e must all be sailing!"
Sorrowful they that they could not wait,
But they were good darlings 'tis right to state,
Duty was ever prevailing!
And so they embarked in their paper boat,
And soon on the sea were again afloat,
A merry cheer rang from each childish throat,
Tho' tears down their cheeks were trailing!
The bright little Fairy cried, waving her hand,
"Come soon again, darlings, to Buttercup Land!"

At last they came to their native shore,
Nellie and Flo and Dan did,
Noticing what they'd not noticed before,
That beautiful too was their native shore,
Better it is to be candid!
Then one to the other remarked, "I say
I think that the sun must be hot to-day!
I've been fast asleep, and sailed far away,
Where I on an Island landed!"
They laughed for they lay, gather'd flow'rs in each hand,
Mid buttercups sweet as in Buttercup Land!

E. Oxenford.

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"TEASING NED."

Such a terrible tease was Ned! Mother's patience lasted longer than any
one else's, but even _she_ was perhaps not altogether sorry when
holidays were over and the boys were safely back at boarding-school. He
teased the cats and the dogs and the chickens, teased the servants
terribly with his mess and pranks; teased his bigger brother George, and
more than all teased his good little sister Lizzie. "Lizababuff," she
called herself, which was as near as her wee mouth could get to
Elizabeth. George was something of a tease too, if the truth must be
owned, only, beside Ned, people didn't notice him so much. Yet tease as
they might, by hanging her dolls high out of reach in the walnut-tree,
setting her dear black kitty afloat on the pond in a box, or laughing at
her when she failed to catch little birds by putting salt on their
tails, or any other way, and they had a great many, Lizzie never sulked;
she forgave them directly, and wherever the boys played, in garden,
orchard, or paddock, Lizzie's little fat face and white sun-bonnet could
always be seen close by.

A very favorite place with the children was the paddock gate; here they
would often swing for hours or amuse themselves by watching anything
that might come along the road. Not much traffic passed that way, to be
sure, but knowing every one in the village, they seemed to find enough
to interest them.

"Here comes Tom Crippy with two baskets," cried Ned, as th