ghnut."

Cerinthy shrieked louder than ever. An opposite door opened, and out
rushed a lady whose eyes were swollen with crying.

"Mother!" called out the black boy, as he flew into her open arms.

"Philemon! mother's own little boy!" she sobbed; while Romeo Augustus
performed a war-dance about the two.

I think Philemon's father was so relieved when he beheld his fifth-born,
that he would have _whipped_ him soundly. But his mother would by no
means allow that. She gave him preserved peach and cream toast instead.

"For you'll never do such a thing again, will you?" demanded she,
tenderly.

Philemon gazed lovingly at her, with a mouth full of toast. "_Catch
me_," said he.

[Illustration]

JAPANESE CHILDREN.

Here we have a genuine picture of Japanese _kodoma_. They are in
every-day dress, with hair and shoes just as one sees them in their own
village. There is the baby carried pickapack, and laid on the back of
its sister like a slice of meat on a sandwich. Baby's head is shaved as
smooth as one's palm, and kept so until it is two years old. Then the
next style--a little fringe of hair above the ears and one near the
neck--will be proper. The next step will be a tiny top-knot and a
circle, in addition to the ear-locks.

All these children live on boiled rice, and they are as round and chubby
and rosy-cheeked as it is possible to be without bursting. See their
nice loose clothes, with neither a pin to stick nor a button to fly off!
They do not wear socks nor stockings, for it is not very cold in Japan.
One little tot has on a pair of straw sandals, and the girl and old man
wear clogs, held on by a strap passing between the "thumb of the foot,"
as the Japs call the big toe, and its next-door neighbor.

It would do American boys good, and set them a good example, to notice
how kind to animals Japanese children are. There is old daddy telling
his children to treat their pet kindly, and doggy knows it will be good
for him to have such playmates. See his little straw kennel made like a
tent, with a crock of water in it. I'll wager that the children will
feed the little _inu_ with tidbits from their own chopsticks.

A SEA-SIDE ADVENTURE.

AS RELATED IN A LETTER PROM BESSIE MAYNARD TO HER DOLL CLYTEMNESTRA,
WHOM SHE LEFT AT HOME.

OLD ORCHARD BEACH, _July, 1880_.

MY DEAREST CLYTEMNESTRA,--Do you miss me? and are you wondering why I do
not write? Well, my dear, writing is an impossibility wh