s neck again, she said:

"Well, he's pretty in his heart."

Mamma thinks the little girl who can be so thoughtful for ever-tired
mamma, so kind to the sick, and so tender of little baby brother, must
be pretty in her heart.

AGNES'S MOTHER.

* * * * *

Here is an enigma made by a little girl eight years of age:

CROSS-WORD ENIGMA.

My first is in spin, but not in weave;
My second in part, but not in leave;
My third is in rain, but not in storm;
My fourth in chilly, but not in warm;
My fifth in hen, but not in coop;
My whole is a country of Europe.

Answer: Spain.

* * * * *

Easton, Md.

DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: Will you please tell me from which of Shakspeare's
plays the following quotation is taken?

"Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head."

--Yours truly,

MARY H. WILSON.

The quotation is from "As You Like It," Act II., Scene 1.; and the whole
passage reads:

"Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;
And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything."

The beauty is marred, and the aptness of the illustration is lost sight
of, by omitting the second half of this admirable sentence; therefore we
quote it entire.

* * * * *

"Fairfax," San Rafael, Cal.

DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I have seen letters from San Francisco, Oakland, and
other places in California, but I do not think any one has written to
you from San Rafael, a beautiful little town near San Francisco.

"Fairfax" is about three miles from the town. The ride here is very
pleasant, especially in winter and spring time, when the hills are green
and the wild flowers are in bloom.

The house resembles the old Fairfax house in Virginia, called Greenway
Court, except that this is perhaps more rambling and the other lacks our
wide-spreading bay-trees. It faces the garden and orchard, and beyond
these is the hill, a mine of wonder and beauty.

We all enjoy climbing that hill and looking for ferns. In some parts we
hardly dare step, for fear of crushing something beautiful. We look down
upon a bank of green moss, and find snowy, shell-like fungi, so delicate
that we hold our breath lest they sho