sun shining on it through one of the tiny panes of glass, and with all its little brother and sister roots so near. It hoped it would always stay on that shelf and never be taken away from such a pleasant house. However, the root had not been there many days before the master of the greenhouse came and lifted it up out of the sun; then the little root was sorry, and cried and asked to be allowed to stay where he had found it but the master said 'He knew what was best for it,' and carried it carefully away to a little mound of earth, where he buried it deep down in a hole; and the beautiful snow fell and covered the little mound all over, but after a time the sun was so warm that it melted away, and in its place there sprang up the pretty green grass. The brown root was quite astonished to find it had sprung up too, but instead of being like an ugly little onion, it was a beautiful white snowdrop with tiny green leaves: and all around it were many of its brothers and sisters, all sweet little flowers too. Then, day after day more kept peeping up, until there were so many of them that they formed a beautiful white cross, and the bright warm sun shone on them, and the blue sky with the white fleecy clouds was over their heads, and the fresh green grass all around them. How glad the little snowdrop was when it found itself so lovely that the master had not listened to its crying, but had taken it away; for if he had not done so, it could never have changed to such a sweet white flower. So it was with little Hilda, on whose grave the snowdrop was growing. She was only a wee baby-child, but she loved this bright earth, and would rather have stayed in it and played with her little sisters instead of being carried away; and so when she was in pain, and the kind God was taking her to Himself, she cried and asked to stay with them; but He knew what was the best for her, and so, though He heard her cry, He answered it by taking her; and she will one day rise again like the little snowdrop, and be far happier and more beautiful than if she had stayed here. Changed into a bright, joyous little angel, she will never feel pain or sorrow again; and many of her brothers

and sisters will be little angels, too; and best of all she will see, and always be with, the kind Jesus, Who died on the cross that she might rise so happy and beautiful, and Who, when He was on earth, took the little ones up in His arms and blessed them. WHIMSY.

A CHILD'S WALK IN MAY.

WE

E had a pleasant walk to day,
Over the meadows and far away,
Beside the lock by the water-mill,
Past the wood-side, and up the hill;
And if you listen to what I say,
I'll tell you what we saw to-day.

Amid a hedge, where pale green leaves
Were peeping from their sheaths so sly,
We saw four eggs within a nest,
And they were blue as summer sky.

An elder-branch dipped in the stream,
We wondered why it moved, and found
A silken-haired, smooth water-rat,
Nibbling, and swimming round and round.

Where daises opened to the sun,
In a broad meadow green and white,
The lambs were racing eagerly-
We never saw a prettier sight.

We saw upon the shady banks
Long rows of golden flowers shine,
And first mistook for butter-cups
The star-shaped yellow celandine.

And leaning from the old stone bridge,
Below we saw our shadows lie,
And through the gloomy arches watched
The swift and fearless swallows fly.

We heard the speckle-breasted lark
As it sang somewhere out of sight,
And tried to find it, but the sky
Was filled with clouds of dazzling light.

We saw young rabbits near the wood,
And heard the pheasant's wings go 'whirr,'
And then we saw a squirrel leap
From an old oak tree to a fir.

We came back by the village fields,-
A pleasant walk it was across them;
For all behind the houses lay

The orchards, red and white with blossom.

HARRY'S FIRST SCHOOL-DAYS.

CHAPTER II.

(Continued from page 51.) AM not going to describe all Harry's battles; three or four chapters of fighting would be very tedious; so I shall only tell you briefly, that at last the battles came only once in three or four days, then one in a week, till finally a fortnight perhaps passed in perfect peace. I resume my story when Harry was nearly six, and when his going to school was as much a matter of course as eating his breakfast or dinner.

'Now, children,' said Mr. Collins, one evening, 'come out into the yard, and I will show you the young rabbits.'

How eager they had been for the last two or three days to see them! but they had waited for father's time. Away they bounded now; Polly, as usual, was overturned in the rush, and Harry was the one to pick her up: but at last they stood round the hutch, and one by one their father lifted out the pretty small new-comers to be stroked and admired. They were such beauties, with soft thick fur, long silken ears, and large bright-brown eyes.

"How pretty they are!' said Polly.

"What a pretty white one that is!' said Harry, sticking his hands in his pockets, and nodding to the white one with his head.

'I mean to give you one apiece for your very own,' said their kind father; and as Jem is the eldest, he must choose first.'

Jem looked at them for a minute, and decided for the black one; Harry breathed freely, and with a chuckle of glee said to Jem, You forgot the white one, I should think! May I have it, father?'

6

'Yes; and I am glad to please you, Harry, because you have got on so well at school of late.'

Harry looked shy and awkward, but recovered himself the next moment, when Jem said, 'I shall name mine Bess.'

And I shall have the grey one because

it is the biggest,' cried Polly; and I shall call it Tom.'

Harry smiled.

'What shall you call yours, Harry?' said Jem.

Marion,' answered Harry, quietly. 'Marion!' repeated Jem; 'Marion! what a name for a rabbit! Marion is Miss Grey's name, and you hate her, you know.'

'I don't!' said Harry, all the blood rushing to his cheeks and brow: 'I love her!'

Jem laughed, and Harry felt greatly inclined to knock him down. He meant to attempt it, but his father said soothingly, 'I am glad you do, my man; I am sure you ought. Never mind Jem, he is only teasing; he would go a mile for Miss Grey any day, and I think Marion is as pretty a name as ever I heard for a rabbit, or a woman either.'

Harry unclenched his fists, and he and Jem went off to a game at bat and ball. But in a few days bat and ball, marbles and pegtop, were alike laid aside. The pet rabbits filled their time and thoughts. I wish you could have seen Marion : of all lovely rabbits she was the most lovely; white as milk, pure as snow, with the softest velvet paws, the longest drooping ears, and such eyes! such sweet brown eyes!-I had almost said as bright as Harry's; but no, Harry had a soul to shine through his, and no rabbit's eyes could have been so full of meaning.

The first thing in the morning, the last thing at night, and half-a-dozen times in the day besides, Harry ran to look at or to play with Marion: he went for long rambles in the fields, to hunt for nettles and sow thistles, and such plants as rabbits like, and many and many a halfpenny he spent in a bunch of parsley for his gentle favourite.

Harry did not generally show affection for anybody or anything; he could not have offered his governess a flower, or have gone up to her and kissed her as some of you do your governess, but often, when he felt that he loved her very much, he fondled and petted Marion the rabbit for half an hour together, and he sometimes ended by being not quite sure himself which of the two Marions it was he loved so dearly.

CHAPTER III.

THE summer passed, and winter set in cold, and wet, and dreary, and with it trouble came to the Collinses, for the master of the house had a bad fever, which lasted week after week, till, when he rose from his sick bed at last, he was so weak that he could not leave his arm-chair by the fireside, or hold a book long in his hand, or bear little Polly's noise at all, till about Christmas, when he mended rapidly, and was soon able to go to work again. Harry was often a real help to his father and mother now: he ran many errands, bought most of the things that were wanted at the shop, never made a mistake in the change, amused Polly, and kept her out of the way; and, best of all, read his little books and stories to his sick father in the evening, always ending with a chapter in the Testament, which, as his mother declared, 'he read as well as the clergyman.' I am not so sure of this myself, but I tell you as it was told to me.

About this time Mr. Collins's brother, who was a baker, offered to take Jem into his shop, and teach him his trade. His father and mother were glad to accept this kind offer, and the latter set busily to work to get Jem some new clothes made.

We must give up the rabbits now,' she said to her husband, without looking up from her sewing; and I shall not be sorry.' 'Give up the rabbits!' exclaimed Harry, starting to his feet; 'mother!' and he could not utter another word.

Well,' said his mother, 'who is to look after them now Jem's going? They're a good bit of expense one way and another, and the washing they make is past all belief. Mother,' said Harry, again, 'the rabbits make washing!'

'Yes,' said his mother, sharply; 'many's the week you've had four and five clean pinafores; and for all that, half your time you look like nobody's child. I know what you're going to say, that you can look after but I shan't hear of it, for you're too young, and I don't believe they're wholesome either; and in short,' said Mrs. Collins, stopping to take breath, 'the rabbits must be done away with.'

them;

'But not Marion,' said Harry, quietly, though he had a lump in his throat that almost choked him.

His mother was silent for a moment: it flashed across her what Marion was to her little boy, and looking up from her work their eyes met.

'Well, no! I suppose not,' she said, in an undertone, as though talking to herself; and then in her usual voice, which was somewhat loud, she went on to her husband. 'We might sell half-a-dozen of them. I should be glad of the money to get a few things for Jem; and I should like to send a couple to the Vicar, he's been so very kind all through your illness; one ought to go to Mrs. Morrison, and Jem might take another to his uncle.'

'We will send one to the landlord,' said Collins; he was very good about the rent.' "I thought of sending him a basket of apples,' said Mrs. Collins; it was a nice hamper my brother sent us, and maybe he'd like them better than the rabbits.'

The Collinses, from the father down to little Polly, were good-natured people, and Harry listened with the greatest interest.

'I wish I had something to give Miss Grey!' he exclaimed, with a half-sigh; we never hardly send her anything.'

"Well, why don't you give her something?' asked his mother.

'I've got nothing worth giving her, answered Harry: nothing that she'd like.' 'Give her Marion,' said Jem, slily stealing a glance at his little brother.

It is not a bad idea,' said Collins, quietly. 'What do you say to it, Harry?'

Harry was speechless. Give away Marion! his playfellow! his pet! his treasure! Do fathers and mothers give away their little children? Could his father be in earnest? This was Harry's first thought; his next, that he had never heard so cruel a proposal; his next, that in all the wide, wide world, so beautiful a present could not be found for Miss Grey as Marion; his next, that she should have her. He did not raise his eyes from the little book he was reading, or seeming to read, but he asked, in a gruff voice, Can she have the little hutch for Marion to live in?'

'What are you thinking of child?' said