'Jenny June,' then I said, 'let us linger no more On the banks of the beautiful river; Let the boat be unmoored, and muffled the oar, And we'll steal into heaven together. If the angel on duty our coming descries You have nothing to do but throw off the disguise That you wore when you wandered with me; And the sentry will say: "Welcome back to the skies, We long have been waiting for thee!"' On the margin was written, 'You are the Juniest Jenny I know.' "The years of my girlhood passed on, and with their passing faded away all memory of the young minister. Later there came to me, as I suppose there comes to every young girl, the impulse to write, and when some early efforts of mine were judged worthy to be published, I was confronted for the first time with the question of a signature. Shrinking from seeing my own name in print, by some witchery of memory the words 'Jenny June' suddenly occurred to me, and that, as you know, has been my name ever since." After a little pause Mrs. Croly said: "Now that I have answered your question I must tell you something else. Thirty years after I had assumed my _nom-de-plume_ a gray-haired stranger called at my house one day and asked to see me. The name he gave recalled no one I had ever known, and in meeting there was no recognition on either side. But he proceeded in a straightforward way to explain the object of his visit: 'For the last thirty years,' he said, 'since my removal from this city, I have lived in the West; naturally, I have been a constant reader of Eastern papers, and particularly have I read every article I have ever seen bearing the signature of "Jenny June." I have made many efforts, but always without success, to ascertain who she was, and whether the name was real or fictitious. Somehow I have never forgotten the little girl I knew before I went West, and to whom I gave a little volume of poems with something written on a page that contained a stanza that I greatly admired about "Jenny June." I have wondered if she had become the famous writer, and upon my return to my native city, after so long an absence, I have sought you simply to ask if you are that little girl.'" The Fairies' Gifts _By Ellen M. Staples_ To an English home one bright Yuletide While Christmas bells rang loud and wide Came a babe with the gentle eyes of a dove And a face as fair as a thought of love. "Now, God be thanked," the old nurse cried, "That the child is born at Christmas-tide; "For the blessed sake of Mary's Son God's benison falls on lives begun "When Christmas music fills the air And men are joyful everywhere. "And as to Him came Wise Men three Offering gifts on bended knee "So to one born at the Holy Time On land or sea, in every clime, "Come three Good Fairies, and each one bears A gift to brighten the coming years." The pallid mother gently smiled And looked upon her tender child.