At last papa came home and Alice ran to him to be tossed up and down, and they had a fine frolic. "Have you gotten along nicely with your work?" asked papa of mamma at dinner. "Very nicely, thank you," said mamma. "Alice helped me a great deal!" "Alice!" exclaimed papa, looking as surprised as possible. "Can Alice sew?" Mamma laughed. "Oh, no, indeed, not yet," she said, "but she gave me a fine chance to do it. She amused herself all morning and did not ask me to do anything for her, so we got on beautifully with the work in the sewing room." [Illustration: "Peggy Morlinda, is you all by yourself, too?"] "Good girl," said papa, and Alice looked as happy as she felt. Oh, how glad she was that she had not left those scraps of paper for mamma to pick up! It is always safe to listen to the little inward voice that says, "Do right." "Do tell me a story," "What can I play?" "What shall I do next?" the little folks cry to the grown-ups, and all these things take time to attend to. If the children who are too small to do any work to "help mamma," would oftener amuse themselves, as Alice did, they would help much more than perhaps they think.--_Written for Dew Drops by Mary Harris_. * * * * * OUR SKATING RINK. The wind blew shrill, the sky was gray: "Oh, dear," sighed Molly, "how it rains! Let's think of some new game to play, I'm getting very tired of trains." "I know," said Jack: "it will be fun!" And seized some paper, pen and ink; "Look, look," cried Susie, "what he's done: He's written, 'To the Skating Rink!'" The children thought it strange of him To pin it up upon the wall; "We haven't any skates," said Jim; "It isn't any good at all." But Jack looked wise. "Oh, yes," said he, "I've thought of just the very thing; These railway trucks do splendidly-- We'll tie them on our feet with string." They did, and all began to skate. But Jack, I fear, was rather rash; He _would_ start off at such a rate That down he tumbled with a crash! He wasn't hurt. "I'm quite all right," He cried, and scrambled up again; And on they skated with delight, Forgetting all about the rain! --_Selected_. * * * * * Why Betty Changed Her Mind By Marie Deacon Hanson [Illustration] Each day, on her way to school, Betty called for Robbie Porter. There were two reasons why she did this. One was that she had promised Mrs. Porter she would, the other was that the little boy's mother always gave Betty a cooky, or a piece of candy, or sometimes a penny. Betty never wanted anyone to know about this second reason, which made her feel ashamed of herself, whenever she thought of it. "Just as if you couldn't do a kind thing for your neighbor without expecting to get something for doing it," she would say scornfully to herself.