nd as for Ned, once in a while he asked mamma this question--not
because it hadn't been answered over and over, but because it kept
suggesting itself to his heart--"Oh, mamma, isn't it the funniest
thing?"

And the reply was always, "Yes, Ned, it really is."

[Illustration]

A TINY SEED.

One May morning two green leaves
Peeping from the ground
Patty and her brother Will
In their garden found.
They a seed had planted there
Just ten days ago,
Only half believing that
It would ever grow.

"Oh, it's growed! it's growed!" they cried,
"And it soon will be,"
Will proclaimed, now full of faith,
"Like a little tree:
Then will lady-slippers come,
And they'll all be ours.
Oh, how good God is to turn
Brown seeds into flowers!"

JAPANESE WINE-FLOWERS.

BY WILLIAM ELLIOT GRIFFIS.

On both sides of the great wide street leading to Asakusa, in old Yedo,
were shops full of toys of all kinds. At certain seasons of the year
booths were hastily put up, and stocked with the curiosities of the
season. For a few days before New-Year's one could buy ferns, lobsters,
oranges, evergreens, and rice-straw festoons. In the second month
appeared seeds, roots, bulbs, and gardeners' tools. Dolls and girls'
toys came on in the third month, ready for the Feast of Dolls. Images of
heroes, banners, toy horses, and boys' playthings, for the Feast of
Flags, were out in the fifth month. Bamboo and streamers, in the seventh
month, celebrated the meeting of the star-lovers. Chrysanthemums in
autumn, and camellias in winter, could be bought, all having their
special use and meaning. Thus throughout the different months Asakusa
was gay with new things of all colors, and bustling with ten thousand
people of all ages. Besides the shops and booths, a constant street fair
was held by people whose counter was the pavement, and whose stock in
trade, spread out on the street, must run the risk of dust, rain, and
the accidents from passers-by.

Among these jolly peddlers was one Ume, a little rosy-cheeked maid of
twelve years, who sold wine-flowers.

"Wine-flowers; what are they?"

If we open the boxes or paper bags sold by Ume, we see a pack of what
seem to be tiny colored jackstraws or fine shavings. They are made by
cutting out very thin slices of pith in the shape of men, women, birds,
flowers, fishes, bats, tortoises, tools, and many other things. These
are gummed, folded up, an