THE OLD CLOCK.
ICK, tock! tick, tock!" That is what the old clock said. And the boy sat at a table near by, and leaned his head upon his hand, and put the end of the pen-holder in his mouth, instead of writing his theme on the "Flight of Time."
"Tick, tock! tick, tock!" said again the old clock; and then there was a little buzzing noise, and the old clock began to strike; and all at once a little door over the dial-plate opened, and there stood a little bird crying, "Cuckoo, cuckoo!" And over the bird, on the top of the clock, a little man started up in a red coat, with sabre and musket complete, and began to march backwards and forwards.
Henry did not look up to see the bird and the little man; for he wanted to be out in the garden at play with his sister, instead of trying to write a theme on the "Flight of Time."
At last Henry finished his theme in these words: "Time does not fly at all fast for me when I am trying to write a theme. On the contrary, it seems very long indeed. We ought to improve our time. We ought to work. Life is short. My theme is ended. And now, having written the required number of words, I will go out in the garden, and see if any peaches have fallen during the night."
So Henry ran out in the garden; and he and his sister had a good frolic among the flowers and the fruit-trees. Whether he got a good mark, the next day at school, for his theme on the "Flight of Time," I cannot tell you.
Carl Heinsman.
