very unlikely places for
nests, not only because they were very different from the kind of
situations usually selected, but still more because they were liable to
be disturbed at any time. If the farmer had resolved to move his
scarecrow, if a rag-man had picked up the waistcoat, or if the gardener
had come for the shears, the nest would in each case have been removed
or destroyed. And yet there is good reason to believe that the parent
birds and their young ones fared just as well in their strange quarters
as they would have done in a tree-trunk or a cranny of the walls. The
truth is, perhaps, that all thoughtful and kindly people admire the
courage, industry, and devotion of birds when they are building their
nests and rearing their young, and take every care not to disturb them
unnecessarily.

TWO LITTLE DROPS OF RAIN.

They fell together from the sky,
Two little drops of rain;
One cheered a blossom like to die,
One fell upon the plain.
One made the thirsty wilderness
A lovely blooming place;
One came a drooping flower to bless,
And give it light and grace.

The flower gave out a fragrance sweet,
That lingered by the way;
The wilderness amid the heat
Seemed sweet and cool that day.
They did the work they had to do,
And, when the day was done,
Two raindrops went back to the blue,
Drawn upwards by the sun.

FAMOUS ROSES.

A few flowers stand at the head of all others as being general
favourites; the rose, the lily, the violet have been popular for ages,
and to these we may now add, probably, the chrysanthemum. The rose has
been called the 'queen of flowers.' It was probably one of the earliest
garden plants grown in Eastern lands. Splendid festoons of roses are
said to have been one of the sights of the celebrated hanging gardens of
Babylon. At the present time roses are largely grown in India to produce
the expensive attar of roses, the Damascus kind being chiefly planted;
and very often the perfume of large rose gardens may be smelt a long way
off.

The old Romans were very fond of roses, and quantities of them were
grown in the times of the Emperors, especially near Capua and Praeneste.
The Emperor Nero is said to have spent ten thousand pounds on roses for
one night's supper. The rich nobles carpeted rooms with roses, and piled
their petals round the dishes at table. In more modern times, Blanche of
Castile instituted the custom of prese