In Germany the Turquois is said to be in much favor for engagement rings, owing to the belief that if either party prove inconstant the stone will make the fickleness known by weakening in color. It is curious that of the two non-crystallized gems, Turquois and Opal, one should be considered lucky and the other unlucky. Both are more liable to changes of color than other gems, and this fact has probably led to the ascription of good or ill fortune to them. In the folk lore of the months Turquois is connected with the month of December, as the following rhyme bears witness: If cold December gave you birth, The month of snow and ice and mirth, Place on your hand a turquois blue, Success will bless whate’er you do. Oliver Cummings Farrington. TO THE MEADOW LARK. Up from dewy grass, while yet ’tis dark— On trembling pinions, soars the meadow lark; His brilliant vest like ruddy orange glows; From slender throat, the liquid music flows. Dear flute-like warbler of the wood and field, Before him all his rivals bow and yield! The ambient air, with fluttering wing he beats; With song ecstatic, early morn he greets. High, high he rises; and his peans float,— While listening Nature revels in his note. —J. Mayne Baltimore. THE OUTRAGED BIRD. Once upon a time, nearly seventy years ago, a little boy in a New England town was given a gun on the condition that he must not shoot any birds except those that robbed the corn fields. In those days farmers thought that the crow, brown thrasher and crow-black-bird stole so much grain that it was right to kill them and therefore a bounty, large for that time, of twenty-five cents was offered for every crow destroyed. Nowadays we are wiser and this very boy who has grown into a tall, gray haired, tender-hearted man, says that there is not a bird living that is not more of a blessing than a curse. But to go on with my story. The little gunner went out one day to see what he could hit with his new gun. About a quarter of a mile from the house he spied a little bird in a tree on the edge of the woods. He took aim and fired. He did not kill the bird, did not even seriously wound it, only injured one of its wings. The bird dropped down at his feet and began chirping and scolding as if to demand an explanation. The boy tried to get away but every time he moved aside the poor little outraged creature hopped in his path, never ceasing his vehement, indignant protest against the unwarrantable deed.