Dainty little Marguerite, Tripping down the stair, With the dancing sunlight In her golden hair, Through the open doorway, In the sunny brightness, Where the morning-glories Nod in airy lightness. Mamma, coming downwards, Sees her darling stand, Snowy ruffled apron Held in either hand, Making stately courtesy With a childlike grace, And a reverent brightness On her upturned face. "What art doing, baby?" Called the mother's voice, While the pretty picture Made her heart rejoice. Morning-glories kissed the curls The open brow adorning, As the little maid replied, "I'm wishing God good morning." JACK BARLOW. NAUGHTY NASNA. [Illustration] Nasna was a coati-mondi, a cousin of the raccoon family. She was about the size of a cat, with thick, coarse fur, brown on the back and sides, and shading from yellow to orange underneath. She had a head and four legs, and a fat body; but the two most important parts of her, in her own opinion at least, were her nose and her tail. The tail was certainly very handsome, long, and bushy, with black and yellow rings round it. The nose was long, too,--long and sharp, and always poking, poking itself everywhere. There never was such an inquisitive nose. Now it was lifting the lid of a pot on the kitchen fire (for Nasna was tame, and a great pet of her master's), and scalding itself with the steam; now it was sniffing at a bottle of strong ammonia, without seeming to be troubled in the least by the smell; now it was in her master's pocket, trying to find out what it was that went "Tick! tick!" [Illustration] But what do you think the nose did one day? oh! _what_ do you think it did? You never could guess, and so I must tell you. [Illustration] The old cat had been asleep beside the kitchen fire. She had had a long, long nap,--the sleepy old cat,--and when she woke up she felt that she needed a long, long stretch before she was quite herself again. Now, the way in which the old cat stretched herself was this: she put her four feet close together, and humped her back just as high as she could possibly hump it; then she stretched herself, and opened her mouth to its fullest extent, and said, "Mu-aw-yu-aouw!" [Illustration] This was a singular performance. Nasna had never seen it before, and when she saw the red mouth open, wide, wider, widest, she immediately said to herself, "Dear me! how very odd! I wonder what there is inside that red cavern? I'm going to look!" and the next moment the long, velvety nose was poked right into the old cat's mouth, and almost down her throat.