_Longshore Billy._ "I EXPECT IT DID, MUM, BUT I 'AD 'EM SHUT AT THE TIME, SO I MISSED IT."] * * * * * [Illustration: _Mollie._ "AUNTIE, DON'T CATS GO TO HEAVEN?" _Auntie._ "NO, MY DEAR. DIDN'T YOU HEAR THE VICAR SAY AT THE CHILDREN'S SERVICE THAT ANIMALS HADN'T SOULS AND THEREFORE COULD NOT GO TO HEAVEN?" _Mollie._ "WHERE DO THEY GET THE STRINGS FOR THE HARPS, THEN?"] * * * * * FLOWERS' NAMES. SHEPHERD'S PURSE. There was a silly shepherd lived out at Taunton Dene (Hey-nonny-nonny-no for Taunton in the summer!) And oh, but he was bitter cold! and oh, but he was mean! The maidens vowed a bitterer had never yet been seen At Taunton in the summer. He lived to gather in the gold--he loved to hear it chink (Hey-nonny-nonny-no for Taunton in the summer!), And he could only dream of gold--of gold could only think; And all the fairies watched him, and they watched him with a wink At Taunton in the summer. At last one summer noonday, when the sky was blue and deep (Hey-nonny-nonny-no for Taunton in the summer!), They made him heavy-headed as he watched beside his sheep And all the little Taunton elves came stealing out to peep At Taunton in the summer. They opened wide his wallet and they stole the coins away (Hey-nonny-nonny-no for Taunton in the summer!), They took the round gold pieces and they used them for their play, They rolled and chased and tumbled them and lost them in the hay At Taunton in the summer. And when they'd finished playing they used all their magic powers (Hey-nonny-nonny-no for Taunton in the summer!); The silly shepherd woke and wept, he sought his gold for hours, And all he found was drifts and drifts of tiny greenish flowers At Taunton in the summer. * * * * * MORE WORK FOR HIS MAJESTY'S JUDGES. "Potato disease has unfortunately made its appearance in the ---- district, the early and second early crops being seriously attacked. The late crops are free from disease up to the present, and it is hoped by judicial spraying to save them."--_Local Paper._ * * * * * From an interview with the Superintendent of Regent's Park:-- "'People seem surprised,' he said, 'when I tell them that within a few minutes' walk of Baker Street Station, and the incessant din of Marylebone Road, such birds as the cuckoo, flycatcher, robin and wren have reared their young.'"--_Observer._ To hear of the cuckoo bringing up its own family in any circumstances was, we confess, a little bit of a shock. * * * * * "'Idling, my dear fellow!' was Mr. Jerome K. Jerome's decisive answer to my question: 'What do you most like doing at holiday-time?'