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Speck, our po-ny, needs no spur. Spin, Spi-der!" said the slow Snail. "Spell 'sneer,' said the nim-ble Spi-der.

THE TWO DISHES.

hang-ing help-ing tri-fling served play-ing fetch-ing turn-ing helped tast-ing look-ing work-ing turned

Ger-tie Blake sat at din-ner play-ing and tri-fling with her spoon, and hard-ly tast-ing the nice hot soup her moth-er had served out for her. She said the soup was not nice, and that she did not care for it. Now this was not right, for her moth-er knew what was good for her bet-ter than she did her-self. The truth is, Ger-tie had been hang-ing about the house all day, do-ing no-thing but looking out at the peo-ple pass-ing, or turning over the leaves of a pic-ture book.

Next morn-ing, Har-old took her out to the gar-den with him. He had to sow some seeds, and was very bus-y. Ger-tie was help-ing him, and fetch-ing his hoe or spade or rake when it was want-ed.

All this work-ing and run-ning had made Ger-tie eag-er for din-ner, so she sat down to ta-ble rud-dy and bright. She had never tast-ed bet-ter soup, and when she had been helped twice, her moth-er told her it was the very soup she had turned a-side the day be-fore with-out tast-ing.

Ger-tie learned that day that hap-py toil a-lone makes food sweet and pleasant.

THE RAINBOW.

arch blaze gaze re-mem-ber bow sown sof-tened gone grum-bled work col-our

beau-ti-ful could

You re-mem-ber how George grumbled at the rain for keep-ing him from getting out, and how his sis-ter Anne told him to take his book and slate, and work. Then he was to play at ball in the barn. Well, he did not play in the barn; for all at once Anne said, "Come, George, see this beau-ti-ful bow in the sky. It is the rain-bow, it spans the val-ley in an arch all a-blaze with co-lour. Were

C

it not for the rain you could have no such beau-ty to gaze on. But the rain is gone; the sun shines; the birds sing;

let us look at the bed where your seeds are to be sown. You can soon put them in, for the rain has softened the ground. It was so hard and dry when we were here last, that, but for the rain, I do not think your nice seeds could have come up at all;" and then Anne told George how God had set the rainbow in the sky after the flood.

The Cat and the Mouse
Played in the malt-house.

The Cat bit the Mouse's tail off.

Pray,

puss, give me my tail. No, said the Cat,

I'll not give you your tail, till you go to the Cow, and fetch me some milk.

First she leapt, and then she ran, Till she came to the Cow, and thus be-gan,

Pray, Cow, give me milk, that I may give Cat milk, that Cat may give me my own tail a-gain. No, said the Cow, I will give you no milk, till you go to the Farm-er, and get me some hay.

First she leapt, and then she ran,

may

Till she came to the Farm-er, and thus be-gan,Pray, Farm-er, give me hay, that I give Cow hay, that Cow may give me milk, that I may give Cat milk, that Cat may give me back my own tail a-gain. No, said the Farm-er, I'll give you no hay, till you go to the But-cher, and fetch me some meat.

First she leapt, and then she ran, Till she came to the But-cher, and thus be-gan,—

Pray, But-cher, give me meat, that I may give Farm-er meat, that Farm-er may give me hay, that I may give Cow hay, that Cow may give me milk, that I may

give Cat milk, that Cat may give me my own tail a-gain. No, said the But-cher, I'll give you no meat, till you go to the Bak-er, and fetch me some bread.

First she leapt, and then she ran, Till she came to the Ba-ker, and thus be-gan,

Pray, Ba-ker, give me bread, that I may give But-cher bread, that But-cher may give me meat, that I may give Farm-er meat, that Farm-er may give me hay, that I may give Cow hay, that Cow may give me milk, that I may give Cat milk, that Cat may give me my own tail a-gain.

Yes, said the Ba-ker, I'll give you some bread,

But if you eat my meal, I'll cut off your head.

Then the Ba-ker gave Mouse bread, and Mouse gave But-cher bread, and But-cher gave Mouse meat, and Mouse gave Farm-er meat, and Farm-er gave Mouse hay, and Mouse gave Cow hay, and Cow gave Mouse milk, and Mouse gave Cat milk, and Cat gave Mouse her own tail a-gain.