SPRING.

FOR LITTLE M. H. OF L.

"SPRING, where are you tarrying now? Why are you so long unfelt? Winter went a month ago,

When the snows began to melt."

"I am coming, little maiden,
With the pleasant sunshine laden,
With the honey for the bee;
With the blossom for the tree;
With the flower and with the leaf;
Till I come the time is brief.

"I am coming, I am coming!
Hark, the little bee is humming;
See, the lark is soaring high
In the bright and sunny sky;
And the gnats are on the wing; -
Little maiden, now is Spring!

"See, the yellow catkins cover All the slender willows over;

And on mossy banks so green
Starlike primroses are seen;
And their clustering leaves below
White and purple violets blow.

"Hark! the little lambs are bleating;
And the cawing rooks are meeting
In the elms a noisy crowd;
And all birds are singing loud;
And the first white butterfly
In the sun goes flitting by.

"Little maiden, look around thee ! Green and flowery fields surround thee; Every little stream is bright;

All the orchard trees are white;
And each small and waving shoot
Has for thee sweet flower or fruit.

"Turn thy eyes to earth and heaven! God for thee the Spring has given; Taught the birds their melodies;

Clothed the earth, and clear'd the skies; For thy pleasure or thy food,

Pour thy soul in gratitude!

-

So mayst thou 'mid blessings dwell -
Little maiden, fare thee well!"

THE MOUSE.

ONE day, as Willy was amusing himself very quietly in the nursery, which did not often happen, for he liked running about much better than sitting still, he heard a noise as if something was scratching against the wall.

"What is that?" said he to Ann, going close up to her, and seeming rather frightened. Ann looked round, and so did Willy; when they saw a little mouse peeping out of a small hole in one corner of the room. "Oh, what a pretty thing it is!" cried Willy; but the instant he spoke the mouse disappeared.

"The sound of your voice frightened him," said Ann; "and he is gone back into the hole."

"Oh, what foolish things mice and birds are," said Willy, they always fancy you are going to hurt them. Do you think it will not come back again?" "We must wait and see," said Ann.

But they waited in vain; and though Willy was quite quiet, and kept his eyes fixed upon the hole, no mouse was to be seen. At last Ann said that she would go and fetch a piece of cheese, and lay it close to the hole; and that if the mouse smelt the cheese,

he would come back to eat it. So she fetched some cheese, and placed it by the hole; and in a short time the mouse popped out his tiny head, and hearing no noise, he ventured a little farther, and at last came quite out of the hole, and began nibbling the cheese.

"How he likes cheese," whispered Willy: “I wish I could catch him and play with him a little while."

Ann then took up a broom very gently, and before the mouse could see her, went and stopped up the hole with it. As soon as the mouse heard the noise he left the cheese to run back and hide himself in his hole; and when he found the hole was stopped up he was sadly frightened. He ran round and round the room, to find some place to save himself in ; but no other hole could he see.

"Poor little mouse," said Willy," you need not be so frightened; I shall not hurt you; I only want to play with you for a little while, and then I will let you go back to your hole. Does he live in that hole Ann ?"

"He lives inside the wall," replied Ann, "with a great many other mice; and he has just made that hole to come out at."

"How can such a little tiny thing as that make a hole in the wood?"

"He does it with his teeth," said Ann, "mice can gnaw through almost anything."

"Do try to catch it, Ann; I cannot."

Ann tried, but could not for a long while either; at last she threw her apron over it, and caught it up

in the apron. Then Willy came to look at it, and the poor little animal panted for breath, it was so much frightened and so tired of running.

"I will fetch it the cheese," said Willy; and he ran for the piece of cheese which the mouse had been nibbling; but the mouse would not touch it.

"Poor little thing!" exclaimed Willy, "perhaps he has got a papa and mamma at his home in the wall, and he wants to get back to them." And he stroked the mouse, and said, "We will soon let you go."

Willy and Ann had made such a noise running about the room after the mouse, that Betty the house maid came to ask whether anything was the matter. "Only this little mouse," said Willy, "that we

have caught."

"A mouse!" exclaimed Betty, "Oh, mercy on me!" and she began to scream.

"Why, what is the matter with Betty?" said Willy to Ann.

"She is afraid of a mouse," replied Ann, laughing. "Oh, she is only making fun; how can a great woman like her be afraid of such a bit of a thing as this poor little mouse?"

"It's no fun at all," cried Betty, "I can't bear a mouse: I never could."

"And why do not you like a poor little mouse?" "Poor little mouse!" cried Betty. "I tell you it is a horrid ugly thing, and I wonder Ann will allow you to go near it. It would bite you, I am sure, if Ann did not hold it so close in her apron."