mignonette at all, because her
cruel gardener had killed off all the toads?

"A toad's eyes are the only things in nature which could not be
represented without using gold. I fancy that the toad's eyes are the
origin of the superstition about the 'precious jewel in his head.' As to
their being poisonous, as the French peasants say, or making warts, as
the old mammies tell us, that is pure nonsense. I have handled hundreds
of them. Their tongues are as curious as their eyes are beautiful. The
root of the tongue is just behind the under lip, and it folds backward.

"When Mr. Toad sees a fly, he darts his long and active tongue out so
quickly that it is hard to see him do it, and jerks the fly alive down
his wide gullet.

"Do you remember watering Darby and Joan, who have lived twenty years
under our porch, when you were little boys? You thought they seemed to
enjoy a rain so much that you would give them a shower. Poor Darby and
his wife realized the proverb, 'It never rains but it pours.' A gentle,
steady rain was agreeable enough; but you floated them out of house and
home, and I do not think they ever resettled in the same spot.

"There is a charming story about a toad, called Monsieur le Vicomte."

ELM COTTAGE.

BY M. M.

Now is the time when hither and yon
Our city-people run
Seeking a home. And here, close by,
Is the prettiest under the sun.

So dainty it is, so cozy and fresh,
Its walls in a marvellous way
Are covered all over with tapestry
In yellow and green and gray.

The ceiling is frescoed in light and shade,
And the cottage stands so high
That the view extends to the mountains dim,
Whose peaks are lost in the sky.

No window it has, but an open door
Invites one to sweetest rest;
For my wee house, perched on a swaying elm,
Is only an oriole's nest.

HOW DO THEY GROW?

[Illustration: LITTLE JENNIE AND THE GARDENER.]

While the children were waiting for the Professor one bright summer
morning, they overheard through the open window little Jennie asking
John Grant, the gardener, "Where do the flowers come from?"

"Why, don't you see?" said he; "they grow up out of the ground."

"How do they grow?" continued the little questioner, whose curiosity was
clearly on the increase.

Before John could collect his wits sufficiently to frame an answer, the
Professor made his appearance with a pretty rose-bud in his hand.

"Will you n