Master Duckbill is a skillful burrower and makes long tunnels in the earth with his strong claws. His round body is thickly covered, first, with woolly fur and then with long hairs. A leathery hanging protects his round eyes from the earth in which he burrows. Being fond of the water, he always builds near a stream--usually by some quiet pond or the still, wide part of a river. He makes two doorways. One he reaches by land; the other, by diving into the water. The land door is always carefully hidden under weeds or bending plants, so that no stranger can find it. Yet, often you can see the footprints of this little worker in the wet soil. To look at Master Duckbill, you would not think he is so active: and he is so strong that you could not hold him in your hands. He is a wonderful climber; so that, if you had him in your house, you would soon see him running up your bookshelves or clambering along some other piece of furniture. He would put his back against the wall, his feet against the bookcase, and thus he would travel upward to the top. Sometimes boys try to climb up a barn that way. When Master Duckbill is swimming, he looks like the bunches of weeds floating in the water. But he cannot stay there too long, for he grows very tired trying to float. He will leave the water and travel through his curving hallway till he comes to the end where his nest is. There, resting on a soft bed of grasses and dry weeds, he finds his two baby duckbills. They are only ten inches long, but Master Duckbill is proud of them. And well he might be. Do you not think so? --_Written for Dew Drops by Susanne C. Umlauf._ GOOD-NIGHT Good-night, pretty sun, good-night; I've watched your purple and golden light, While you are sinking away. And someone has just been telling me You're making, over the shining sea, Another beautiful day: That just at the time I am going to sleep, The children there are taking peep At your face--beginning to say "Good-morning!" just when I say, "Good-night!" Now, beautiful sun, if they've told me right, I wish you'd say good-morning for me To all the little ones over the sea. --_Sel._ OUR LESSON.--For May 3. * * * * * PREPARED BY MARGUERITE COOK. * * * * * Title.--The Prodigal Son (Temperance Lesson).--Luke 15:11-32. Golden Text.--I will arise and go to my father.--Luke 15:18. _Golden Text for Beginners._--_God is love._--1 John 4:8. Truth.--The Lord will receive all who return to him. 1. Jesus told the people a parable, or story, about a man who had two sons. 2. The younger one asked for his share of his father's money to spend as he pleased. [Illustration] 3. He took the money and went away, and soon wasted it in sin and rich living. [Illustration] 4. When he had spent it all, he found that he had no money or friends. 5. He hired out to a man to feed swine.