My restless sunbeam bright
Is hidden from her shoulders to her feet,
And tucked away in slumber soft and sweet.

MORNING.

A merry, white-robed figure at my side,
A laughing face, with blue eyes opened wide.
Red lips that kiss me in the early dawn
And tell me fast enough that night is gone.
Ripe and ready for play,
In the early morning gray,
Restless again are the small hands and feet,
Silent no longer, little lips so sweet.

Where is the sunbeam like my Gracie's eyes?
Blue as the blue of summer's bluest skies!
What sweeter wakening could be mine than this
The soft "Good morning!" of my daughter's kiss?
And thus each hour of day
Girl Gracie claims for play
Till comes the "Sand-man" with the twilight hour
And play has vanished 'neath his mystic power.

A MAGPIE AND HER NEST.

The magpie is a very handsome bird. He knows he is handsome, too. He
has a fine broad tail. There is a band of purple near the end of each
feather, and the end is green and purple.

He walks about with this handsome tail perked in the air. He does not
drag it in the dirt, not he!

He is a bright bird, too. He can learn to talk, and he is full of
pretty and naughty tricks. He is a--thief! He steals eggs from other
birds' nests. He strikes his bill through the egg and walks off with
it. And he does a worse thing than that. He steals the young birds and
eats them.

[Illustration: MAGPIE AND NEST.]

But the Magpie is very careful to build her nest so nobody shall steal
her eggs. In the first place she always builds on a high tree. She
chooses a tree that has a long smooth trunk, that the boys cannot
climb easily. How do you suppose she knows about mischievous boys? She
must make a study of boys.

She builds her nest of dry sticks and mud. She carpets it with wool
and fine roots. (Birds can always find plenty of wool sticking on the
bushes in sheep pastures. There is vegetable wool too, like the wool
on the growing ferns.) Then she makes a roof of sticks; she leaves
open a small round door at the side. So you see it is not easy for
boys or birds to steal her eggs.

Magpies like bright glittering things like silver spoons and rings.
They often steal them and hide them in their nests.

This Magpie is a European bird. There is a beautiful red Magpie that
lives in China.

[Illustration: MARY AND ANNIE FEED FLUFFY-