It took, however, a good deal of time to pump the boat dry, and Charley secretly admitted to himself that had the Ghost shipped another such sea, she would have been in a dangerous situation.
[to be continued.]
[BELL COUNTS HER CHICKENS.]
BY AMANDA SHAW ELSEFFER.
"Aunt Lena, come look at my chickies;
They have a house all to themselves;
It's very much bigger than Dickie's;
They sleep in a row on the shelves."
"And how many have you?" asked Auntie.
"I'll count them," said dear little Bell.
"There's Speckle, and Top-knot, and Bantie,
And that little lame one is Nell;
"And papa calls this Coach-in-China,
The greediest one of the lot;
And that one we named for old Dinah,
Because it's as black as a pot;
"And Brownie, and Whitey's her mother,
And Yellow-legs there by the door,
And Shanghai, and Prince, and another,
And Graywing, and Dot, and one more;
"And there, you see, 'way in the corner,
Is Patsy—we call her Cross-patch—
And Ned says she looks like a mourner,
But I know she's going to hatch.
"And so I have five that are hidden,
But Patsy knows what she's about,
And won't come away if she's bidden
Until she can bring them all out.
"I do hope that one is a Bantie,
And don't you want one for Elaine?"
"Well, how many have you?" "Why, auntie,
I s'pose I must count them again."
[THE BRAVEST MAN IN THE REGIMENT.]
BY DAVID KER.
"So you want me to tell you a story about a brave man, little people?" said Colonel Graylock, as his half-dozen nephews and nieces, tired with their afternoon's play, gathered around his arm-chair by the fire. "Well, I've seen plenty of them in my time, but the bravest man I ever knew was a young Ensign in our regiment, whom we used to call 'Gentleman Bob'—and right well he deserved the name, though not as we meant it.