DEAR JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT: Some of your other chicks may like to hear what my uncle has just told me about the mayflower, or trailing arbutus, so as to know where to hunt for it as soon as spring comes. It grows chiefly in New England, New York, and Pennsylvania, and is always to be found among mountains, hills, and high lands. Late in March or early in April, under the brown and withered leaves of last year, you will find it--cool, shiny, fragrant, with clusters of star-like blossoms, the color being of all shades of pink from very deep to a pinkish white. Yet farther under the leaves you will find the trailing stems. I hope many will join in the search for this first sweet flower of spring.--Your true friend, AMANDA S. K. MIRA IN CYGNUS. On clear nights, during the first half of this month, my dears, the star called Mira, in the constellation Cygnus (or "The Swan"), can be seen in full luster. This is what the owl tells me; and he adds that it is one of those strange stars which vary in brightness. It shines for about a fortnight very brightly indeed; then by degrees it fades away, until, at the end of three months, it cannot be seen. After remaining five months out of sight, it gradually brightens up again. May be you've heard all about this before; but now is your time to see Mira twinkle her bright eye at you. I'll take a peep at her from my pulpit, myself, if I can manage to catch sight of her. A RARE SPECIMEN. Brookline, Mass. DEAR JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT: Did you ever hear this story about Agassiz? If not, please show it to the other boys and girls.--Yours truly, NELLIE CHASE. One day, a man put together parts of various insects and submitted them to Agassiz as a rare specimen. He also pretended not to know to what species it belonged, and asked the professor to tell him. It was April Fools' Day. Agassiz gave a single glance at the object and, looking up, said "Hum-bug." A SARDONIC GRIN. Here's a bit of advice which Deacon Green once gave to the boys of the red school-house. It came back to me all at once the other day as I was watching a plump little darkey eating a sour pickle, and making very wry faces. The Deacon said: "Whenever you come across a word that you don't understand thoroughly, don't rest until you have found out all you can about it." Sometimes words grow out of queer things and in very odd ways. There's "sardonic," for instance. As applied to a grin, it means one that a man makes if he is forced to laugh when he doesn't want to, or tries to smile when he really is ready to cry out with pain.