Will hung his head in fear and shame,
And to the awful presence came,—

A great, green, bashful simpleton,
The butt of all good-natured fun.

With smile suppressed, and birch upraised,
The threatener faltered,-"I'm amazed
That you, my biggest pupil, should

Be guilty of an act so rude!

Before the whole set school to boot-
What evil genius put you to 't?"
""T was she herself, sir," sobbed the lad,
"I did not mean to be so bad;

But when Susannah shook her curls,
And whispered, I was 'fraid of girls
And dursn't kiss a baby's doll,

I couldn't stand it, sir, at all,

But up and kissed her on the spot!
I know-boo-hoo-I ought to not.
But, somehow, from her looks-boo-hoo-
I thought she kind o' wished me to!"

WILLIAM PITT PALMER.

III.

FUN FOR LITTLE FOLK.

THERE WAS A LITTLE GIRL.

THERE was a little girl,

And she had a little curl

Right in the middle of her forehead.

When she was good

She was very, very good,

And when she was bad she was horrid.

Che day she went upstairs,

When her parents, unawares,

In the kitchen were occupied with meals,

And she stood upon her head

In her little trundle-bed,

And then began hooraying with her heels.

Her mother heard the noise,

And she thought it was the boys

A-playing at a combat in the attic;

But when she climbed the stair,

And found Jemima there,

She took and she did spank her most emphatic.

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW.

FROM "THE ENGLISH STRUWWELPETER.”

THE STORY OF CRUEL FREDERICK.

HERE is cruel Frederick, see!
A horrid wicked boy was he;

He caught the flies, poor little things,
And then tore off their tiny wings.

He killed the birds, and broke the chairs,
And threw the kitten down the stairs;
And Oh! far worse than all beside,
He whipped his Mary, till she cried.

The trough was full, and faithful Tray
Came out to drink one sultry day;
He wagged his tail, and wet his lip,
When cruel Fred snatched up a whip,
And whipped poor Tray till he was sore,
And kicked and whipped him more and more:

At this, good Tray grew very red,
And growled and bit him till he bled;
Then you should only have been by,
To see how Fred did scream and cry!

So Frederick had to go to bed;
His leg was very sore and red!
The Doctor came and shook his head,
And made a very great-to-do,

And gave him nasty physic too.

But good dog Tray is happy now;
He has no time to say "Bow-wow! "
He seats himself in Frederick's chair,
And laughs to see the nice things there:
The soup he swallows sup by sup,
And eats the pies and puddings up.

THE DREADFUL STORY ABOUT HARRIET AND THE MATCHES.

IT almost makes me cry to tell

What foolish Harriet befel.

Mamma and Nurse went out one day

And left her all alone at play;

Now, on the table close at hand,

A box of matches chanced to stand;

And kind Mamma and Nurse had told her,

That, if she touched them, they should scold her.

But Harriet said: "O, what a pity!
For when they burn it is so pretty;
They crackle so, and spit, and flame;
Mamma, too, often does the same."

The pussy-cats heard this,
And they began to hiss,
And stretch their claws

And raise their paws;

"Me-ow," they said, "me-ow, me-o, You'll burn to death, if you do so."

But Harriet would not take advice,
She lit a match, it was so nice!

It crackled so, it burned so clear,—
Exactly like the picture here.

She jumped for joy and ran about,
And was too pleased to put it out.

The pussy-cats saw this

And said: "Oh, naughty, naughty Miss!"

And stretched their claws

And raised their paws:

""T is very, very wrong, you know,

Me-ow, me-o, me-ow, me-o,

You will be burnt, if you do so."

And see! Oh! what a dreadful thing!
The fire has caught her apron string;
Her apron burns, her arms, her hair;
She burns all over, everywhere.

Then how the pussy-cats did mew;
What else, poor pussies, could they do?
They screamed for help, 't was all in vain!
So then they said: "We'll scream again;
Make haste, make haste, me-ow, me-o,
She'll burn to death, we told her so."

So she was burnt, with all her clothes,
And arms, and hands, and eyes, and noce;
Till she had nothing more to lose

Except her little scarlet shoes;

And nothing else but these was found
Among her ashes on the ground.

And when the good cats sat beside

The smoking ashes, how they cried!