in' out here day after day,
In this kinder easy careless way,
But an hour out here's better'n a day--
Up thar in the city.

As for that, just look at the flowers aroun',
A-peepin' their heads up all over the groun,'
And the fruit a-bendin' the trees 'way down;
You don't find sech things as these in town--
Or, ruther, in the city.

As I said afore, sech things as these--
The flowers, the birds, and the bumble bees,
And a-livin' out here among the trees,
Where you can take your ease and do 's you please--
Make it better'n in the city.

Now, all the talk don't 'mount to snuff
'Bout this kinder life a-being rough,
And I'm sure it's plenty good enough,
And 'tween you and me, 'taint as tough--
As livin' in the city.

--_Selected._

* * * * *

"The woods were made for hunters of dreams,
The streams for fishers of song;
To those who hunt thus, go gunless for game,
The woods and the streams belong."

[Illustration: A SOLITARY GIANT THAT WILL SOON DISAPPEAR.]

DAME NATURE'S RECIPE (APRIL).

Take a dozen little clouds
And a patch of blue;
Take a million raindrops,
As many sunbeams, too.

Take a host of violets,
A wandering little breeze,
And myriads of little leaves
Dancing on the trees.

Then mix them well together,
In the very quickest way,
Showers and sunshine, birds and flowers,
And you'll have an April day.

--_Selected._

THE GROUSE.

HATTIE WASHBURN, GOODWIN, S.D.

"The grouse is a very fine bird." The sentence leaped out of the
conversation and caught my wandering attention. With a quick smile I
looked toward our rather corpulent guest across the table. I love
birds, and a word in their praise ever fills me with pleasure, not
alone because one delights in the praise of whatever he cherishes, but
because the expression of such a sentiment indicates that the speaker
is one who will befriend the birds or at least leave them unmolested.

"Take them when they are properly prepared," our guest continued, and I
lowered my eyes to my plate in disgust. He appreciated their value only
as a palatable dish to feed his fat body or possibly as a target for
his gun.

Such is the general attitude, it would seem, toward the grouse family,
from the ruffled grouse of t