pursue,
With our schoolmates and friends ever hearty and true!

When we come to the place of the jolly long slide,
With a run and a jump o'er the ice we will glide:
Look out for the engine! keep off of the rail!
Don't you hear the steam-whistle? make way for the mail!

We laugh at cold weather; we laugh at mishaps;
We will slide till we're warm from our shoes to our caps;
And the quick bounding blood as it mantles and glows
Shall paint all our cheeks like the fresh, ruddy rose.

So we'll keep the pot boiling; now up the long slide,
And then down on the other that runs by its side,--
There's nothing like _tiring_, there's nothing like _rest_,--
Till the broad yellow sun is far down in the west.

GEORGE BENNETT.

ELLEN'S CURE FOR SADNESS.

OUR little Ellen is never in a good temper when she comes down late to
breakfast, and finds the things cleared away. First she complains that
her bowl of bread and milk is too hot; and then, when Aunt Alice pours
in some water to cool it, Ellen says, "It is now too cold."

I think the fault is in herself. She is five years old,--quite old
enough to know that she ought to get up when the first bell rings, and
come down to breakfast. She knows she is in fault. She has missed papa's
kiss, for he had to leave home early on business; and this adds to her
grief.

But, after she had eaten her bread and milk on the day I am speaking of,
she asked Aunt Alice what she should do to cure herself of her
"sadness." "I think that the best plan, in such cases, is to try to do
some good to somebody," said Aunt Alice. "The best way to cheer
yourself is to cheer another."

[Illustration]

This made Ellen thoughtful; and she stood at the window, looking out on
the street, long after Aunt Alice had left the room. It was a cold,
cloudy day, and there were flakes of snow in the air. Ellen stood
watching a poor woman at the corner, who was trying to sell
shoe-strings; but nobody stopped to buy of her.

"That poor woman looks sad and discouraged," said Ellen to herself:
"she must be almost as sad as I am. How can I comfort her? Why, by
buying some of her shoestrings, of course."

Ellen had some money of her own put away in a box. She ran and got it,
then, putting on her bonnet, went out and bought a whole bunch of
shoestrings. Then, wit