Sometimes she'd* lift the teapot lid,
To peep at what was in it;
Or tilt the kettle, if you did

But turn your back a minute.
In vain you told her not to touch,
Her trick of meddling* grew so much.

Her grandmamma went out one day,
And by mistake she laid

Her spectacles and snuff-box gay
Too near the little maid;

"Ah! well," thought she, "I'll try them on, As soon as grandmamma is gone."

Forthwith* she placed upon her nose
The glasses* large and wide;
And looking round, as I suppose,
The snuff-box too she spied:"
"Oh, what a pretty box is this!
I'll open it," said little Miss.

"I know that grandmamma would say,
'Don't meddle with it, dear;'
But then she's far enough away,
And no one else is near;
Besides, what can there be amiss*
In opening such a box as this?"

So thumb and finger went to work
To move the stubborn* lid;
And presently a mighty jerk
The mighty mischief* did;
For all at once, ah, woful case !

The snuff came puffing in her face.

Poor eyes, and nose, and mouth, and chin,

A dismal sight presented;

And as the snuff got further in,

66

She dashed the spectacles away,
To wipe her tingling* eyes,
And as in twenty bits they lay,

Her grandmamma she spies.

Hey day! and what's the matter now?"
Cried grandmamma with lifted brow.

Matilda, smarting with the pain,

And tingling still, and sore,
Made many a promise to refrain*
From meddling evermore.
And 'tis a fact, as I have heard,

She ever since has kept her word.

MRS. GILBERT.

QUESTIONS.-What was Matilda's one ugly trick? What did her grandmamma leave too near her one day? What did she first do when her grandmamma was gone? What did she then spy? What did she think her grandmamma would have said to her? Why did she not mind this? How was she punished for opening the box? What happened to the spectacles? What promise did she make? Did she keep it? PRONOUNCE in syllables:—

NEARLY all flowers turn towards the light, as if

they loved it. This can be seen by watching plants

that are standing near a window.

The flowers will

all be bent towards the light, if the pots are allowed always to stand in the same position. But by turning them round a little every day, while the blossoms are opening, the plants can be made to show flowers on all sides.

Some flowers shut themselves up at night, as if they were going to sleep, and open again in the morning. This is the case with tulips.

The writer was one morning admiring some flowers that had been sent to him the evening before. Among them were some tulips, and out of one of these, as it opened, flew a bee!

A lazy, dronish* bee he must have been, to be caught in this way, when the flower was closing for the night. Or, perhaps, he had done a hard day's work in gathering honey, and at last had become sleepy. At any rate, he stayed too long in the tulip, and so was shut in for the night.

The little daisy is one of the flowers that close at night; but it is as beautiful and bright as ever, on its "slender stem," when it awakes in the morning. When it shuts itself up, it forms a little green ball, not unlike a pea, and can hardly be known from the green grass amidst which it lies.

But look next morning, and the ball is open, showing, as the poet says, "a golden tuft within a silver crown." It is a very beautiful sight indeed to see the grass spangled" with daisies, shining in the bright sun.

It is said that this flower was at first called day's

eye, because it opens its eye at the dawn of day; and that afterwards the name became daisy.

In places where the shuts itself up even

The golden flowers of the dandelion are shut up every night; and they are folded so closely together in their green coverings, that they look like buds which had never been opened. sun is very hot, the dandelion during the day; and in this way it is sheltered in its green covering from the sun, and kept from fading.

Some flowers hang down their heads at night, as if nodding in their sleep; but in the morning they lift them up again, to welcome the light. Other flowers have a particular time to open. The evening primrose, for example, is so called because it does not open till evening.

Through spring, summer, and autumn, we have a constant succession of flowers, each having its own season, and opening at its appointed* time, every year.

QUESTIONS.-Where do plants naturally turn? How may a plant be made to flower all round? What was once found inside a tulip? How had it got there? What is the meaning of the word daisy? Why is it so called? Where does the dandelion shut itself up during the day? Why?

COMPLAINTS OF THE POOR.

A-bed', in bed.
Beg-ging her way, supporting herself
and her children by begging during
her journey.

Char-i-ty, alms. To ask for charity,
to beg.

Chill, cold.

Com-plain', find fault; grumble.
Her par-ish, the district to which she
belonged.

Loi-tered, hung about; delayed
Si-lent-ly, without saying a word.

"AND wherefore do the Poor complain ?*"
The Rich man asked of me ;-

66 Come, walk abroad with me," I said,
"And I will answer thee."

'Twas evening, and the frozen streets
Were cheerless to behold;

And we were wrapped and coated well,
And yet we were a-cold.

We met an old bareheaded man,

His locks were few and white;
I asked him what he did abroad
In that cold winter's night.

The cold was keen indeed, he said,"
But at home no fire had he,
And therefore he had come abroad
To ask for charity.*

We met a young barefooted child,
And she begged loud and bold;
I asked her what she did abroad
When the wind it blew so cold.

She said her father was at home,
And he lay sick a-bed,*
And therefore was it she was sent
Abroad to beg for bread.

We saw a woman sitting down

Upon a stone to rest;

She had a baby at her back,

And another at her breast.