ever
Shall again a-Maying go!"

April pleased her little better:
Now 'twas rain as well as snow;
Every day was wet and wetter,
Drifting, dropping,
Soaking, sopping,
Raining so,
That poor Fanny feared the showers
Would quite drown her precious flowers;
And for what, in May's bright hours,
Could she then a-Maying go?

Now the gay May sun is shining,
Pink and sweet the Mayflowers blow;
And forgetting her repining,
Her complaining
Of the raining
And the snow,
With its fitful, frosty flurries,
Fanny lingers not, nor worries,
But to field and greenwood hurries;
For she must a-Maying go.

FENNO HAYES.

LITTLE MISCHIEF.

XV.

WHAT now? Will this child never be out of hot water? What is Bessie
doing now? I will tell you. She found in one of her mother's drawers a
box; and, on opening it, she found some little round things something
like sugar-plums.

[Illustration]

She began putting the little round things in her mouth, and swallowing
them. They were not quite so pleasant as she had expected, or she would
have taken more. "I wonder what makes them taste so bitter?" thought
Bessie.

She will find that out by and by, to her sorrow.

XVI.

"What makes me feel so?" thought Bessie as she sat in the big arm-chair
in mother's best chamber, rubbing her eyes, and feeling very
uncomfortable.

She had not sat there long, before she began to cry. Her mother, who had
been wondering who could have been meddling with her pill-box, came in.
"Have you been swallowing these pills?" she asked.

[Illustration]

"Yes; but I didn't know they were pills," said Bessie.

"Well, you will be well punished for your fault," said her mother. "The
pills will make you quite sick."

And so it happened.

[Illustration]

THE SEASONS.

MARY.

How I love the blooming Spring,
When the birds so gayly sing!

JOHN.

More the Summer me delights,
With its lovely days and nights.

EMILY.

Autumn is the best of all,
With its fruits for great and small.

RICHARD.

Nay! old Winter is the time!
Jolly then the sleigh-bells' chime!

GRANDMOTHER.

Every season will be bright