e needs it most.

"A man's reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill considered
action. The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor
when success is with us, may be the first to throw the stone of malice
when failure settles its cloud upon our heads. The one absolutely
unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that
never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous
is his dog.

"A man's dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and
in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground where the wintry winds
blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his master's
side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer. He will lick the
wounds and sores that come in encounter with the roughness of the
world. He will guard the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a
prince. When all other friends desert, he remains.

"When riches take wings and reputation falls to pieces he is as
constant in his love, as the sun on its journey through the heavens. If
misfortune drives the master forth an outcast in the world, friendless
and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of
accompanying him to guard against danger, to fight against his enemies,
and when the last scene of all comes, and death takes the master in his
embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no matter if all
other friends pursue their way, there by his grave side will the noble
dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad but open in alert
watchfulness, faithful and true even in death."

"There is but one drawback to a dog's friendship,
It does not last long enough."

--_Van Dyke._

THE REDSTARTS.

CORDELIA J. STANWOOD, ELLSWORTH, ME.

Reprints from Nature and Culture.

The redstart is one of the most beautiful of the warblers. It flutters
through the branches like the sunbeams through the dancing leaves;
again, it suggests a darting flame or a gorgeous autumn-leaf tossed
hither and thither by the wind.

The redstart winters in the tropics--Mexico, South America, and the
West Indies--but nests in almost every part of North America east of
the Rockies. The female models an exquisite statant, increment nest,
well set down in the crotch of a tree, but the kind of a tree selected
and the materials used vary in different localities.

The most beautiful nest I ever found was located sixteen feet from the