Only a boy, who may be a man If nature goes on with her first great plan-- If intemperance or some fatal snare, Conspires not to rob us of this our heir, Our blessing, our trouble, our rest, our care, Our torment, our joy! "Only a boy!" BIRD NEEDLEWORK. MAY R. BALDWIN. There is a class of workers in India who have always held to needlework, useful and ornamental, through the changes of the long years, and have never had the help of machines. These workers are "Tailor Birds." Specimens of their handiwork have excited the admiration of many travelers in the country where they are found. Their needlework is seen in the construction of their nests, which vary in size and appearance. The beak of the bird answers for a needle; and for thread--and this is the wonderful thing about sewing--they use the silken spiders' webs. These threads are made secure by fastening them with silken buttons, made by twisting the ends. Think of that! spiders' webs for thread! How marvelous would the work of the fair ladies all over the land seem, if the door screens and the window hangings and the dresses and the laces were decorated with designs worked with spider's web thread! Sometimes, it is true, these birds use the silk from cocoons for their work; and even such common material as bits of thread and wool are used. One traveler states that he has seen a bird watch a native tailor as he sewed under a covered veranda; and, when he had left his work for a while, the watchful bird flew to the place, gathered some of the threads quickly, and then flew away with his unlawful prize to use it in sewing together leaves for his nest. Imagine one of these bird homes. Could any thing be more fairy-like? The leaves are joined, of course, to the tree by their own natural fastenings. But who taught the first bird home-maker how to bring the leaves together? And who gave the first lessons in sewing? And how did it come to choose its delicate spider web thread and twist it into strength, and fasten it with silken buttons? The great art leader, John Ruskin, who has written so many books to teach people that all beautiful things have their use, and that things that are not truthful can never be beautiful, would say, I think, that the workmanship upon the tailor bird's nest exactly fitted his idea of the "true and the beautiful," because there is no ornament which has not its use. The silk buttons are not placed there for show; they fasten the silken lacing. We could not say as much for many a fine lady's dress, where dozens of buttons that fasten nothing are seen. HE WAS A GENTLEMAN. Some amusing stories are told of the wit and wisdom of London school children. A class of boys in a Board School was being examined orally in Scripture. The history of Moses had been for some time a special study, and one of the examiners asked,--"What would you say of the general character of Moses?" "He was meek," said one boy.