will let me go," said Bobby, "I'll see that the boys don't hurt
you any more."

"I felt pretty sure that we'd converted you," said the professor; "and
I'm going to let you go back and preach to the heathen, as the grown
people say. You can see for yourself how much harm a boy can do if he
doesn't think."

Bobby felt that he was free, and scrambled to his feet, rubbing first
one arm and then the other to take the prickly feeling out of them. The
frogs had vanished; there was only the blue sky, the waving pine tree,
and the quiet pond.

"Well!" said Bobby with a long breath of amazement.

"Kerjunk!" came the warning voice of a frog, somewhere near the water's
edge.

"Yes sir, I'll remember," said Bobby in the meekest of meek tones.

M. A. L. LANE

A SONG FOR APRIL

List! list! The buds confer.
This noonday they've had news of her;
The south bank has had views of her;
The thorn shall exact his dues of her;
The willows adream
By the freshet stream
Shall ask what boon they choose of her.

Up! up! The world's astir;
The would-be green has word of her;
Root and germ have heard of her,
Coming to break
Their sleep and wake
Their hearts with every bird of her.

See! see! How swift concur
Sun, wind, and rain at the name of her,
A-wondering what became of her;
The fields flower at the flame of her;
The glad air sings
With dancing wings
And the silvery shrill acclaim of her.

CHARLES G. D. ROBERTS

[Illustration: ALEXANDRA THE QUEEN MOTHER]

HOW THE CRICKETS BROUGHT GOOD FORTUNE

My friend Jacques went into a baker's shop one day to buy a little cake
which he had fancied in passing. He intended it for a child whose
appetite was gone, and who could be coaxed to eat only by amusing him.
He thought that such a pretty loaf might tempt even the sick. While he
waited for his change, a little boy six or eight years old, in poor but
perfectly clean clothes, entered the baker's shop.

[Illustration: UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO]

"Ma'am," said he to the baker's wife, "Mother sent me for a loaf of
bread." The woman took from the shelf a four-pound loaf, the best one
she could find, and put it into the arms of the little boy.

My friend Jacques then first observed the thin and thoughtful face of
the little fellow. It contrasted strongly with the round, open
countenance of the large loaf, of which he was taking