmas morning to find by his bedside a beautiful sled, painted red, with thick iron runners.
The next day he went with Uncle Charles to the hill on Boston Common, near Park Street, to see the boys coast. Here is a picture of the scene, drawn from life; and a very correct idea it will give you of the sport that may be witnessed in Boston after every snow-storm. ”

“ We children [56] all give Dandy some of our spare cents when we see him; for a bear has to be fed like you and me.
"Come, Dandy," Mr. Werner will say, "here are the young ladies and gentlemen, all with plenty of cents in their pockets to give you if you perform well. They are good judges of high art. They can admire the poetry of motion. So do your prettiest."
Mr. Werner has a monkey and a pet dog. The monkey is called Captain. He wears a hat with a feather in it. The name of the pet dog is Grip. He is fat and greedy; and, if he sees a boy with a cake, he begs for a piece of it ”

“ It was certainly a great improvement: so Bessie thought.
At last she laid down her brush. She felt quite charmed with her success, and picked up her doll off the floor, that she might see how well her little mamma could paint. [60]
VII.
"It is beautiful! Is it not, Cornelia?" she said, as she threw herself back in the chair. "Uncle will never say again that I cannot paint. Perhaps it is more blue than Col. Fraser's mustache; but it is all the prettier for that."
Bessie remembered, too, that her mamma had once read to her a story about a man with a blue beard. ”

“ Is not your subject a poor little bubble that could not have lived longer than three or four seconds?"
To which this papa replies: "Old person, do not meddle. This papa knows what he is about. The little folks understand very well that a 'biography' is a story of a life; that to 'criticise' is to find fault; and that a 'critic' is a fault-finder."
So all critics will please get out of the way, and leave this papa alone while he writes the biography of a bubble. ”

“ Aunt Mattie was glad enough to see them, and gave Harry a round cooky with a hole in the middle, that he thought very funny. Mamma always makes square cookies, with no holes to put your fingers through.
By and by, when grandpa came in from the orchard, they had a nice supper. They had peaches and cream, and biscuits and honey; and, oh! how good every thing tasted!
Philly lent Harry his cup with the picture of a queen on one side, and "Remember me" on the other; and Harry drank two cups of milk, the cup was so pretty. ”

“ If I could take off the cap and the shawl and the spectacles, I should see a little girl of four years, with a white dress, a pink sash, and long curls hanging down over her shoulders.
Her name is Edith May. Her mamma calls her Edie. Edie likes to fix herself up, and "play people" as she calls it. She takes many different parts.
Sometimes she is an old lady, and sometimes she is a young lady. Sometimes she plays she is mamma ”

“ Though he can hardly be called graceful, he is very amusing; and we children willingly pay for the sight a cent each when the Captain passes round the hat.
Mr. Werner thinks of taking Dandy to other towns to show off his accomplishments. If you should ever see him, I hope you will treat him well for my sake. I am the boy in the picture with a slate under his arm; and my name is
Richard Roe.
[57]
LITTLE MISCHIEF. IV.
Bessie went to pass a week with her Aunt Clara and Uncle Frank. Uncle Frank was a portrait-painter. One day Bessie took her doll Cornelia, and went into his studio. ”

“ We live in a little village near the city of Cincinnati. We have not lived here many years; and our grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins are so far away, that they cannot often come to see us. ”

“ That was a proud day for Robert; for, before he left the Common, he was allowed to coast once all alone; and he did it in such good style, that the big boy told him he would make a "prime coaster."
"What did he mean by a "prime coaster"?" asked Robert. "He meant," said Uncle Charles, "that, with a little more practice, you will coast very well,—as well, perhaps, as he does himself."
Alfred Selwyn.
OUR NEW DOG.
We have a new dog. His name is Bright. He is only two years old. His master one day took the cars near our place for California; and poor Bright was left behind. ”

“ But they need not have made such a fuss, as he put them safely in a basket with a lid to it to keep off the rain, and took a great deal of care of them indeed.
How kind of him to take the trouble to carry them in this basket on his arm, instead of leaving them to waddle along the road! In this way he has taken all my brothers and sisters away with him, except myself and my brother little Jack Drake. I dare say he will soon take us with him in his nice basket.
Certainly it is a good thing to have men to attend to us [40] so well. ”