BE TRUSTY.

WO little boys were sent one day by a gentleman to fetch a basket from a railway station. It was given to them, and they started off to carry it back.

As they walked along, Jimmy said to Harry

"I wonder what is inside; how I should like to see! I think it is something alive, for I feel it moving about."

"Well," said Harry, "give me the basket, and let me look ; so he took the basket from his brother, and they both knelt down in the road to try to see what it contained.

Harry was in the act of lifting the lid, when Jimmy cried out, "Oh, Harry! we had better not look; the thing is not ours, and I think we shall get into trouble if we touch it."

Harry's conscience had been telling him this all the time, and as he was trying to lift the lid, his hands trembled much, for he knew he was doing wrong. So he popped the cover down, took the up basket, and off the brothers ran as fast as they could. They soon got to the gentleman's house, who took the basket from the boys, and gave them some pennies for their trouble.

Whilst they were waiting for their money, he cut the string which fastened the basket, and opening the lid very carefully, took out two beautiful pigeons. Oh, how glad then were the boys that they had not opened it! Had they done so, the birds would have flown out, and they would have been severely punished for their want of trust.

Little children, let this be a caution to

you. When sent with a message, deliver it quickly and correctly. When you are entrusted with a parcel, remember it is not yours, and you must not touch or examine it; if you do, you may damage the thing which is given into your care, you will get yourself into great trouble, and you will never be trusted again. The Bible says that "a faithful messenger refresheth the soul of his master." Try always to act behind your master's back as you would do before his face, and then I think you will prove to be faithful little

pretty lines are better worth remembering

Are my flowers awake,

That were sweetly sleeping?
Yes, they lift their heads,

Dewy tear-drops weeping.

Have the bees come forth?
At their work they're singing,
To the busy hive

Honeyed treasures bringing.

Is my birdling up?

Hark! his song he raises;
Let me join him too,
With my morning praises.

Flowers of Spring-time.

FEEDING THE BIRDS.

T is our habit

every morning after the children

have fin

ished

their

breakfast, to collect

all the odds and ends and the remains of

the por

ridge or bread and milk, to take out in the garden for the little birds, who are always gathered together in the large tree outside the nursery window, waiting for their breakfast. It is so funny to see how cleverly they stand on the edge of the saucer and slip down to drink the milk; they will even do this on quite a deep basin, and always balance themselves so carefully that they never fall in, although they may have to stand almost on their heads to reach the milk when the basin is nearly empty. But the prettiest sight of all is to see some old mother sparrow carrying off a piece of bread in her beak, and then patiently dividing it all round her excited and greedy little family, giving a piece to one and a bit to another, but rarely stopping to take any for herself. Poor little mother! she has hard work to satisfy them all, and to keep the young cocks in order, for they are sadly impudent little creatures.

H. M. G.

OUR COTTAGE IN THE COUNTRY.

By the Author of "Seaside in South Africa," "Nuremburg," "The Squire," etc., etc.

WW

PART IV.

E set off running-we were running away from our consciences, I think-and we soon found the place. There certainly were a great many raspberries, and very fine ones too; and for a time I forgot everything but the pretty bright fruit. I forgot mother's commands, and God's all-seeing eye, and how wrong I, who had been left to take care of little Lion, was to lead him into temptation.

We went on from bush to bush, pushing our way amongst the briars and through the tall brakes, which were above Lion's head, and almost above mine sometimes. We were so eager, filling the little basket we had brought out with us for ferns, that we never noticed we had got a long way from the path, until at last, when we could not see any more raspberries, I turned to look for the broad road through the forest, and found that we were quite out of sight of it. And the light was growing dim under the trees, and now that there were no raspberries to run after, Lion found out that he was tired. I was not at all frightened at first. I thought it was a very easy thing to find the path again; we could not have got far from it in, what seemed to me, such a short time.

But we had wandered much farther than I thought, and the path was nowhere to be seen. The brambles pricked Lion, and he began to cry; and I found out for the first time that it was heavy walking