e could see none of them her
wrath knew no bounds. Young Sandy and Jamie, her two boys, were
discovered under the cart, and when dragged out and cuffed, declared
that Elsie and Duncan had beaten them, and then run as fast as they
could down the road; that they had called as loudly as they could,
but were unable to make any one hear; and plenty more tales, that
their mother knew were made up to shield themselves.

Having called them every bad name she could think of, and dealt them
some stinging blows, she flew along the road to seek them. The road
wound about pretty much, and as they were nowhere in sight, she
concluded they must have gone by it. She came back furiously angry
and disappointed, and continued her search till nightfall in the
immediate neighbourhood of the croft, but without success. Sandy and
Jamie were not to be envied that night.

Thus it happened that the police were quite baffled in their
endeavours to find the children, and after they had fallen into Mrs.
Donaldson's hands the description given was not accurate.

(_To be continued._)

THE SONG OF A LITTLE BIRD.

Though I'm but a small bird,
I may often be heard
These evenings in dreary November,
And my sisters and cousins
Come listening by dozens,
To songs they can learn and remember.

No nightingale I,
Yet when light's in the sky
It seems to go through me and through me
Till I'm overflowing
With music, scarce knowing
What wonder is happening to me.

Oh, Spring-time is sweet,
When loving birds meet,
But Autumn's the season for singing,
When all the dear swallows
Come out from the hollows,
And over the ocean are winging.

We stay where we are,
While they voyage afar,
But the parting leaves _us_ tender-hearted,
And we sing the more clearly
Of those we love dearly
When scores of our friends have departed.

A. M.

A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE DYKES OF HOLLAND.

Of all the wonderful countries in the world, and there are many, I do
not think there is any one half so wonderful as Holland. We have a
saying here that "God made the country, but man made the town," but
in Holland it is said "God made the world, but man made Holland," and
"God made the sea, but man made the shore."

Ages ago Holland was a wild desolate place in the midst of seas and
lakes, with here and there a forest of trees. The first people to
settle here were some German tribes,