"He never did such a thing before," said the mother. "But the blind man may be ill. We will wait until morning."

Early in the morning the father went to look for Peter. The mother watched at the door.

Soon she saw a crowd of people coming. In front was the father carrying Peter in his arms. The men who were with them raised their hats and shouted.

"Peter

Peter kept out the sea," they cried. has saved the land. He is a brave boy! He is a hero!'

Tears of joy ran down the father's face, as he gave little Peter to the mother. And how tenderly the mother kissed her boy!

There was nothing too good for Peter that day, nor for many days after. He had done the bravest thing that a boy could do, and had saved the land from the hungry sea.

Ever after this, Peter was called the Little Hero of Holland.

Lazy sheep, pray tell me why

In the pleasant fields you lie,
Eating grass and daisies white
From the morning till the night.
Everything has work to do;
None are idle-why are you?

"Nay, my little master, nay;
Do not serve me so, I pray;

Do you see the wool that grows

On my back to make your clothes?
Very cold would children be,

If they had no wool from me.

"True, it seems a pleasant thing, Nipping daisies in the spring;

But what chilly nights I pass

On the cold and dewy grass!

Oft I pick my scanty fare

Where the ground is brown and bare.

"Then the farmer comes at last,

When the merry spring is past;

Cuts my woolly fleece away
For your coat in wintry day.
Little master, this is why

In the pleasant field I lie."

-JANE TAYLOR.

al'most

REX AND THE QUAIL

quails

it self' au'tumn roost bro'ken bound

rain'y Sep tem'ber live

Mr. White put down his paper. May climbed into his lap, and Edwin perched on the arm of his chair. It was almost eight o'clock and bed time, but story time came first.

"Please tell us a true story this time, father," said May.

"Tell us about something that happened when you were a boy," said Edwin.

"When I was boy," said Mr. White, "we lived in the country. We raised great fields of wheat and corn and rye.

"There were

some birds that built their nests on the ground in the grain fields. They were quails. Quails are large birds. But when they lie close to the ground, they can hardly be seen; for they are gray and brown, the color of the earth itself.

66

Quails do not fly south in the autumn, like most birds; and these quails lived in our fields all winter. When it was very cold, they would roost on the hay in the barn.

"When I was seven years old, I had a little dog named Rex. Rex and I knew where the rabbits made their holes, and the trees where the squirrels lived. The quails were hard to find; but once we found a quail's nest full of white eggs, and once we saw a mother quail between the rows of corn.

"One rainy day in September, when I was helping mother in the scratching at the door.

kitchen, we heard a

I opened the door,

and there stood Rex with a live quail in his mouth.

"He walked over to the table where mother was at work and looked up in her face. She took the quail out of his mouth and found that its leg was broken.

"We bound the leg, and tied it around with