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BOXIE (2).

knocked, black'ber-ry, car'riages, om'ni-bus, hos'pi-tal, po-lice'man, bit'ter-ly, obliged', twink'ling.

There was a man in the cart to drive, whose name was George, and with him he had a boy, John. John jumped in and out of the cart, and knocked at the people's doors, and carried the parcels in, if they were not too heavy, whilst Mr George sat still; and if the parcels were big parcels, like boxes, or trunks, or great hampers with geese and turkeys in them, and mince-pies and pots of blackberry jam, too large for John to lift, then Mr George took them, and he gave the reins to Johnny, and Johnny stopped in the cart. Well, they had been to a great many houses, forty, I should say, when they had to drive up a hill. It was a bridge; that was why it went up a little and then down a little, and was just the same as if it were a hill; and under the bridge there ran first a canal, and then a railway, and there were a great many carts, and wagons, and carriages, and cabs, always going very quickly over.

Mr George said to Johnny: 'There's no frost to-day, boy, but the mud is very bad to make the horse slip;' and those were the last words Johnny heard. The next moment an omnibus ran up very close. Mr George had to pull his horse sharply to get out of the way, and down it slipped, and 'shock!' went the cart, breaking the shafts, and we all went 'rush!' against poor Johnny, and threw him hard and sharp into the road.

Poor Johnny, who had been so strong and happy only a moment before! Poor little white fainting boy! Some kind people lifted him up, for one ran directly and held

the horse's head, and another helped Mr George down, and a great many ran round the cart, ready to do any handy thing they could, and they picked all of us off Johnny-I was right on his poor chest-and they said that he was hurt and bleeding very much.

'We'll take him to the hospital,' said a policeman; and they set him in a cab, and went along very slowly, so as not to shake him, and they took him away.

I wonder what his mother said when they went to tell her all about it, and when they told her both his legs were broken, as they were, and that it would be a long time before he could go home to sleep, and before he would be able to walk, and run, and jump, and play again! I daresay she cried very bitterly. Very bitterly; because Johnny earned money for her too, and he could not earn anything whilst his legs were broken, and whilst he was in bed in the hospital. Did I not tell you, you would be very sorry to hear all about the cart and little

Johnny?

My little Lotty was very sorry. She did not know of it till the next day, though, for I was obliged to be kept from her, you see, one night more. As the cart was broken, it could not go on, and all of us were carried to the railway place under the bridge, and stacked up there on the platform. There was such a noise with the trains! there were so many parcels, and porters, and people, and policemen! I was so glad to get at last to this quiet house, and to be in the same room with my little Lotty. And you should have heard her when the man rang the bell, and laid me down just by the doormat, on the carpet in the hall! She gave quite a little scream of joy, and her pretty black eyes shone every bit as brightly as little twinkling stars.

BOXIE (3).

list'en, puzzle, per-am'bu-la-tor, pret'ti-ly, par'a sol, cab'ba.ges, or'an ges, cel'er.y.

Well, listen and count. I I am a quarter of a yard wide, and a quarter of a

There

And what do you think she found inside of me? Would you like to know? am not a very big box, mind. high, and a quarter of a yard yard long; just such a box as you would like to have yourself if a man were to ring the bell and bring it in this minute; but I hold a good deal, though, if I'm packed tidily. There was at the very top of me a puzzle, in a box with a sliding lid; that was one thing. was a tiny tin perambulator, one inch wide, with yellow and scarlet wheels; that was two things. There was a little packet of green peas, that were not green peas after all, but sugar-plums made just the size and just the colour, so that everybody laughed and thought they were real; they were three things. Then there was a penknife -four-with two blades, such a nice one! A white magnet swan to swim-five. A gilt-edged story-booksix. Two pair of white knitted wool socks-seven, eight; they count two, you know. A plum-cake-nine. Lotty cut baby a piece of this directly, because he cried 'Take! take!' so prettily, and Lotty knew what he meant, though he can't speak quite plainly. Five rosycheeked apples-that makes fourteen. A doll-fifteen. A little green bath to wash her in-sixteen. A pair of pink kid shoes for her, a hat, a little blue silk parasol, and a lot of clothes, all in such a little tiny trunk-seventeen. And all the odd holes and corners were filled up with beautiful, pointed, streaked sea-shells, slipped in one here,

one there, three or four in this place, three or four more in that, just where Lotty's aunt could drop them.

Now, am I not a pleasant little box? Lotty thought so, and Lotty did something with me all day. She shut my lid down first, and made a table of me, and slid the tiny tin perambulator up and down me till one of the wheels broke off, and she spread the puzzle on me, and laid all the shells out like a little shop. And first she called the shells legs of mutton, and rounds of beef, and said she was a butcher; and then she called them cabbages, and oranges, and mint, and celery, and said she was a green-grocer; and then she said they were loaves, and muffins, and buns, and cheese-cakes, and that she was fat Mr Cook the baker, and getting ready to send her men out with the bread. And when she was tired of this, she said she could make a doll's house of me, if she could turn me on my side, so that my lid could open like a little door; and she did. She put the green bath in one corner of me, as though I was a bedroom; and she brought all her other doll's toys, and set me out nicely. And then she took all the toys out, and put me on the ground, and she made me into a seat, and sat on me, and clapped her hands and feet, and laughed, and said that was the best of all.

'Oh, mamma!' she cried, when her mother came into the room, may I have Boxie for a seat always? It is so nice-just as tall as I like!'

And her mamma said yes; and her mamma said she would cover me to make me look neat; and she did, the very same day. So now you know the reason why you see me with this red cloth on, and these bright brass nails, and why you thought at first I was a stool.

D

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Merry it is on a summer's day,

All through the meadows to wend away;
To watch the brooks glide fast or slow,
And the little fish twinkle down below;
To hear the lark in the blue sky sing,
Oh, sure enough, 'tis a merry thing-
But 'tis merrier far to swing-to swing!

2.

Merry it is on a winter's night,

To listen to tales of elf and sprite,
Of caves and castles so dim and old-
The dismalest tales that ever were told;
And then to laugh, and then to sing,
You may take my word is a merry thing;
But 'tis merrier far to swing-to swing!

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