many games, one of which is as follows: Two little girls stoop down opposite each other while singing some queer verses, one asking questions, the other answering. Finally one asks the other to lend her a jug, to which the reply is made, that it hasn't any cork. Then they both commence hopping toward each other like frogs. Each tries to hop so that when she reaches the other she may make her lose her balance.

EDUCATION AND DRESS.

The children of wealthy people have a governess, or a tutor, or they go to a private school. After drinking a cup of coffee early in the morning, they go to school at about seven o'clock. They come home at ten for breakfast. An hour later they are back in school again. At one o'clock, or a little after, a servant brings some light refreshment, such as milk or fruit, and then they continue their study until four o'clock.

The boys and girls who attend the public schools are taught separately; usually by priests or nuns. Boys study about the same things as they would if they were in this country; but embroidery and etiquette are considered the two things most necessary for girls. Many of the girls also learn to play the guitar, which is the favorite instrument in Cuba.

Little girls are dressed just like the girls of the United States. As they grow older, they wear the Spanish mantilla, a head-dress of white or black lace, and they always carry a fan. The boys of the lower classes wear the chamareta, a costume consisting only of a shirt and trousers, held in place by a belt. The shirt hangs outside the trousers, and has one pocket on the breast for a handkerchief, with several others around the bottom. Think how many marbles, strings, and other valuables can be carried in a whole row of pockets!

CUBAN CUSTOMS.

Cubans eat very little meat.

They live largely on fruits and ducks, or other fowls. Eggs are rarely used for food. As

the country is so warm that milk and cream are not easily kept, while ice is very expensive, butter is made with difficulty. The milkman drives his cows from house to house every morning, and milks on the spot as much as is required at each place.

If a Cuban boy should come to tell us what he does all day in his Southern home, he would be apt to speak of driving in a volante. This is a high, two-wheeled carriage, with shafts sixteen feet long and wheels six yards in circumference. It is very springy and comfortable when one is riding over the rough roads, and the Cubans are proud of their national carriage. It is drawn either by one or two horses, one of which the driver rides. The horses are thin, looking as if they received little care. In fact, this is the condition of all the domestic animals, including dogs, cows, and chickens.

The Cubans are Roman Catholics, and most of the girls are dedicated to the Virgin Mary. On Saint's day, they wear white dresses and blue sashes, blue and white being the colors of the Virgin. After Thursday noon of Holy Week, the week before Easter, no carriages are allowed on the streets, except those of physicians, until Saturday at midnight. During this time the streets are full of processions, in honor of the saints. Great numbers of children take part in these processions, the girls being dressed in the colors of the Virgin, and wearing wreaths of flowers or long white veils.

OTHER CUBAN CHILDREN.

Besides the true Cubans, there are many negroes on the island, and some Chinese. If Cuba were a cold country, the little negro children might suffer, for they wear very little clothing, and the houses are not very warm. Many of their homes are merely huts, the rude frames being covered with palm leaves or bark. The soil in some parts of the island is of a reddish color, and the dust flies in clouds. Often it is possible to see whole families, their houses, and everything about them, turned a dingy brick color by this dust.

Sometimes negro children are employed as attendants upon the white children of the wealthier classes. Then they have a beautiful time. They have no hard work to do, simply spending their time in amusing the little ones in their care.

care.

Taking care of the sugar-cane is done almost entirely by the negroes, and the children begin to work at this while very young. The making of sugar is a great industry in Cuba, and while the sugar-cane is hardy, it has to be cultivated with Their old-fashioned ways of farming would appear quite amusing to boys and girls who are used to seeing all kinds of machinery. The crooked branch of a tree is used for a plough. The sugar-cane is then planted in rows, and must be hoed and weeded until it is high enough to shade its own roots. Then, after it is ripe, it must be cut and made into molasses and sugar, so there is plenty of work for the negro boys, although they are lazy; and like some boys not so far south, they are ready to shirk all they can.

A peculiar Cuban custom is the giving of food to the very poor on Saturday. On this day, every family is supplied witi. a quantity of small rolls of bread, especially baked for the purpose, and one is given to every man, woman, or child asking for it. In this way many a child is kept from going hungry, for before night he is given rolls enough to last most of the coming week.

COFFEE.

MORNING TALK.

Did you know that two articles of food which were on your breakfast table to-day took a long journey over the ocean before they came to you?

The coffee and the sugar both came from the island we are hearing so much about to-day-Cuba.

All the coffee and sugar used does not come from there, but a part of it does.

Do you know what the coffee is made of? What does it look like when bought by the pound or package? Where do the little brown berries come from? (Sketch a coffee tree on board or show picture of the tree.) These berries grow on a tree that grows to be about twenty feet high. It has smooth, dark, pointed leaves. It has pretty white blossoms which grow in clusters out of the stem around the branches.

When the flowers are gone and the fruit comes, it looks something like a cherry. It changes from red to a deep purple when ripe. There are two coffee berries in each cherry.

When it is ripe it is placed on mats in the sun and allowed to dry. The outside part is then taken away and the berries are again dried. They are then put in sacks to be sent to other countries.

The berries must then be roasted and ground into powder before your mother can make a cup of coffee. Do you know how she does this? Some of the coffee you have in your home may have been picked by the little Cuban children of whom we have been learning.

A SLEEPY FAMILY.

In a tiny palace,

Quite too small for you,
A thousand little creatures
Doze the winter through.
When the ripe nuts patter,
Off to bed they creep,
Huddled close together
Till the show drops peep.
Lazy, did you call them?
No, I've never seen,
Busier little workers,

Tho' their mother is a Queen.

But she always taught them
That they must not shirk,
And the live-long summer
They were hard at work;

Thro' the fields of clover,
Thro' the lovely wood,
They were carrying honey,
Like Red Riding Hood.
So you must not blame them,
Tired little things,

If each wee brown worker
Folds at last its wings,
Warm and snugly nestled
In their sweet, sweet home,
In their cosy little house
Till the show drops come.

(Permission of Flanagan, Publisher.)

-From Nameless Stories.

PLANTS AND THEIR PARTNERS.

Did you know that some plants had to have partners to carry on their business? What do you think is the work or business of a plant? Yes, to make seeds. And we have found that the stamens and pistils of a flower are the most important parts of the flower, because the plant needs them to produce seeds.

It can get along without the calyx or petals, but not without the seed box or the pollen. The stamens, you remember, carry little cases full of pollen, and at the bottom of the pistil is a little case full of seed germs.

Now the pollen must reach the seed germs down in that little box, else they will never grow to be seeds. And if there were no new seeds we would soon have no plants at all. So you see that is why the stamen and pistil have such an important work to do.

It is not a difficult thing for the pollen to reach the seed box when the pistils and stamens are both in the one flower. But sometimes this is not the case. The pistils are in one flower or plant and the stamens in another, and then there must be a messenger to carry the pollen from the stamens to the plants that have the pistils.