n to shine
When I am put to bed,
And all the little stars come out
And twinkle overhead?

I see the sun shine all the day,
I gather daisies in my play,
But oh, I truly wish that I
Could see the stars bloom in the sky!
I'd love to see the moon shine down
And silver all the roofs in town,
But always off to sleep I go
Just as the sun is getting low.

ALICE VAN LEER CARRICK.

[Illustration: _Gracie's Disorderly Room_]

CARELESS GRACIE'S LESSON

Gracie and Norma Wilson were sisters, aged respectively, fourteen and
twelve. But I think that two sisters were never more unlike than were
Gracie and Norma. Norma, who was the younger, was as orderly a little
lady as one could wish to see, while Gracie was just the reverse.

Often their mother would say, in a despairing tone, "Gracie, I do wish
you would care for your room and frocks as Norma cares for hers. Why,
you go out with buttons loose, or entirely off your dress, or your
frocks unmended, not to speak of the untidiness of your room. If only
you would take an interest in such things it would gratify me so much.
Without an orderly mind no girl can aspire to become a useful member of
society."

Then Gracie would try to make excuses for her shortcomings, pleading
this thing or that as the real cause of her negligence. But her poor
mother, at her wits' end to devise some way by which Gracie might be
aroused to a sense of her duty, would shake her head and say: "Dearest
child, there is no excuse for your slighting your work, either on your
clothes or in your room. You have plenty of time for both and should
force yourself to perform your share of the labor that falls to you to
do."

And while Mrs. Wilson was thus advising and entreating her eldest
daughter to do her duty in such small household matters, Norma was busy
tidying up her dainty room or sewing on her summer frocks, mending lace,
ribbons, or putting on buttons and hooks and eyes. She was such a
cheerfully busy little miss that Gracie's laziness was the more
pronounced by contrast with her industry.

* * * * *

One afternoon, while Gracie was sitting idly in the hammock which swung
in the broad, awning-covered porch, the phone bell rang and Norma
answered it. The message which reached her ear made her smile very
happily, and she answered, "Oh, yes, indeed, we shall be delighted to
go, and thank you for both of us ever and ever so much. What