vance a small loan toward a little furniture; and you might secretly advance another small loan, brother Ned. And if we find them doing well we can change the loans into gifts; carefully, and by degrees, without pressing upon them too much. What do you say now, brother?'

"Brother Ned gave his hand upon it, and not only said it should be done, but had it done. And in one short week, Nicholas took possession of his stool, and his mother and sister took possession of the house; and all was hope, bustle, and lightheartedness."

There are Cheeryble old bachelors in real life; genial souls, and genuine benefactors to mankind. When they are so, I think they deserve more credit than married men of similar characters; for the genial virtues are fostered by kindly domestic influences, as fruit is

matured and sweet

ened by the
sunshine.

THE dog in the kennel growls at his fleas; the dog that is busy hunting does not feel them.

CHINESE PROVERB

TAKING IT EASY.

A

BY GEORGE H. CLARK.

DMIT that I am slightly bald,

Pray, who's to blame for that?

And who is wiser for the fact,

Until I lift my hat?

Beneath the brim my barbered locks

Fall in a careless way,

Wherein my watchful wife can spy
No lurking threads of gray.

What though, to read compactest print,
I'm forced to hold my book
A little farther off than when
Life's first degree I took?
A yoke of slightly convex lens
The needful aid bestows,

And you should see how wise I look
With it astride my nose.

Don't talk of the infernal pangs

That rheumatism brings!

I'm getting used to pains and aches,
And all those sort of things.
And when the imp Sciatica

Makes his malicious call,

I do not need an almanac

To tell me it is fall.

Besides, it gives one quite an air
To travel with a cane,

And makes folk think you "well to do,"
Although you are in pain.
A fashionable hat may crown
Genteelest coat and vest,

But ah! the sturdy stick redeems
And sobers all the rest.

A man deprived of natural sleep
Becomes a stupid elf,

And only steals from Father Time

To stultify himself.

So, if you'd be a jovial soul,

And laugh at life's decline,

Take my advice,

turn off the gas,

And go to bed at nine!

An easy-cushioned rocking-chair

Suits me uncommon well;

And so do liberal shoes, - like these,

With room for corns to swell;

I cotton to the soft lamb's-wool

That lines my gloves of kid,

And love elastic home-made socks, -
Indeed, I always did.

But what disturbs me more than all
Is, that sarcastic boys

Prefer to have me somewhere else,

When they are at their noise; That while I try to look and act

As like them as I can,

They will persist in mister-ing me,

And calling me a man!

TRUE - Time will seam and blanch my brow.
Well, I shall sit with aged men,

And my good glass will tell me how
A grisly beard becomes me then.

And should no foul dishonor lie

Upon my head, when I am gray, Love yet shall watch my fading eye, And smooth the path of my decay.

Then haste thee, Time,

't is kindness all

That speeds thy wingèd feet so fast; Thy pleasures stay not till they pall,

And all thy pains are quickly past.

Thou fliest and bear'st away our woes,
And, as thy shadowy train depart,

The memory of sorrow grows
A lighter burden on the heart.

W. C. BRYANT.

OLD AUNTY.

THE following is a true story. I well remember the worthy old woman, who sat in Washington Park, behind a table covered with apples and nuts. I also know the family of the little Joanna, who used to carry her a cup of hot tea and warm rolls from one of the big houses in the adjoining Square, and who got up a petition to the Mayor in her behalf. It is a humble picture; but a soft, warm light falls on it from poor Old Aunty's self-sacrificing devotion to her orphans, and from the mutual love between her and the children of the neighborhood.

66

L. M. C.

LL the children knew Old Aunty. Every day, in rain or shine, she sat there in the Park, with her little store. of candies, cakes, and cigars, spread on a wooden box. Her cheerful smile and hearty "God bless you!" were always ready for the children, whether they bought of her or not. If they stopped to purchase, she gave right generous measure, heaping the nuts till they rolled off the top of the pint, and often throwing in a cake or stick of candy; so generous was her heart.