Leander S. Keyser. THE THRUSH’S SOLO. There’s a robin’s invitation And a bluebird’s message sweet, Bidding us to Forest City With its crooked moss-grown street; Feathered folks and folks in ermine Own the city with its trees, Own the brooks and own the berries, Own the dewdrops and the breeze. There, to-day, there was a concert In a snowy elder bush, Opened with a thrilling solo By a prima-donna thrush. When the sweet brown-breasted singer Hushed the wonder of her song, From her listeners rose an encore Echoing the hills along; Tambourines the brooks were shaking, Clapped the palms on every oak And from old and trained musicians Warbled rounds of music broke. Winds that held their breath to listen Swept adown the vine-clad rooms, Crowned the little prima-donna With soft-shaken elder blooms. —Mrs. A. S. Hardy. SPRINGS, GEYSERS AND ARTESIAN WELLS. If the earth were transparent as the atmosphere we should see many things of wonderful interest and beauty beneath its surface. If we could see the mineral gems that lie beneath the earth’s surface they would rival in beauty the jeweled firmament above us. We should also see rivers and rivulets of crystal clearness and lakes of broad expanse. I can almost hear my young readers saying, “I wish we could look beneath the surface of the earth and see the wonderful and beautiful things it contains, just as we look up to the stars, or out of the window upon a landscape.” But let me remind them that nature has been very generous in furnishing rare and wonderful things for them to study and admire to which they can have easy access almost every day. The longest life is too short to study and admire more than a few of the things we may see upon the surface of the earth. Nature has opened a few doors so that we may walk in, study and admire the work she is carrying on in the darkness where the light of the sun never penetrates. Nature makes a free use of sunlight to perfect her most beautiful work upon the surface of the earth, but her most delicate and beautiful work beneath the surface of the earth is wrought by other agencies. Caves have been entered and explored by natural openings, and springs and rivers gush out at the surface of the earth, telling us plainly that they are fed by subterranean fountains and lakes.