"Do you remember watering Darby and Joan, who have lived twenty years under our porch, when you were little boys? You thought they seemed to enjoy a rain so much that you would give them a shower. Poor Darby and his wife realized the proverb, 'It never rains but it pours.' A gentle, steady rain was agreeable enough; but you floated them out of house and home, and I do not think they ever resettled in the same spot.
"There is a charming story about a toad, called Monsieur le Vicomte."
ELM COTTAGE.
BY M. M.
Now is the time when hither and yon
Our city-people run
Seeking a home. And here, close by,
Is the prettiest under the sun.
So dainty it is, so cozy and fresh,
Its walls in a marvellous way
Are covered all over with tapestry
In yellow and green and gray.
The ceiling is frescoed in light and shade,
And the cottage stands so high
That the view extends to the mountains dim,
Whose peaks are lost in the sky.
No window it has, but an open door
Invites one to sweetest rest;
For my wee house, perched on a swaying elm,
Is only an oriole's nest.
HOW DO THEY GROW?
LITTLE JENNIE AND THE GARDENER.