ushed up and played at touch-tag,
Which surprised him much, and then:--

_Look at the Picture!!!_

Mischievous Fingers

Pretty little fingers,
Wherefore were they made?
Like ten smart young soldiers,
All in pink arrayed.

Apt and quick obedient
To your lightest thought,
Doing in an instant
Everything they're taught.

'T was for play or study,
Pen to wield or ball;
Kite, top, needle, pencil,
Prompt at parents' call.

Picking, poking, soiling
Costly things and dear,
Wrecking, cracking, spoiling
All that they come near.

Thus 't was with Robert Chivers,
Brandishing a swish,
Broke a vase to shivers
Filled with silver fish.

"Tick, tick" says the Dutch clock.
Robert fain would know
How it's pendulum swinging
Made it's wheels go.

Who not ask? No! foolish
Robert takes a stick,
Pokes and breaks the clock, which
Ceases soon to tick.

"Puff, puff," sighs the bellows.
Robert wants to find,
Yet he will not ask, whence
Comes it's stock of wind.

With a knife upripping,
Finds them void and flat.
Ah! be sure a whipping
Robert caught for that.

The Boy who Played with Fire

Listen about a naughty boy
Who might have been a parent's joy,
But that he had a strong desire
To always meddle with fire.

One day when his mamma went out,
She said "Mind, dear, what you're about:
With your nice books and playthings stay,
And with the fire, oh! do not play."

But as soon as his mamma was gone,
And this bad boy left all alone,
Thought he, "In spite of all ma says,
Now we'll have a glorious blaze.

"No one is by, 't is quickly done,
And oh! 't will be such famous fun."
Quick then about the hearth he strewed
Some scraps of paper and of wood.

Then lighted them and drew them out,
And with them, laughing, ran about.
But soon he changed his merry note--
The flames, alas, had caught his coat,
And every moment, mounting higher,
His body soon was all on fire;
And though he screamed with shriek and shout,
No one came near to put it out:
So it happened, sad to say,
That boy was burned to death that day.

[Page 36]

Wicked Willie

Willie was a wicked boy,
Snubbed his poor old mother;
Willie was a dreadful boy,
Quarrelled with his brother;
Willie was a spiteful boy,
Often pinched his sister,
Once he gave he