me and help me pull him out!"

They tugged away on the line, and then they both fell over backwards.

[Illustration: {ROY CATCHES SOMETHING UNEXPECTED AND UPSETS ALICE.}]

"There he is!" cried Roy. But when they got up and looked, it was not
a trout at all. It was only a piece of a black root that broke off and
gave them a tumble.

Roy tried again, and after a good while he felt another nibble. He
jerked the line out so quickly that the hook caught in the back of
Alice's dress. It pricked her shoulder so that she had half a mind to
cry.

Roy could not get the hook out of her dress, and they went home for
their mother to help them.

Mary laughed at Roy a good deal. She told his uncle James, at
dinner-time, that Roy caught the biggest trout she ever saw, and he
had to come home for his mother to get it off the hook.

L. A. B. C.

[Illustration: {PORTRAIT OF A CHILD, SURROUNDED BY FLOWERS.}]

A BEAR-STORY.

"I know a new bear-story,"
I said to the little folks,
Who surely as the twilight falls,
Begin to tease and coax.

[Illustration: {A BEAR AT THE ZOO.}]

"And did they live in the forest,
In a den all deep and dark?
And were there three?"--"Yes, three," I said,
"But they lived in the park.

"Let's see! Old Jack, the grizzly,
With great white claws, was there;
And a mother bear with thick brown coat,
And Betty, the little bear!

"And Silver-Locks went strolling
One day, in that pretty wood,
With Ninny, the nurse, and all at once
They came where the bears' house stood.

"And without so much as knocking
To see who was at home,
She cried out in a happy voice,
'Old Grizzly, here I come!'

"And thereupon old Grizzly
Began to gaze about;
And the mother bear sniffed at the bars,
And the baby bear peeped out.

"And they thought she must be a fairy,
Though, instead of a golden wand,
She carried a five-cent paper bag
Of peanuts in her hand.

"Old Grizzly his red mouth opened
As though they tasted good;
And the brown bear opened her red mouth
To catch one when she could;

"And Betty, the greedy baby,
Followed the big bears' style,
And held her little fire-red mouth,
Wide open all the while.

"And Silver-Locks laughed delighted,
And thought it wondrous fun,
And fed them pe