April unlocks the door of spring, And soon you'll hear a robin sing. A bluebird perched upon a tree Will woo his mate. Perchance you'll see An early redwing, if you go Down to the swamp where catkins grow. For April warden is, of all The things that went to sleep, last fall. Just where the field mouse and the toad Have burrowed; where, beside the road, The grasshopper and katydid All winter have been safely hid; And when the bumblebee will come A-booming back with pleasant hum? April can tell you, for 'tis she Opens the door that sets them free. ADOPTING A GRANDMOTHER. BY MARY STARR CONEY. "Oh, Eloise! Where are you going?" Marjorie Blake rushed down the steps as she caught sight of her friend dressed in her very best clothes and carrying a small valise. "Guess where! It's the best place in the whole world!" "Away on the train?" questioned Marjorie eagerly. "Of course. My grandma doesn't live here. Goodness! I told you!" laughed Eloise. "Would you have guessed?" "No, for I didn't know you had a grandma." "Why, of course, I have! Haven't you?" "No, Eloise." "How awful!" Eloise dropped the valise in her dismay. "Why, Fannie Green has two. I've only one, but she is the sweetest, beautifulest grandma you ever saw. I'm awfully sorry you haven't got one. But here comes mamma, so good-by." After Eloise had gone away, Marjorie walked slowly back to the house. She had never felt the loss of a grandmother before, but now it weighed heavily upon her. "If grandmas are so nice, it does seem as if I ought to have one," she said to herself, "'specially as some little girls have two!" Marjorie sat down on the steps and with heavy heart thought over the situation. At last a plan suggested itself and she sprang to her feet. "When Aunt Mary didn't have any little girl and wanted one; she went to an orphan asylum and adopted one. Why can't I adopt a grandma?" Marjorie asked herself excitedly. "I never heard of an asylum of grandmas, but that doesn't matter! I want only one, and surely somewhere there must be one for me." The child looked across the street. The family in the third house were strangers who had moved in a few days before. Marjorie was playing in the yard when they came, and she remembered seeing an old lady go into the house. There weren't any children over there, she knew, for she had watched eagerly for some to appear, but none had. Maybe she could get this old lady to be her grandma. The little girl rushed across the street and rang the door bell. Then her heart began a loud beating. S'pose the old lady shouldn't want to be adopted and should act cross? The child had half a minute to run away before anyone came to the door. But that would be cowardly and Marjorie detested a coward, so she decided to stand her ground. At last the door opened, and Marjorie looked up eagerly, into the face of a kind grandmotherly looking old lady standing there.