ALFRED SELWYN.

JOHNNY AND THE TOAD.

JOHNNY. I want to go to school,
And he won't let me pass;
I think that a toad
Ought to keep on the grass.
I don't want to cry;
But I'm afraid I'm going to:
Oh, dear me!
What am I to do?
TOAD. Here's a dreadful thing!—
A boy in the way,
I don't know what to do:
I don't know what to say.
I can't see the reason
Such monsters should be loose:
I'm trembling all over;
But that is of no use.

JOHNNY. I must go to school,
The bell is going to stop:
That terrible old toad,—
If he only would hop!
TOAD. I must cross the path,
I can hear my children croak;
I hope that dreadful boy
Will not give me a poke.
A hop and a start, a flutter and a rush,
Johnny is at school, and the toad in his bush.
H.A.F.

THE HEN WHO HELPED HERSELF.

In a city not far from Boston, there once lived a stout little fellow named Willie Wilkins. He was six years old, had red cheeks and blue eyes, and such curly hair that it was always in a tumble, no matter how much it was brushed.