ing.

"I guess he forgot that the rule is,
To do as you'd be always done by;
I guess he forgot that from heaven
There looks down an All-seeing Eye."

MRS. C. F. BERRY.

* * * * *

WHAT THE BIRDS SAY.

When they chatter together,--the robins and sparrows,
Bluebirds and bobolinks,--all the day long;
What do they talk of? The sky and the sunshine,
The state of the weather, the last pretty song;

Of love and of friendship, and all the sweet trifles
That go to make bird-life so careless and free;
The number of grubs in the apple-tree yonder,
The promise of fruit in the big cherry-tree;

Of matches in prospect;--how Robin and Jenny
Are planning together to build them a nest;
How Bobolink left Mrs. Bobolink moping
At home, and went off on a lark with the rest.

Such mild little slanders! such innocent gossip!
Such gay little coquetries, pretty and bright!
Such happy love makings! such talks in the orchard!
Such chatterings at daybreak! such whisperings at night!

O birds in the tree-tops! O robins and sparrows!
O bluebirds and bobolinks! what would be May
Without your glad presence,--the songs that you sing us,
And all the sweet nothings we fancy you say?

CAROLINE A. MASON.

* * * * *

Sweet Mercy is Nobility's true badge.

_Titus Andronicus_, Act 1, Sc. 2.

* * * * *

THE WREN'S NEST.

I took the wren's nest:
Heaven forgive me!
Its merry architects so small
Had scarcely finished their wee hall
That, empty still, and neat and fair,
Hung idly in the summer air.
The mossy walls, the dainty door,
Where Love should enter and explore,
And Love sit carolling outside,
And Love within chirp multiplied;--
I took the wren's nest;
Heaven forgive me!

How many hours of happy pains
Through early frosts and April rains,
How many songs at eve and morn
O'er springing grass and greening corn,
What labors hard through sun and shade
Before the pretty house was made!
One little minute, only one,
And she'll fly back, and find it--gone!
I took the wren's nest:
Bird, forgive me!

Thou and thy mate, sans let, sans fear,
Ye have before you all the year,
And every wo