we should come, at times, upon a row of little osierpeelers, seated beneath the shade of some picturesque shed, all busy with their hands stripping the green bark from the withes; all chatting and laughing behind the tall rows of white peeled twigs. We should find children traversing the green meadows for violets and cowslips, and primroses, to bring in glowing basketsful to the town. We should encounter little girls in happy companies, employed in nursing their infant brothers and sisters; strolling about in fields and lanes, and dells, by the running stream, and under the pleasant trees, finding out a thousand wonders. We should see, as the season advanced, companies of boys gathering stones from the grassfields, ere shut up till the hay-harvest; and weeding the fresh green corn, where, ever and anon, they come upon the nest of the partridge, the rail, the lark, or the yellow-wagtail, and often find and capture the downy leveret. We should find them in gardens and shrubberies, weeding beds of flowers and culinary herbs, and carrying away dead leaves and the cuttings of trees for the gardeners. We should find them, in summer, active in the hay and cornfield, keeping watch, armed with a rod of office tipped

with a piece of scarlet cloth, over geese and turkies with their broods: we should descry them gathering berries on the sunny heaths, and mushrooms from the old pastures. In the autumn, the acorns come pattering down from the oaks for them to gather; the chesnut and the triangular beech-nut lie plentifully in the woods; and the nuts exhibit their tawny clusters for their eager hands. They are gleaners abroad, and thrashers of their little harvest at home; helping their mothers to spread out a sheet on the greensward of the open common, and winnowing their little heap of grain in the free winds of heaven. Happy creatures of a happy country! for to them the toil, and the heart-ache, and the anxious fears, that oppress and spoil the spirit of life in the hearts of almost all the populous tribes of this kingdom, exist not; they see but greenness and sunshine, they enjoy but peace and a most blissful ignorance of evil and real hardship; and yet, could they but have a peep into our horrible places of manufacturing torture, and see the positive woe, and be made to feel the arbitrary laying waste of the minds and frames of our town children, how tenfold more happy must their lot seem!

THE TWO KITTENS.

BY THE AUTHOR OF "COTTAGE POETRY.”

T

HERE were once two little kittens

In a family I knew,

And their history, young readers,

May be of use to you:

When they were born the people praised

Their color, shape, and features,

And said (what many say of you),

"What pretty little creatures!"

As they grew larger they improved,
By warmth, and care, and food,
But one grew very beautiful,

The other very good;

The good one, searching through the house

For mice, would never tire;

The other all the morning long
Lay sleeping by the fire.

Now this you know was waste of time,
Neglecting thus her duty,

Her mistress soon begin to think

But lightly of her beauty;

The servants soon neglected her,

Nor their anger sought to bridle,

Saying "handsome is which handsome does, "No dinner for the idle."

To look upon the pretty one
Their patience shortly tired,

And her less handsome sister soon
Began to be admired:

Her courage, cleverness, and strength,

Increased by daily action,

And she gave to all about the house
The "utmost satisfaction."

At length Madame declared that cats
Were not like toys to play with,

And as one could do the duty well
One must be made away with;
The servants highly pleased at that,
The fireplace disencumber,
And drown'd the little idle puss
As being useless lumber.

A pretty face to look upon
Is better than a plain one,
But talents form our character

And we must try to gain one; We came into this world to serve Our neighbor, friend, or brother, By doing many duties;—not

To look at one another.