[THROWING A LIGHT.]
BY E. M.
I am considered rather a dark feature in the landscape, yet I am a cheerful little flower, always yellow and gay, and there is a proverb about me in England which says, "When —— is out of bloom, then kissing is out of season"; so you see I must be in bloom nearly all the time, yet I have no blossom, only stiff dark branches. I have neither branches nor bloom; I am thick and hairy. I grow on every way-side, yet am an ornament in a garden; would be singularly out of place in a garden; am found only after much toil; have no value, and can be had for the picking, yet some varieties of me are so valuable that only the very rich can own me. I am dark green, bright yellow, yet to see me either yellow or dark green would amaze all who trade in me, for I am white, brown, black, and gray, yet to see me any of these colors would equally astound other owners of me, and certainly the way-side pickers, though I do not vary in color according to clime. I am tall and stiff; I am lowly-minded, and cling to the ground. I stay where I am put, but as to staying, why, to find me, there must be a lively chase, and often danger encountered. I am solely for ornament; I am for ornament, use, and protection. An article of clothing, yet death must come before I can be appropriated; when dead, I am utterly valueless save to be burned; it would be a waste to burn me, yet I am only valuable after death. I am as Nature made me; she takes care of me in a natural state; but in a natural state, ere men have cared for me, I am serviceable only to animals. How they can use me I can't imagine, as I am not eatable, and they do not need fires, yet without me they can not live. I am prickly, I am soft, I am warm. I have no temperature; I am of use as a shade; I am used to protect from cold; I cost nothing; I am a luxury; but in all my shapes and uses I am attractive to the eye.
[THE ANGRY ALPHABET.]
Lazy Mary Ann Dees
Never dotted her i's nor crossed her t's:
So the letters resolved they would give her no e's,
And they fed her on pods without any p's,
And frightened her well with a swarm of b's,
And at last they banished her over the c's
To the kingdom of fogs that is known as Queen V's.
Japanese Kite-Flying.—In her interesting book on Japan, Miss Bird writes as follows about kite-flying: "This afternoon has been fine and windy, and the boys have been flying kites, made of tough paper on a bamboo frame, all of a rectangular shape, some of them five feet square, and nearly all decorated with huge faces of historical heroes. Some of them have a humming arrangement made of whalebone. There was a very interesting contest between two great kites, and it brought out the whole population. The string of each kite, for thirty feet or more below the frame, was covered with pounded glass, made to adhere very closely by means of tenacious glue, and for two hours the kite-fighters tried to get their kites into a proper position for sawing the adversary's string in two. At last one was successful, and the severed kite became his property, upon which victor and vanquished exchanged three low bows. The boys also flew their kites while walking on stilts—a most dexterous performance, in which few were able to take part."