"Why don't they insure their lives like their betters? Why don't they save something, when they are getting good wages? I am not going to encourage the thriftless, or help those who might help themselves, if they would think beforehand." At length every one gave up trying to enlist her services, or to obtain contributions from her, for the support of any good cause. And Mrs. Crook bestowed all her thoughts, her affections, her time and her means, on the only person she thought worthy of them all--namely Mrs. Crook herself. AN EVENING SONG. BY COUSIN ANNIE. Twilight dews are gath'ring, The bright day's done; Upon thy downy couch Rest, little one. Each tiny bird's hieing Home to its nest; Each flower-head's nodding Upon its breast. Be still now, little heart, Until the morrow Brings again its share Of joy and sorrow. May angels round thy couch Be ever nigh, And over thy slumbers chant Their lullaby. [Illustration: {A LITTLE GIRL IN THOUGHTFUL POSE.}] "BUT THEN." It was a queer name for a little girl, and it was not her real name--that was Lizzie--but everybody called her "But Then." "My real name is prettier, _but then_, I like the other pretty well," she said, nodding her short, brown curls merrily. And that sentence shows just how she came by her name. If Willie complained that it was a miserable, rainy day, and they couldn't play out of doors, Lizzie assented brightly,-- "Yes; _but then_, it is a real nice day to fix our scrapbooks." When Kate fretted because they had so far to walk to school, her little sister reminded her,-- "_But then, it's all the way through the woods, you know_, and that's ever so much nicer than walking on pavements in a town." When even patient Aunt Barbara pined a little because the rooms in the new house were so few and small compared with their old home, a rosy face was quietly lifted to hers with the suggestion,-- "_But then_, little rooms are the best to cuddle all up together in, don't you think, Auntie?" "Better call her 'Little But Then,' and have done with it," declared Bob, half-vexed, half-laughing. "No matter how bad any thing is, she is always ready with her 'but then,' and some kind of consolation on the end of it." And so, though no one really intended it, the new name began. There were a good many things that the children missed in their new home. Money could have bought them even there; but if the money had not gone first, their father would scarcely have thought it necessary to leave his old home. They had done what was best under the circumstances; still the boys felt rather inclined to grumble about it one winter morning when they were starting off to the village on an errand. "Just look at all the snow going to waste, without our having a chance to enjoy it," said Will; "and the ice too--all because we couldn't bring our sleds with us when we moved."