earnest wander

always

careful

SUNBEAMS.

Sunbeams are the golden children

Of the great and mighty sun;

And he lets them come to see us,
Some in earnest, some in fun.

Then about the world they wander,
And they always try to find

How they may be good and useful,
How they may be sweet and kind.

But the sun is very careful

Lest they should take harm or cold;

So he bids them come home early,
And they do as they are told.

Then he counts them over slowly,

And the smallest one would miss;

Then he blesses them and gives them

Each a rosy good-night kiss.

THE WISE OLD MOUSE.

A wise old mouse went on tiptoe into the kitchen to see if Jane had swept up the crumbs. There, to his surprise, he met Buz, the cat.

"Oh!" said the cat, "this is lucky! Now I shall have a fine dinner."

The mouse saw that he was in danger of being caught, so he said, "Thank you, Mr. Buz; but if I am to dine with you, I should like to put on my red Sunday coat. My old jacket is not good enough."

This amused the cat. He had never

seen the mouse with his red Sunday coat.

"Perhaps he will taste better," thought

Mr. Buz.

"Very well, Mr. Mouse," he

said, "do not be long, for I am hungry. I shall wait for you here."

The mouse at once ran into his hole.

The cat waited, thinking of the good dinner he was going to eat. But the wise old mouse did not come back.

Now, they have a new saying in CatLand: "A mouse in a gray jacket is sweeter than one in a red Sunday coat."

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Come to me, O ye children,

For I hear you at your play,

And the questions that perplexed me

Have vanished quite away.

Come to me, O ye children,

And whisper in my ear

What the birds and the winds are

singing

In your sunny atmosphere.

-Henry W. Longfellow.

Where did Longfellow live?

What did he say about children?

Why do you like Longfellow?

ugly

traveler

fence

THE SQUIRREL AND THE BIRDS.

A little gray squirrel sat on the fence watching the birds eating their supper.

"How ugly you walk," said the squirrel. "You seem to hop up and down."

66

We may not walk as well as others, but we can fly. You spread out your

tail and try to fly, but you do not know how."

"I can run up trees and pick off the nuts. I know how to store the nuts so as to have plenty to eat in the winter."

"We have plenty to eat in winter,"

said the birds.

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When it begins to grow