little children rested from play,

Cheering the hours with childish chat,
Now laughing at this or shouting at that,
Till a golden pear fell straight in Fred's hat.

"I'm lucky," he cried as he hastened to eat
The mellow pear so juicy and sweet;
"If I tried for a week, that couldn't be beat."

Then Tom and Jenny and Mary spread
Their hats and aprons wide, and said,
"We can catch pears as well as Fred."

Then long and patient they sat, and still,
Hoping a breeze from over the hill
Their laps with the golden fruit would fill.

Till, weary of waiting, Tom said with a sneer,
"I could gather a _bushel_ of pears, 'tis clear,
While idly we _wait_ for a _windfall_ here."

Then up the tree he sprang, and the power
Of his sturdy arm soon sent a shower
Of yellow fruit as a golden dower.

It was long ago, that August day
When four little children rested from play
Under the pear trees far away.

And the children, older and wiser now,
With furrows of care on either brow,
Have not forgotten the lesson, I trow--

The lesson they learned on that August day,
That for having our wishes the surest _way_
Is to _work_, and in _earnest_, without _delay_.

THE CAVE OF BENTON'S RIDGE.

The cave was a large opening in a ledge of rocks, about half a mile
from the village of M----, and had for years been a favorite resort
for the boys on the holidays.

'Twas at the close of school, on a bright June day, when, with a rush
and a shout, out came a bevy of boys from the school-house, and over
the wall with a bound were half a dozen before the rest had emerged
from the open door. The first ones took their way across the fields to
the cave, and had thrown themselves down on the rock at the entrance,
and were busily talking, when the last comers arrived.

"We've planned to have a time Saturday; if Miss Walters will take the
botany class for a walk, we'll come here and have supper, and go home
by moonlight," said Fred Manning. "How does that strike you?"

"Count me in," said Phil Earle. "I second the motion," said Arthur
Ames. "Where shall we go to walk?" said another; "this is nearly far
enough for some of the girls."

"Pooh! no! we can get some nice pitcher-plants, if we go to Eaton's
meadows; we haven't been there for ever so long," said Phil.

All agreed it would be fun, and Phil was deputized to ask Miss
Walters