Yet sometimes they speak in the Valley of Grump, And their language, I'm told, is a whine-- You may have been troubled by sound of that speech, But I hope that fate won't be mine. And sometimes, from down in the depths of the vale, The whine rises up in a terrible wail; And the people who hear are like to turn pale, And flee from the Valley of Grump, my dears, Far away from the Valley of Grump! There the tears ever falling are turned into fog That hangs o'er the vale damp and chill, And in it the little folks shiver and shake Till they really are well-nigh ill! So I long to cry out to the sad little crew, "Come up to the sunshine, you grumpy ones, do! Your tears are all needless, if only you knew-- Come out of the Valley of Grump, poor dears, Come out of the Valley of Grump!" THE "BITER'S" WAGON. By Mary E.Q. Brush. I am sorry to say that little Chalmers Ashton was afraid of things! And you know there was really nothing to be afraid of, for he lived in a safe, comfortable house in the best part of town, and there were father and mother and grandpa and Uncle James, Tilly the maid and Billy the hired man to look after him--to say nothing of Mr. O'Brien, the burly policeman in blue coat and brass buttons, who used to stroll up and down the street after nightfall. But Chalmers used to "imagine things"--"think them up in his mind." I can't begin to tell you just what they were--only some were like snakes and some had horns and sharp teeth and glaring eyes and they growled like everything. Chalmers made up a name for them; he called them "The Biters." Awful silly wasn't it, to be afraid of made-up things? One day an animal show came to the town. For one whole day big white tents were in the meadow at the rear of the orchard which belonged to Chalmers' father, and, what with the rumbling red and yellow wagons, the noise and confusion, the shouting of the men, the roaring of the lions and howling and snarling of the other animals--well, really, it was almost like being next door to a jungle! And it was after midnight before everything was packed up and put on board the long train of cars. Now the show people left one of their smaller wagons behind them; it was a very old one and something was the matter with it so that they didn't think it worth while repairing. So the next morning, there it stood near the elm tree out in the meadow. Then, what do you suppose? Well, it was a very foolish thing to do, but Chalmers got it into his head that some of the animals had been left in that wagon!