FATHER PORCUPINE AND THE ORANGES.
One day Father Porcupine was out hunting food. He came to a tree in which sat a lot of monkeys eating oranges. He asked for some, but the unkind monkeys only pelted him with the fruit as hard as they could! Then Father Porcupine laughed and put up his quills, and the oranges stuck on them. When his quills were stuck full he started for home, and he and his family had a fine dinner.
BABYLAND
THE PLEASANT SPOT.
THE PLEASANT SPOT.
There was a “pleasant spot” in Mrs. Hall’s parlor, and every day at just three o’clock in the afternoon, if they had been perfectly good children, little Dick and Fanny Hall could go in and sit in that place an hour, and nobody else could go there at that time. The “pleasant spot” was under the green palm tree.
If they had behaved well, Dick and Fanny always went to their mother at ten minutes of three to be made as “sweet as roses.” But if they had been naughty they never went.
What did they do in the “pleasant spot?” They told each other stories, and they themselves made the stories.
Fanny’s stories were very short ones, such as this:
“One day a little small new small small baby-girl fly went into a rose, an’ her mama was not looking, an’ she los’ her way in the rose’s leaves an’ never comed out, an’ that little girl-fly never saw her mama any more, never, never, never again, Dicky.”
Dicky’s stories were short too, and such as this one:
“Sometimes, when little boys have a toy train, just a tin one, and they are playing with it, it turns into a live train, and the engine puffs out live smoke, and live people travel in it. But if their fathers and mothers look, or anybody, it is a tin train. And this is a fairy story, Fanny.”
Or like this one, which Dicky said was a “nadventure:”
“One time, when three little boys went up the mountain, they set their lunch basket down on the tip-top. In about two minutes they heard a noise at their basket, and a chipmunk stood there, and the chipmunk had one of their cookies in his paws!”
M. Dunleath.
THE NIMBLE PENNIES.
Draw a small circle around a small cent, a large circle around a large copper cent (or a two-cent piece, or a silver quarter), as in the designs—and then in a twinkling you will have a picture of a baby hen—that is, a chicken.
I stands for me, because my name is Ink;
And why it’s so you’ll surely never think,
Until you see the black,
Black spot upon my back—
And then you’ll know just why, as quick as wink!
P. S. C.
THE MOON AND I.
(A Midnight Dialogue.)
Scene: A Nursery at night; a wakeful baby sitting up in its crib; the full moon shining in at the window.
BABY BEE AND THE MOON.
The Moon said to me:
“Baby Bee, Baby Bee,
Why aren’t you asleep in your bed?
When I am a-light
You know it is night;
So down with your bad little head!”
I said to the Moon,
With a coo and a croon:
“O, beautiful Moon up so high!
Don’t tarry afar—
Let’s see what you are!
Come down from your perch in the sky!”
The Moon said to me:
“Baby Bee, Baby Bee,
When I was an infant like you,
I put out my light
At eight every night
To let people know I was new.”
I said to the Moon,
With a coo and a croon:
“Dear Moon, I’ve no doubt you are right;
I freely admit
The wisdom and wit
Of one so exceedingly bright.”
The Moon said to me:
“Baby Bee, Baby Bee,
Then why don’t you shut up your eyes
And sleep as you ought,
And as you’ve been taught?
What folly to act otherwise!”
I said to the Moon,
With a coo and a croon:
“Pray how can I sleep when in truth,
O, Moon, though I try,
I can’t shut an eye!
O, Moon, I am cutting a tooth!”
The Moon said to me:
“Baby Bee, Baby Bee,
I judged you a little too soon.
You poor little dear!
I wish you were here
Where we never cut teeth,” said the Moon.
Pax Prescott.