NE

April 1st.

APRIL.

EXT April comes with shine and showers,
Green mantling fields and opening flowers,
Loud-singing birds, low-humming bees,
And the white blossomed orchard trees;
And that which busy March did sow
Begins in April warmth to grow.

April 20.

CHILDREN PRAYING.

N the quiet nursery chambers,

IN

Snowy pillows yet unpressed,

See the forms of little children
Kneeling white-robed for their rest;
All in the quiet nursery chambers,
While the dusky shadows creep,
Hear the voices of the children,
"Now I lay me down to sleep."

Anon.

Anon.

CUCKOO.

HE cuckoo sat in the old pear-tree,

Cuckoo, cuckoo, nought cared he.
The cuckoo flew over a house-top nigh,
"Dear, are you at home, for here am I?
Cuckoo, cuckoo, here am I."

he

Lilliput Levee.

N°

April 4th.

ALICE MAY.

O sunny home had Alice May,
When flowers were in the bloom;

She dwelt amidst the city's crowds
Within a dingy room.

Her mother's wealth, a bed of straw,

In a dark corner laid;

In summer on the dusty streets

The little Alice played.

C. P. Craig.

April 5th.

SISTER SNOWDROP.

ISTER Snowdrop died before we were born,

SISTER

She came like a bride in a snowy morn.

Who told you about her?

Little Primrose there
Cannot do without her.

Oh, so sweetly fair!

George MacDonald.