It was to her husband that Mr Frank Buckland was indebted for the Kurdish dog, whose prowess delighted him, despite the trouble entailed by its exhibition; for Arslan, imbued with the notion that he was created to rid the earth of his kind, conscientiously tried to fulfil his mission by killing every dog so unlucky as to cross his path. Fortunately for his master's serenity, Arslan's unkind attentions were confined to his own species; otherwise there would have been anything but joy in the house of Buckland, since that general lover of animal-kind was never yet without pet bears, beavers, or monkeys, calculated to excite the ire of a brave dog; and priding himself upon the brown rats, black rats, piebald rats, and white rats with pink eyes, which swarmed to the door of their cage to welcome his coming, and allowed him to handle them as he listed, while at the advent of a stranger they were up on their hind-legs in fighting position instanter. Much, however, as he loved them, they increased and multiplied so quickly that Mr Buckland was by cruel necessity compelled, now and again, to carry a bagful away wherewith to regale the snakes of the Zoological Gardens; a method of riddance unavailable to the gentleman who tried his hand at porcupine-petting, and found the creature thoroughly deserved Shakspeare's epithet of 'fretful,' its inquisitiveness and restlessness rendering it the most unpleasant of all quadrupedal pets. Strange pets usually come to some untimely end; as Miller Luke says, 'Things out o' natur never thrive.' But your animal lover need not go far afield for worthy objects upon which to expend his kind care, for he was a wise man who wrote, 'If we were to pet our useful and hard-working animals, we should find it both to our credit and advantage.' THE LEAF PROPHETIC. _This year--Next year--Some time--Never._ How I laughed at some one's folly, As in play he read my fortune, On a leaf of shining holly. 'NEXT YEAR!' said the leaf prophetic; 'Next year,' softly whispered some one, While I said, with voice coquettish: 'I shall wed next year with no one. 'Christmas comes, and Christmas goeth; You shall see--for I have said it-- When the next year's Christmas cometh, It shall find me still unwedded.' . . . . . But the Spring-time came with blossoms, Left a bud so sweetly hidden, Which the perfumed breath of Summer Fanned into a flower unbidden. And when Autumn's golden glory Gleamed o'er fields and purple heather, Then our love reached its fulfilment When two hands were clasped together. And the frosts and snows of Winter Brought us not one thought of sadness, For the outer desolation Made more bright the inner gladness. Christmas came! and some one fastened In my hair a leaflet golden: 'Wear this as a penance, darling, For the sake of memories olden.'