Joanna scolds my kitty every day:
I'm filled with grief.
Just now to Mary Ann I heard her say,
"That cat's a thief!"
Poor kit! you did not wish for milk to-day,
But wanted meat.
You took a little bit from off the tray,
And, with your feet,
A glass of water, standing in the way,
You tumbled down;
And just for this you had to bear, all day,
Joanna's frown.
I think that Miss Joanna must be seen to;
For, kitty, I am sure you didn't mean to.
AMANDA SHAW ELSEFFER.
A SAUCY VISITOR.
NCE upon a time a mother-sparrow and her three children lived in a great big maple-tree, which stood before a great big house, which had a broad piazza in front of it. The mother-bird often used to talk to her children about the people who lived in the house, and their pets.
"See, Polly Dolly Adeline," she said to her oldest child one day, "see those lazy yellow canaries down there on the piazza. They have every thing they want. See how they are coddled while we are left to shift for ourselves."
"Boo-hoo!" said Polly Dolly. "I don't think it is a bit fair."
"I don't either," said the youngest of all. He was a pert little fellow. His name was Flop. He was so called, because, when he first began to fly, he would flop over on one side.
But he could fly well enough now, and so he said boldly, "I mean to go down to one of those cages, and eat some of that nice seed myself. I'll let young Canary know that I am as good as he."