Various

“ One morning farmer Jackson brought a pailful of milk for piggy's breakfast. He poured the milk into the trough, and piggy made haste to come and eat it.
While he was eating, something hard and cold came into his mouth. He bit it, but found that it was not good: so he left it. He ate up all the milk. When it was gone, he saw a bright silver spoon in the bottom of the trough.
"Oh!" said piggy, "I see how it is. They would like to have me eat with a spoon; but they would never make me fat in that way. I should be hungry all the time. Now I can eat fast and grow fast, and I like my own way best." ”

“ IS real name was Miles; but one of his papa's friends said that such a little chap was too small to be called Miles, and it would be better to begin with "Inches" and go up gradually: so we nicknamed him "Inches."
His papa and mamma were Americans; but their little boy was born in Assam, and until he was four years old he had never seen any other country.
Now, you will want to know where Assam is. I will tell you. It is a kingdom in India, lying west of China, and south of the great Himalaya Mountains. Some peaks of these mountains can be seen on a clear day from the house where Inches lived. ”

“ Willy stands at the foot of the ladder, ready to catch the oranges as Miles tosses them down. Sometimes they pick five or six baskets in an afternoon. Miles says Willy is a "bery good catch." He sometimes tires of catching them; but he never tires of eating them.
I looked into the packing-room this morning, and there [140] lay seventeen hundred yellow balls. Papa lets both his little boys help wrap the oranges. Each orange is wrapped in a piece of tissue-paper that is cut just the right size. Willy always says as he begins, "Now let's see who'll beat!" ”

“ But she stepped on the knotted tree-trunk, and put back the bird a second time.
Then she sat down on the doorstep, and watched to see [134] what the parent-birds would do. They flew here and there about the nest, and sang a few notes that Elizabeth knew must be bird-talk. She wondered if they were trying to find a better place for their baby.
But as she was thinking how much care they were taking of it, out tumbled the little one a third time. "You stupid old robin!" she cried. "Do you expect some one to be putting back your birdie for you all day? Why don't you keep it in the nest?" ”

“ Elizabeth stood still. She didn't know what to make of this. But soon she began to laugh; and then she put the baby-bird gently on the ground, and went away. She at last understood what papa Robin meant to say to her by his peck. This is it: "Don't interfere when I'm teaching my child to fly. You are very big, and perhaps you know a great deal; but you don't seem to know that it's not right to keep birds in the nest all summer. They would never find out what their wings are for."
FRANCES C. SPARHAWK.
[135]
CARLO AND THE DUCKS.
TOP, Carlo! ”

“ And then Carlo gave up his chase of the ducks, and went quietly where Jane led him.
JANE OLIVER.
THE NAUGHTY CAT.
LITTLE JACK.
'Tis such a naughty, naughty cat!
Old Tab, that's owned by aunty Gray:
She growls, and spits, and shows her claws,
As sharp as needles in her paws;
[137]
And, if I try with her to play,
She always seems so full of spite,
She's sure to scratch me, or to bite. ”

“ She was glad to get her spoon back again, and piggy was glad to have it taken from the trough.
He had left the print of his teeth on it: so it was afterwards called "Piggy's spoon."
MARY E. N. HATHAWAY.
THE TRAVELLER.
Sometimes he travels in a boat;
(A bench turned upside down,)
Sometimes his mother's rocking-chair
Takes him from town to town.
[148]
For journeying, by sea or land,
He always has a plan,
He'll be a famous traveller
When he grows to be a man.
W. G.
BOUNCER.
RANDMA, grandma, may we have it? ”