CHILDREN, MEMORIZE THE FOLLOWING BEAUTIFUL LULLABY. It is full of childish fancies. One of the offerings at Eugene Field's funeral was a shoe of white carnations with the words, "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod."

WYNKEN, BLYNKEN, AND NOD

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night

Sailed off in a wooden shoe

Sailed on a river of crystal light,

Into a sea of dew

"Where are you going, and what do you wish?"
The old moon asked of the three.

"We have come to fish for the herring fish
That live in this beautiful sea;

Nets of silver and gold have we!"
Said Wynken,
Blynken,

And Nod.

The old moon laughed and sang a song,
As they rocked in the wooden shoe,
And the wind that sped them all night long
Ruffled the waves of dew!

The little stars were the herring fish
That lived in that beautiful sea,-

"Now cast your nets wherever you wish

Never afeard are we;"

So cried the stars to the fishermen three,

Wynken,

Blynken,

And Nod.

All night long their nets they threw

To the stars in the twinkling foam

Then down from the skies came the wooden shoe,

Bringing the fishermen home;

'Twas all so pretty a sail, it seemed

As if it could not be,

And some folks thought 'twas a dream they dreamed

Of sailing that beautiful sea

But I shall name you the fishermen three,

Wynken,

Blynken,

And Nod.

Wynken and Blynken are two little eyes,

And Nod is a little head;

And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies,

Is a wee one's trundle-bed.

So shut your eyes while mother sings

Of wonderful sights that be,

And you shall see the beautiful things

As you rock in the misty sea,

Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three,

Wynken,

Blynken,

And Nod.

-FROM With Trumpet and Drum.

Copyright Chas. Scribner's Sons.

CHILDREN MEMORIZE THIS POEM AFTER THOUGHTFUL DISCUS

SION:

BIRDS

Do you ne'er think what wondrous beings these?

Do you ne'er think who made them, and who taught

The dialect they speak, where melodies

Alone are the interpreters of thought?

Whose household words are songs in many keys,
Sweeter than instruments of man e'er caught!

Whose habitations in the tree-tops even

Are half-way houses on the road to heaven!

Think, every morning when the sun peeps through
The dim, leaf-latticed windows of the grove,

How jubilant the happy birds renew

Their old melodious madrigals of love!

And when you think of this, remember too

'Tis always morning somewhere, and above The awakening continents, from shore to shore, Somewhere the birds are singing evermore.

Think of your woods and orchards without birds!
Of empty nests that cling to boughs and beams.
You call them thieves and pillagers; but know,
They are the winged wardens of your farms,
Who from the cornfields drive the insidious foe,
And from your harvests keep a hundred harms;
Even the blackest of them all, the crow,
Renders good service as your man-at-arms,
Crushing the beetle in his coat of mail,
And crying havoc on the slug and snail.

-LONGFELLOw, Birds of Killingworth.

CHICKADEE

Do you know the little chickadee
In his brownish ashen coat,

With a cap só black and jaunty

And a black patch on his throat?

-SELECTED.

The chickadee, snow-bird, bluejay, English sparrows, and a few other birds can be studied before the snow disappears.

Chickadee.-"Little friend" is what it means. Black-capped Titmouse is another name for this cheery, fearless, sociable little bird. Insects can seldom escape his bright eyes. He finds the tiny eggs hidden under the bark and destroys numberless destructive insects that live in the buds and the tender bark of trees. The nest is generally in an old knot hole and with its four or five white eggs delicately touched with pink, is very pretty. He sleeps in the thick pine shrubs, so that it is hard for the owls and other enemies to find him.

Let children watch his movements and learn as many of his habits as possible.

In studying a bird observe:

Length of bird.

Color,-of upper parts, lower parts, head, neck, breast, wings, tail and feet.

Beak, shape, length and color.

Feet,-number and arrangement of toes.
Tail,-long, short, square, wide, narrow, etc.

Find out about its :

Food, disposition, habits, song.

Nest building-when, where, materials used, etc.

AN EASTERN LEGEND

There's a tender Eastern legend,
In a volume old and rare,
Of the Christ-child in his garden
Walking with the children there.
And it tells-this strange, sweet story-
(True or false, ah, who shall say?)
How a bird with broken pinion

Dead within the garden lay.

And the children, children cruel,
Lifted it by shattered wing,
Shouting, "Make us merry music,
Sing, you lazy fellow, sing."
But the Christ-child bent above it,
Took it in his gentle hand,
Full of pity for the suffering

He alone could understand.

Whispered to it-oh, so softly!

Laid his lips upon its throat,
And the song-life, swift returning,
Sounded out in one glad note.
Then away, on wings unwearied,
Joyously it sang and soared,
And the little children kneeling

Called the Christ-child "Master-Lord."

-GRACE Duffield GOODWIN in Our Dumb Animals.