thorns, and many hurt-ful weeds,
That spring in e-ven good-ly ground
And plant-ed thick with choic-est seeds;

Though in our hearts, how-e-ver taught
And trained to guard them-selves from sin,
The good is mixed with evil thought
Our en-e-my has sown there-in,

God's plant-ing shall not be o'er-thrown
By world-ly weeds that cling a-bout
His corn; and what He hath not sown
Shall in His time be root-ed out.

Then, that our lives may yield their fruit,
Still let it be our con-stant prayer,
That God from out our hearts will root
All seeds He hath not plant-ed there.

[Illustration]

[Illustration: THE BUT-TER-FLY.]

THE BUT-TER-FLY.

A yel-low But-ter-fly one day,
Grown tired of play and tired of fly-ing,
Up-on a this-tle blos-som grey
With out-spread wings was i-dly ly-ing.

The stur-dy bees went hum-ming by,
Draw-ing sweet ho-ney from the clo-ver,
Nor stir-red the yel-low But-ter-fly,
For he was but an i-dle ro-ver.

Two lit-tle girls, named Anne and May,
Came by with mirth and laugh-ter ring-ing,
Anne ran to seize the in-sect gay--
May fol-low-ed fast and ceased her sing-ing.

"Oh! dar-ling An-nie, let it be,
Your touch will rob its plumes of beau-ty;
And God, who made both you and me,
Has taught us kind-ness is a du-ty."

"GO A-WAY, RO-VER!"

"You big black dog, go, go a-way!
I will not let you bite
My lit-tle pet; it can-not play,
You gave it such a fright!

"I think you want to eat it up
Be-cause it is so small,
But if you dare to touch my pup
For help I mean to call;

"And then pa-pa will bring a stick,
And make you run a-way;
So, Ro-ver, you had best go quick,
And leave us here to play!"

* * * * *

Why, Ro-ver, is quite good and tame--
You need not be a-fraid;
He on-ly wants to have a game,
You sil-ly lit-tle maid!

[Illustration: In sum-mer time, a-long our coasts.
The Mack-a-rel swarm in count-less hosts.]

[Illustration: We all at Mon-keys love to gaze,
And watch their fun-ny tricks and ways.]

[Illustration: A bird so fool-ish is the Nod-dy,
It may be caught by a-ny-bo-dy.]

[Illustration: The harm-less Newt is to be seen
In stag-nant ponds, with duck-weed green.]

[Illustration:"GO AWAY, ROVER!"]

[Illustration: LUCY AND ARTHUR.]

[Illustration]

THE RUSH PA-RA-SOL.

"Oh, come to the brook, sis-ter Kate,
Oh, come with me, Het-ty and Gus,
Where rush-es,