kes, and perched upon her hand. Oh, how
delighted Helen was to see him! The first thing she did was to give him
some seeds to eat; for she knew he must be half starved.

"You dear little venturesome thing," she said. "You wanted to see the
world, didn't you? But why couldn't you wait for warmer weather? You
have given me a dreadful fright. Come into the house now and be
contented, and next summer you shall go out with me."

JANE OLIVER.

[Illustration]

THREE LITTLE CHICKS BORN IN A SHOE.

THREE little chickens,
Born in a shoe,
When the freshet came,
Didn't know what to do:
One went on deck,
Just to watch the weather,
While down below
The others sat together.

"Oh, what shall we do!
Mother is not here:
Captain there on deck!
Oh, what cheer? what cheer?"
"Water everywhere,
Far as I can see!
But the wind is fair;
Let us easy be."

"Oh, we want our mother,"
Cried the other two:
"Stop that!" said the captain,--
Captain of the shoe:
"We are lucky chickens
In our little boat;
Water-tight it is,
And it keeps afloat.

"I hear mother calling
From the barn-yard wall:
Courage, little sisters!
Don't you hear her call?"
Yes, they heard it plainly;
Oh, how glad they were!
"Now blow fair, thou gentle wind,
Bear us all to her!"

And the wind kept blowing,
Fair and fair it blew,
Bearing to the barn-yard wall
All that little crew.
When their mother saw them,
She flew down apace;
On her back she bore them
To a nice dry place.

EMILY CARTER.

THE GEESE AND THE HAWK.

ONE day in May as Charles walked through the fields, he saw a large hawk
hovering in the air, and heard a noise as of geese cackling. Soon an old
mother-goose with a troop of little ones came running towards him.

She knew that Charles would protect her and her fledglings from the
cruel hawk; and she was not mistaken. He took up a stick, and, looking
up at the hawk, said, "Now come on if you dare, yo